How many "rules" do you have at work?

[kgb18]

Some other threads have me wondering, how many of you have a lot of rules at your work? Phone usage? Computer usage? Dress code? Break times?

I work in a pretty unrestricted environment. My profession has certain rules and ethics that are followed in terms of the work we're producing. But in terms of the office itself, we really don't have many rules. We have no restrictions on phone or computer usage (except that we can't look at things like porn on the computers). We don't have a strict dress code. If I feel like running to Starbucks at 2 p.m. I can just go. HR people would probably have a heart attack if they heard most of the conversations around here.

For awhile I worked somewhere much more stringent. They monitored computer usage. Cell phones were a no no. The dress code was strict. No one used bad language. Lunch was a very set time and length.

I hated it.

[bean29]

I also used to work somewhere where computer and phone usage and even your bathroom breaks were strictly monitored. Most stressful unrewarding environment ever.

I now work where arrival/exit times are loosely monitored. Dress code is casual. Most people surf the internet somewhat- but we are professionals and get our work done too.

Sent from my MB855 using proboards

[plugginaway22]

I have worked in a medical office for some time, and we need rules like defined lunch time and breaks or there would be no one around for patient care.
Also, in this environment, there is a dress code, there is no wasting time internet surfing, but if someone needs to go see a child's school play, it can be arranged.

[constanz22]

kgb- my workplace is very similar to yours. I work for county government, but as a social worker, much of my work is "in the field". As long as I'm getting my work done and seeing my clients, nobody really cares what else we do. I can (and do) run personal errands when I'm out seeing clients. I make my own schedule, as long as I work 75 hours every two weeks, it doesn't matter when or how I work those hours. There is tons of flexibility. We can work a long day and then flex our time the next day or whenever we want. I rarely work past 3 on a Friday.

We don't really have a dress code. Me and my co-workers that work in client homes tend to dress super casual, in order for our clients to relate to us, as well as the fact that probably 75% of the homes we work in are not the cleanest. The only time I dress up is if I go to court, and even then, it's more business casual. No short shorts and strappy tanks, but really anything else goes.

We have policies on Internet and cell phone usage, but, it's not really "monitored" and again, as long as we are getting our work done, nobody cares.

I can take a lunch whenever I want, and for as long as I want, again, as long as I work my 75 hours in two weeks. I, too, can run out to get coffee or soda or just for some fresh air/change of scenery whenever I want.

This job has awesome flexibility. I know I'm spoiled and could never work somewhere where I had to punch a time clock.

[midjd]

Our agency has about 100 employees. Things like attendance and hours worked are monitored, although my agency is relatively flexible (if you come in 30 minutes late, you can work 30 minutes late; if you're traveling or attending a seminar at night/on the weekend, you get comp time, etc.) We get about 7 workweeks of PTO per year with very few restrictions, so although having my attendance monitored kind of gives me flashbacks to middle school, I can understand the necessity and it doesn't bother me.

Dress code is business casual. I usually dress a step or two above that since you never know when you might be called into a meeting. I rarely wear jeans on Fridays, but most of my coworkers do.

Phone/internet usage is OK as long as it doesn't interfere with the timely completion of our duties. There is a technology filter, but it doesn't block anything I've ever attempted to view (Facebook, a profanity-laced blog, etc.) so I suspect it's just for viruses. I doubt they track usage as a matter of course, maybe if someone is on a PIP or there have been complaints that work isn't being done.

All in all I really like my job and coworkers. Compared to my limited exposure to other state govt employers, I got pretty lucky - mine seems to be the most flexible and is also one of the highest-paying.

[swamp]

Obviously attorney conduct and ethics are tightly regulated, but as far as the office goes, it's a free for all. Just get your work done.

The only rule is don't park in my partners parking spot.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I have a lot of ethical and safety regulations I have to operate under and those are tightly enforced.  The only dress code rules I am supposed to operate under are close toed shoes and pants/ankle length skirts.

Otherwise I'm not monitored.   It really depends where you are on campus how strictly certain rules are enforced.  If I worked on a public computer in the hospital my useage would be closely monitored.  Since I have no patient information on this computer nobody cares. 

Technically according to the employee manual I only have 30 minutes for lunch but as long as I am getting my work done nobody cares if every once and awhile I leave campus for an hour.

As long as I get my 40 hours from 8-4 in and do my job everyones pretty flexible.  I recognize though if I abused it that flexibility would disappear faster than my head can spin.

[Deleted]

This place is EXTREMELY casual about everything (sometimes not for the better). As a matter of fact, we learned last week that we should not be printing a certain report "landscape" because it wastes paper. That rule may just be for the one girl that she yell at about it, though... 

We can wear whatever we want, but if she has a client coming in she will ask us to wear something a little more professional than pajama pants. FT people eat lunch at their desks so they can all leave at 3:30 instead of adding that 1/2 hour on to their day.

Internet usage is not monitored, but there is talk of installing a new firewall. 

[thyme4change]

I was going to say basically none, but after reading Swamp's post, we do have assigned parking.  One day I drove my husband's truck to work, and within an hour I got a phone call asking for me to submit my new vehicle information so I would be compliant.  

At one time they announced they were monitoring internet usage, but I am still have this board open pretty much all day, every day and I haven't been confronted.  They did fuss specifically about Facebook - which is stupid, because we are a consumer products company and have dozens, if not hundreds, of product pages on Facebook, which basically have to be monitored all the time.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

We have assigned parking as well, but the tag is registered to me, not my car.  That way if I have to drive DH's vehicle for whatever reason I can just stick my tag on his windshield and be fine.

It's a PITA though because you can only park in your assigned lot.  Meanwhile they tear up all the other lots to make new buildings (but no new parking).  A couple of years ago they tore up the biggest student lot.  So the students started parking where ever they saw spots, including employee lots.

I got squeezed out of my lot and so did my co-worker.  We had to scramble to call the parking authority so we didn't get a ticket for being out of our lots. 

It was a huge problem.  Apparently enough people complained about it and parking had people out there checking tag and enforcing student/employee parking.  Violators were towed.

I liked Creighton better.  I had to park in employee parking but I could park in ANY blue lot.  Students could park in any green lot.  Didn't have near the parking issues we do here.

[swasat]

I work for a Fortune 50 company and the workplace is very, very flexible in terms of timings and getting your work done.

Coming in and leaving times are not at all monitored as long as you get your work done. We just need to make sure our team members know where to find us. Many of us attend children's school activities during the day or work form home whenever needed. Since its a financial institution internet "usage" is not monitored but internet is monitored, just beacause the emphasis is on privacy. So no facebook, youtube, twitter, any other social networking or gossip site. Those are all restricted.

Dress code is business casual, jeans on Fridays.

No other restriction that I can think of.

[Regis]

The general rule is that the more rules a company has, the less they trust you.

I need a company to trust what I'm doing almost completely.  If not, I'll go look for another job.

Our company policy manual is very short.  I like it.

[muttleynfelix]

Work place rules: 
Dress code:  Business casual dress code unless you are going to be in the field, then jeans and work t-shirt are appropriate. We also do jeans on Friday unless we have meetings.  If you have a meeting, you better look nice.

Limit cursing.  My boss is very conservative and he doesn't curse and he does not appreciate hearing it.

Get your work done and everything else is gravy.  Basically, don't abuse the boss being generous with taking time off during the day and not monitoring/restricting internet access.  If you don't get your work done in a timely manner, then he starts to watch what you are doing more closely. Cell phone usage is unrestricted, but don't let the office phone ring if you are just chitchatting on your cell phone.

[thyme4change]

I worked one place and we had to have a "box pass" - if you found an empty box in the trash can, you had to get written permission to take it out of the building, and they would inspect it as you were leaving to make sure you weren't taking something out in it.  

[wvugurl26]

I don't think our rules are too bad. We are working on slowly bending some and if you need an exception, you'll probably get it.

Parking - you can park in any of the white lined spaces. Yellow lined spaces are for the SES level people.

Lunch - technically we get 30 minutes unpaid for lunch and 2 15 minute paid breaks. Everyone takes a hour. Sometimes we have special lunches or go out with a director just because and take 2 hours.

Time - you have 2 official options. One you work a flex schedule working 9 hours a day and work 9/10 days with an extra day off. In this schedule you are supposed to pick your hours and stick with them. I work this schedule as does most of my office.

Flex schedule, you can vary your start/end times as long as you get your 8 hours a day in and are present from 9:30am to 3pm. This option seems to be more popular in our regional offices where they do a lot of audits.

If I need to shuffle my time by 15-30 minutes, I just let my manager know. Technically not in line with policy but like I said we are bending the rules as the old guard retires. Thursday I'll be in 15 minutes early so I can leave and get to physical therapy.

I don't leave the building except for lunch but that has more to do with it being a huge hassle. We have layers of security and between clearing the gate, parking, clearing building entry security and getting to my desk that chews up 10-15 minutes. I will go to the snack bar, the cafe or the post office if I need to do something or get a snack.

We have computer filters due to the information we have on our laptops. Internet can be monitored but it isn't.

Telework - policy is we can be out of the office one day a week. The extra day off with the flex schedule counts which I think is stupid. I don't telework on a regular basis. If I need a day or two, I ask for it and I've gotten it every time. I teleworked a couple days around Christmas because I had training to finish. I did four days a couple weeks ago when I sprained my ankle. I got the doctor to write a note for that.

Dress code - it entirely depends on what you are doing. Being in the office on a daily basis, it's business casual. I tend to stick to dress pants, dresses and skirts. Fridays we wear jeans and polo shirts. If we have a meeting with outsiders or are out on an audit, a jacket is required and guys need a tie. I have a meeting with the agency we audit tomorrow, I'll have on a jacket. Another example of the old guard moving out, the guys used to have to wear ties Monday-Thursday. I usually fall in between a jacket and khakis/polos in case there are unexpected meetings.

[swamp]

Apr 30, 2013 9:37:16 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I worked one place and we had to have a "box pass" - if you found an empty box in the trash can, you had to get written permission to take it out of the building, and they would inspect it as you were leaving to make sure you weren't taking something out in it.  

Sounds like a recipe to have lots of empty boxes hanging around the office. 

[thyme4change]

I used to laugh at the "box pass" because I carried a briefcase in and out, and a lot of people took laptops home.  It seemed an outdated way to protect company secrets.  But, who knows how many office supplies could be stolen if everyone took a box full out?  

[wvugurl26]

I forgot some of the security rules. A lot of them are specific to the building not my group.

We used to need passes for our laptops. They finally stopped that. If you are taking a box out of the building they might check it. Everything we bring in is x-rayed. No knives, sharp objects, etc. No cameras either but cell phones are allowed. I've gotten my camera in before. I forgot it was in my bag.

If you forget your badge, you have to get your car searched. No weapons, all bags have to be opened, etc. If I go somewhere with my brother, I make damn sure I have my badge before I leave home. I've found loaded magazines in my glove compartment a couple days later. Oops!

Our data is sensitive, health and personal information. Anything with that kind of information or companies proprietary information has to go through the encryption server if it is going outside our group. When we start an audit the first thing we do is set them up on that server. No checking email on personal devices unless it's an emergency. Restricted access reports have to be stored in locked drawers.

[movingforward]

Pretty laid back here.  We do have board members coming in during the week so no jeans except on Fridays.  I generally wear black pants and a nice top.  Time is flexible here so you can come in anywhere between 7 - 10 in the morning.  Nobody gives a crap if you decide to take a long lunch.  Sometimes you might have to work a weekend so everybody keeps track of their own time and will use comp time accordingly.  On Friday I will probably have to work until about 10PM because I have to take board members out for drinks and dinner and then we are meeting on Sat. morning from 9AM - 12PM so I will probably not come into the office until about 1PM on Friday.  I have been needing to go to the dermatologist so I made an appointment to do that on Friday morning and I will probably do a few other errands since I have the morning off. 

To my knowledge no one is monitoring our computer use.  As long as the work is done no one really cares what else you are doing.  We are an office of only 10 people so being flexible is pretty easy and it keeps us all happy. 

[thyme4change]

If you forget your badge, you have to get your car searched.

That seems like a strange connection - forgetting your badge = weapon in your car?

[Bob Ross]

Hmm...let's see.

Be here during the core hours, wear business casual attire, don't wank in the guest offices...

TBH, I'm trying to get that last one overturned. 

[Miss Tequila]

I have one rule...get my work done by the deadline

[swamp]

Apr 30, 2013 10:18:39 GMT -5 Miss Tequila said:

I have one rule...get my work done by the deadline

Can you work naked?  

[Miss Tequila]

Apr 30, 2013 10:20:16 GMT -5 swamp said:

Apr 30, 2013 10:18:39 GMT -5 Miss Tequila said:

I have one rule...get my work done by the deadline

Can you work naked?  

Ok...maybe two rules :-p

[Deleted]

Apr 30, 2013 9:37:16 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I worked one place and we had to have a "box pass" - if you found an empty box in the trash can, you had to get written permission to take it out of the building, and they would inspect it as you were leaving to make sure you weren't taking something out in it.  

They should have had that at one place I worked.   Half the people that worked there took stuff out in boxes.  One guy's car was full of it.  you could see it in the parking lot...

[wvugurl26]

Apr 30, 2013 10:11:48 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

If you forget your badge, you have to get your car searched.

That seems like a strange connection - forgetting your badge = weapon in your car?

The assumption is if you have a badge, you are a known, safe entity who wouldn't break the rules.

[Phoenix84]

Interesting question.

It depends on context.  As you can imagine, anything dealing with radiation and radioactive material is HEAVILY regulated with hundreds of pages of rules.  Which is pretty much the whole reason why I'm here.  So there are many different rules I have to follow throughout the course of my job, but mostly I enforce the rules on others.

As far as the actual  office the rules are pretty relaxed.  The Dress code is very relaxed, I wear jeans every day.  There are limits, they don't like anyone wearing shorts, they don't want you to wear offensive stuff, or extremely revealing clothing.  But wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and a t-shirt would be fine.  I wear jeans and a polo shirt most days.

Phone usage is not restricted at all.  They do block some sites at work, but not that many.  So computer use is not majorly restricted.  They also don't watch that closely and don't seem to care if you leave the office for a bit.

There are security rules regarding badging and the like.  We have to show ID's to the guards and every 10th car is searched.

[michelyn8]

Apr 30, 2013 9:48:22 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

I forgot some of the security rules. A lot of them are specific to the building not my group.

We used to need passes for our laptops. They finally stopped that. If you are taking a box out of the building they might check it. Everything we bring in is x-rayed. No knives, sharp objects, etc. No cameras either but cell phones are allowed. I've gotten my camera in before. I forgot it was in my bag.

If you forget your badge, you have to get your car searched. No weapons, all bags have to be opened, etc. If I go somewhere with my brother, I make damn sure I have my badge before I leave home. I've found loaded magazines in my glove compartment a couple days later. Oops!

Our data is sensitive, health and personal information. Anything with that kind of information or companies proprietary information has to go through the encryption server if it is going outside our group. When we start an audit the first thing we do is set them up on that server. No checking email on personal devices unless it's an emergency. Restricted access reports have to be stored in locked drawers.

If I forget my badge it takes what seems like and act of Congress just to get in the gate with a visitor's pass if I'm going to be picked up.  Fortunately, one of our safety guys knows who to call to get that permission.  Since I drive the office truck in and out most days, I can "pretend" to swipe in/out if I misplace it but I try to make a point to always have it with me - the sensor beeps but its hard to hear and the light switches so fast, if the guard isn't looking directly at it (which he rarely is), he doesn't even notice if it read the badge or not.

Our office is in the middle of a facility that is monitored by Homeland Security so we have some pretty annoying but necessary restrictions.  No open toe shoes, have to wear safety glasses if in a vehicle with the windows open, have to wear safety glasses just to come in the gate or move from vehicle to office, hard hats and steel toes if going past certain points which I fortunately never do but do have to wear a hard hat with safety glasses to go from office to one of the shops............all in all pretty standard safety rules for this type of environment.  Once in, I'm in until lunch or quitting time unless I need to leave early.  If there is an emergency, no one goes in or out and all traffic stops within the plant.  We had a shelter in place emergency last month that had us here until 7 p.m. (quitting time is 5:30).  I could move around our office since the whole structure is a designated area, but in other buildings, they were confined to a conference room.  Internet access is pretty lax but social media sites and certain other entertainment sites are blocked.  I kill a lot of time on here, but get my work done.  My boss knows I rarely have enough to fill a full 40 hours but as long as everything is on time and correct, he doesn't care what we do.

[thyme4change]

If I forget my badge, I just knock on the door or stand there and look like a lost puppy until someone comes by and lets me in.  

[Deleted]

Dress code is casual

I let my asst controller handle most of these items......when she sees someone going over the line, she lets them know

Hours are flex.....but you are supposed to put in the regular 40+ hours

some start at 630, others not till 10am and all in between

i used to monitor internet usage....looking at reports on a monthly basis

now...i just have the IT department cutoff a few sites, and really we have very few issues

the hardest thing to live with is the production expectations

they start normal, and rise from there....and if you cant cut it, you are replaced

we tell every interview this is not an easy job....but you will learn more here than most places

not many rules at all....place doesnt need them