Managing idle time and personal business during work hours

¶ … ethical dilemma: Using time efficiently

Over the course of my working life, it has always been stressed to me by my managers that I need to use my time efficiently: after all, I am being paid to work, not to play. When I was very young and worked at a retail establishment, this would mean cleaning the floors when there were no customers or rearranging the inventory. At my current job, however, I often find myself idle. I ask my boss if there is any work for me to do but often there is not.

Many days I sit at my desk and do nothing while I still get paid. Ethically, I feel that this is a violation of my obligation as a worker. I would like more to do and sometimes I feel as if I am stealing company time. All I can do, however, is to ask my boss on a daily basis if there is any work and if there is not, I do my best to be available when the workload increases.

I rationalize this by the fact that sometimes during my 'busy season' I have to work far harder than my job description reads. With work, it always feels as if I am in a 'feast or famine' situation. However, as long as I do work hard when there is work for me, I feel as if I am upholding my side of the bargain.

I also try to do my very best, regardless of what task I am confronted with. Even if I am not busy 24/7, when I am interacting with a client, I take an interest in every detail of what he or she has to say. This creates a good impression of the business I work for and makes it more likely the customer will return. Not all work is quantifiable: sometimes simply having a good attitude is the greatest gift that can be given to an organization by an employee.

Other ethical issues which arise is the question of doing personal business on company time. I certainly think it is unethical to surf Facebook, shop online, or do other non-work-related activities when there is work to do. Obviously, not everyone agrees with this sentiment, otherwise 'Cyber Monday' would not be an unofficial holiday during the Christmas season, as it effectively is a day in which people are supposed to return to work to shop online for deals. But I would feel wrong doing this if I had work to do, the type of work I was supposed to be paid to perform.

However, if my supervisor says there is no work for me and I have exhausted the resources of what I can do in terms of work for the future, I think that taking small increments of time for personal tasks as a 'break' is acceptable. It can also enable me to return to my work with a fresher and more open mindset than I would simply forcing myself to work even when I was not busy. Also, too much busy work can leave me depleted for the times when I do have to work hard and put in the effort.