Guilt at Work

[chelaine]

Hoping someone has insight on this.

This is basically my first professional job and it is a contract. So I am working for a client company through a recruiting firm. I am paid hourly. I work from home. Been working here for months

On Friday’s, I report my hours worked for the week. I usually report 8 hours per day for the 5 day period. I am usually always around my computer during this time.

However, I feel horrible because I am not “working” the whole 8 hours every day. Sometimes I daydream, use my phone, waste time, etc. On some days I work maybe only a few hours. I also feel really bad become there have been days where I am tired and I just fall asleep on the clock.

My manager hasn’t really had any complaints for me. I usually finish all the time sensitive and short term tasks on time. Otherwise, there is always work that I can do that is due later in the future but I do not work on these tasks a lot.

If Being nonproductive is not a huge deal, I am still worried about the times I fall asleep. Im afraid This might’ve made my income haram or count as stealing. This guilt is consuming me everyday and I’m not sure how to move forward. Maybe I should talk to my manager about this without caring about the consequences?

Jazakallah Khairan

 

[c2c]

@chelaine If your boss is happy with your performance then you should be fine.

Every service-based job where you sit in front of a computer all day is like this. Studies show that people only actually do a couple of hours of work a day—even if they’re sitting at their desk for 8 hours. This is the reality of this kind of work; you’re not chopping trees or brewing coffee where we can clearly measure your output per hour.

Sleeping on the clock is pushing it, for sure. But I’d again emphasize that 8 hour/day just means a full-time job. What matters at the end of the day is whether you’re getting things done. A lot of people are working irregular hours during covid WFH. But if you’re sleeping is getting in the way of you responding to emails or completing tasks on time, then definitely it’s a problem.

Procrastinating on long-term projects is a common problem too, and you should work on that. But that’s a performance and productivity issue.

 

[chelaine]

@c2c Thanks for the thoughtful response. This fits pretty well in my situation.

Agreed, the sleeping is a little too far but 99% of the time it hasn’t gotten in the way of my work. Though, I am debating Whether that would’ve counted as haram income in any sense.

 

[heartofberries]

@chelaine Ask for more work to do. Remember you will be asked about everything you did someday. Falling asleep and claiming you worked is flat-out wrong. The other things like using your phone, checking email are gray areas in my opinion.

 

[chelaine]

@heartofberries I do feel wrong and regretful. Which is why I want to make the past right but I don’t know how?

Also, During the times I fell asleep it was hard to say that because I am suppose to work 8 hours so it would be odd to admit and say I worked x hours less because I fell asleep. Though looking back, I should’ve said it or something.

 

[sangotunhienst]

@chelaine I go to work in medical billing and I work for 60 hours per week and get paid for 40 hours because I am salaried. I have to clock in and out. At the end of the two week period, my paycheck records 40 hours only. You don’t need to work an entire 8 hours in an 8 hour period. If you’ve ever worked in a firm or other office type job, people chit chat with coworkers and try to drag it out to waste time. Don’t sleep on the job. I would recommend sending and email when your done with all of your assignments maybe. Definitely don’t ask for more work, because it often times does not mean more pay. Just my two cents and Allah knows best.

 

[heartofberries]

@chelaine What i would do is figure out how many hours you missed from sleeping and then over-work by an equivalent amount (and not report the extra hours). Overall, the net impact should be zero overall inshAllah. Of course, you can always donate to charity and do other good deeds

 

[chelaine]

@heartofberries Thanks for the advice. I have tried to make an estimate but the equivalent is way top many hours at this point. My contract ends soon so I won’t be make up most of the hours.

Maybe I should just donate the equivalent to charity but I am hesitant. I maybe missed about 20% of time from sleeping. So I don’t want to donate it all unless I’m sure it’s haram.

 

[heartofberries]

@chelaine Dude, you slept and claimed that you worked. That's lying. What is there not to be sure about? The Quran condemns merchants who don't give full measure. Don't jeopardize your akhirah over some cash

 

[chelaine]

@heartofberries There’s mixed opinions on my post here. Either way, you or I are not qualified to interpret a verse of the Quran and apply it in a situation, nor can we declare something haram or halal so definitely, at least I am not qualified. Sounds haram, but I would need to seek a Mufti’s help for that, that’s what I mean by being sure.

 

[betterorworse]

@chelaine Most desk jobs are like that and has busy and slow times, managers expect that. The pay is for the work first and foremost but also for your availability when things are slow.

Careful how you ask for more work as this tends to be more annoying to a manager, best to frame it intelligently in a way of helping. Cultures and country advice may vary.

 

[sangotunhienst]

@betterorworse I had an receptionist who would watch Netflix for hours everyday. We needed someone to sit at the front desk and there was nothing for her to do, but it was justified because the position was hard to fill and the hours were terrible.

 

[sbmor777]

@chelaine You're fine bro. I work in public accounting and we have to track and report all of our time. It's very important and the firm really pushes strict time reporting compliance because it's how clients get billed and expenses get allocated.

When I first started I would stress about charging my time accurately and carefully track how many hours I work on this client, that client, track lunch and phone breaks, etc. It gets exhausting, you get burned out. So as long as you're meeting expectations and getting the work done, just charge the time. After enough time in public accounting everyone becomes jaded and what I do now is just plug hours at the end of every week. I.e., I just enter time to get the 40 hours. I have good performance reviews, I'm doing the work and meeting all expectations. So it's fine.

Now if you're procrastinating longer-term work and will cause problems for yourself down the line with tight deadlines and you won't be meeting expectations, that's a problem. This is just more about productivity though so you gotta just find a way to get motivated. I've been having the same problem the past couple of months where I lack motivation to get anything done unless I know someone is going to be asking for it soon. With work from home you can be flexible. Maybe take some breaks throughout the day and spread your work out. For now we have the opportunity to work flexible hours.