Sit At Work All Day Doing Nothing

[TapDat]

Hello,

In my current job, I sit at a desk and do absolutely nothing. In a typical 8 hour work day, I maybe do 1 hours worth of work all day. The rest of the time I just spend on my phone or pretending to do something productive. I sometimes feel like I should bring this up to my supervisor because my coworkers are always running around doing stuff. Its not like I'm leaving more work for them to do. They just have a different job than I do. I feel bad at times, but I also don't want to ruin a good thing. I am currently taking online classes as well, so this free time is saving me from having to do course work on my time.

Does anyone else experience this? And/or what do you think I should do?

-Thanks

 

[TAG Manager]

I should bring this up to my supervisor because my coworkers are always running around doing stuff.

Sure that they aren't pretending to look busy?

In the bigger picture, you could just be blesses with an opportunity to do something different. (I mean, use that free time for something productive that will benefit you..)
In another view, that's another method to get someone to leave the company on their own. Getting so bored and not much to do... wind up leaving the company. It's a way to push people out that they can't fire directly.

Have you been in that job long?

 

[TapDat]

I have had plenty of time to think about if they are just pretending to look busy as well @TAG Manager . My conclusion was possibly.

The job is a 3 year contract, with a US company. Been here 2 years already, I have till next March. So I don't really think it's wanting to fire me. I kind of want to quit but for more political reasons.

 

[User#8628]

Welcome to Japan, where everyone makes long hours doing nothing!

 

[vondoom]

i do long hours working straight, sometimes even without a break... must be a black company...

anyway, op... just sit it out, its only until march＾＾

 

[Desktop]

You don't have managers that check on your progress etc on activities?

 

[seeusmile]

that would be a blessing for me.
I used to be a mechanic by trade and back breaking dirty greasy work on apprentice wages are horrible.

I'd take the labor free work any day haha.
Fair enough, doing nothing would drive me to insanity as well, I'd like to feel I have a purpose and something to contribute to .

 

[Desktop]

If you need a reference from someone you worked with for your next position, you can't really be sure of what they'll say on your behalf. If you did nothing all day & they actually worked bad feelings could kick in.

 

[RIDER 00]

Dude, if you're getting paid for doing nothing, count your lucky stars and don't complain about it unless
you have a dream job lined up for you. It's a million times better than being so busy everyday your body is
breaking down and/or you want to kill yourself.

Just find constructive ways to pass the time, like thinking about how to improve your department's work process, etc.

 

[TAG Manager]

If you need a reference from someone you worked with for your next position, you can't really be sure of what they'll say on your behalf. If you did nothing all day & they actually worked bad feelings could kick in.

This sort of thing come up in a meeting and one of the senior Japanese guys told me that if we get asked for a reference, we should give a generally grey reference if someone left under not so great circumstances. The reasoning was that if we gave a bad reference, it would reflect bad on our company that we initially hired someone that caused problems. I know someone left recently on their own after some bad performance reviews. Ironically, this person wasn't being given new work due to problems caused numerous times and no improvement after counseling. So... they sat in the office until finally finding a new job and moving on. I don't believe we were ever contacted or at least I didn't hear about it.

I do interviews for new hires, but I don't think they weigh my input as much as some of the other managers whom are Japanese. Hmm.

 

[RIDER 00]

This sort of thing come up in a meeting and one of the senior Japanese guys told me that if we get asked for a reference, we should give a generally grey reference if someone left under not so great circumstances. The reasoning was that if we gave a bad reference, it would reflect bad on our company that we initially hired someone that caused problems. I know someone left recently on their own after some bad performance reviews. Ironically, this person wasn't being given new work due to problems caused numerous times and no improvement after counseling. So... they sat in the office until finally finding a new job and moving on. I don't believe we were ever contacted or at least I didn't hear about it.

I do interviews for new hires, but I don't think they weigh my input as much as some of the other managers whom are Japanese. Hmm.

In my experience in Japanese companies, it's always hard to change jobs because the worker that's leaving is ostrasized as a "traitor" (unless the split is desired by the managers).

Also, there's a MAJOR hurdle to overcome if you decide to quit first and look for a job after. Here, you are expected to already be employed when applying for a job change. If not, they will ask you why you quit first and no matter what answer you give, they will sense that it was because you were not a team player.

I did this before because I was mentally and physically abused by my bosses, which was a legit reason, but even my headhunter adviser told me not to tell this true story during any interviews I went to.

The most common way to change jobs is find a job while staying at your current one, get a job offer and contract, then hand in your resignation at your current company.

One story I have is of a guy in his 40s who got so hooked on fuzoku he started staying up all night and sleeping at his desk. He was asked to leave the company after refusing to change his ways so he officially declared he would not work at all during office hours and just slept
at his desk. He eventually got another job then quit the company. -- Only in Japan, I think.

 

[TAG Manager]

One story I have is of a guy in his 40s who got so hooked on fuzoku he started staying up all night and sleeping at
his desk. He was asked to leave so he officially declared he would not work at all during office hours and just slept
at his desk. He eventually got another job then quit the company. -- Only in Japan, I think.

Damn... lol...that's definitely only in Japan. I don't think you can get away with that anywhere else in the world.

Also, there's a MAJOR hurdle to overcome if you decide to quit first and look for a job after. Here, you are expected to already be employed when applying for a job change. If not, they will ask you why you quit first and no matter what answer you give, they will sense that it was because you were not a team player.

I've heard this too -- everyone I know has found a new job before leaving the current one.

Headhunters... I know they got a job to do, but they are borderline harassment when they think they can get you a better deal somewhere else.

 

[RIDER 00]

Damn... lol...that's definitely only in Japan. I don't think you can get away with that anywhere else in the world.

I've heard this too -- everyone I know has found a new job before leaving the current one.

Headhunters... I know they got a job to do, but they are borderline harassment when they think they can get you a better deal somewhere else.

For sure, but even when you hand in your resignation, most bosses and coworkers will feel betrayed. The nicer places may give you a private going away party, but it's pretty common not to even have that. Department transfers/retirees get a huge sendoff in comparison.

I despise headhunters after my ordeal with them. After I got a job offer, the adviser I had cut off all my other interviews that were in progress, one of which was for Johnson & Johnson, which I was sure I had a legit chance of getting into. After which, she kept giving me constant pressure to sign my contract ASAP and send the PDF into to her. Guess she really wanted her bonus payment.

The advisers also have a bad habit of dumping you if you fail at one interview, thinking that you're not worth their time and effort to find more potential jobs for. They also never take you side when you want to complain about the company that interviewed you.

For one interview I had, the guy who came in was 30 minutes late, gave no excuse or apology, rushed the interview, and ended it early because he had another meeting to get to. This was one of the cases where I felt it was apparent that the interviewing managers had no interest in hiring a foreigner/someone who quit their last job. There's often a gap between the HR department head who finds good candidates, and what the actual managers, who will take on the new employee, want.

Such interviews were a complete waste of my time for me so I complained to my adviser, who did nothing, so I called the HR head of the company of the guy who was late to complain about him myself. Needless to say, the HR guy was ashamed and very apologetic over what happened and assured me he'd scold the guy who interviewed me. Don't care if he actually did or not, but at least I alerted the HR department of this company of some of the things going on there.

 

[SugoiBoy]

IMHO, it is always better to look for another job while still being employed. Generally speaking, candidates who are already employed have a better chance of finding jobs than candidates who are unemployed. It might not be fair, but that's life.

 

[BlackJack1]

Gosh, you are so lucky, you get paid 100% while your effort is only 10%. How cool is that!

 

[faboo2001]

Dude, if you're getting paid for doing nothing, count your lucky stars and don't complain about it unless
you have a dream job lined up for you. It's a million times better than being so busy everyday your body is
breaking down and/or you want to kill yourself.

Just find constructive ways to pass the time, like thinking about how to improve your department's work process, etc.

At my office job, I've run into both extremes: sitting at the computer having absolutely nothing to do and having so much work that I have to take it home with me. And in both cases I would just wish that things would get "better".

 

[TAG Manager]

My summer months are pretty dry, but fall, winter and spring are usually slammed. I have to manage the workload so that no one gets overwhelmed. I don't like global projects 'cause that cuts into my home time at night when there are conference calls with other countries who can't be bothered to do calls during Japan's business hours... We always compromise, other regions pretty much never do.

I kinda want to change jobs, but it has to be a pretty fantastic position for me to make a change.

 

[TapDat]

You don't have managers that check on your progress etc on activities?

I'm working at a small clinic. My supervisors don't really know what I do so its pretty easy to throw around some terminology they don't understand when they ask me questions.

The majority of my work consists of transfering information from Japanese hospitals into our system. And the workload scarce.

I have been using some of my free time to work on homework though.

 

[Sudsy]

one of the senior Japanese guys told me that if we get asked for a reference, we should give a generally grey reference if someone left under not so great circumstances.

Your company can also be sued for defamation if they are contacted and provide a negative review, and I know a few guys who occasionally have friends ring up previous employers to check what they have to say, and one of them has sued over the remarks made. On our legal counsel's advice, the worst review we will ever give a previous employee is to state that we do not wish to discuss that employee's tenure with our firm.