Not doing the weekly vehicle checks [1] properly and letting vans go out with bald tyres.
Putting 6.30am down on his time sheets instead of 8.00am - Apprentices do not get paid travel time. Although to be fair one of the electricians told him to put 6.30 on his sheets just to see him get into trouble when he asked what time to put on the sheets. (same apprentice also got a bollocking for doing the same a few months ago)
Using "text speak" on his job report forms. I heard the words "I do not want to read shit like that" shouted as he handed them in.
[1] All vehicle checks have a signed and dated form so we know who checks which van each week.
Because they are paid to do it is a good start. It's called learning. The apprentices also drive the vans.
We check their work and then bollock them when they lie or do a poor job. The tyres were still just legal but should have been reported as per the weekly check form. They should have been reported four weeks ago so four apprentices got a bollocking as all four of them had either lied or not done their job properly. It is not their job to decide if the tyres are road legal but it is their job to report on the condition of the tyres and that included when the tyres have reached the depth indicators or are wearing unevenly.
Their work was monitored for the last 4 weeks and they lied or did a poor job.
Oil, coolant, tyres and keep records of any oil, antifreeze and air needed to top up every Friday. Brake fliud and power steering fluids are on a monthly check (ie the first Friday of the month).
They then always top up the windscreen washer bottle, the trunking in the roof bars and also clean and hoover the van if needed. If they have been annoying idiots then it is your duty to drive through lots of muddy puddles on a Friday afternoon.
The lights are not on the check list as we do not need the apprentices to check them on a weekly basis because of the way the vans are parked up at night.
A good habit I've got into is to do a once-over every time I get fuel.
I don't know anybody who gets paid for travel time to/from work. Your pay starts when you start work, and finishes when you finish work. I know there are some jobs where you can get your travel expenses paid, but you don't get wages for sitting on the bus for an hour.
I would suspect that any company not willing to pay it's employees for their work, wouldn't be too keen on them "wasting time" on vehicle checks. Have they been trained in the process BTW?
Perhaps the person accepting the reports could be trained in the use of English and anger management?
I do not shout at personnel, I do not resort to filth when communicating and I always explain carefully if I think a higher level of input to a task is needed.
Mind you, my company does pay for hours worked [unless salaried], and we have a genuine "no blame" culture that seems to motivate the workforce in a very positive way.
Waves... Though I'm freelance now so it's a bit debateable.
But when I was a staffer we would get paid travel expenses and hours when working away from base. The staffers I still work with are paid that way as well. Not everybody is a 9-5 M-F, single place of work, wage slave. B-)
I was once effectively paid to sit in a car for three hours, but it was going from Sheffield to York for a project meeting and the three of us in the car discussed the project on the way there and back. Our timesheet stated we "started work" when we got to the Sheffield office to meet up with the driver, and "finished work" when he dropped us back off.
When does your "work" start (and finish)? Even if you're sort of "office-based" your work may well take you to remote locations which you may visit without calling at "the office". I regularly did.
You may telephone somebody on business before you leave home.
Or even after you get home.
Effectively you're home-based, but have access to a desk/bench etc. in some other place, possibly with colleagues who you occasionally meet.
I suppose the name varies according to the size of the site and probably in which part of the UK you are in. However there is no doubt in my mind that many of them are incompetent.
I have had the ones that would not allow the hi viz and hard hats to be removed when second fixing a flat (wear them outside but not inside is the usual rule on that sort of job) . It was also summer and he insisted on the rule of only food or drink must be consumed in the canteen and he would not allow bottles of water in the flats. He got a few flats as someone placed nails against his car tyres.
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