7th Commandment at Work

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Augustine

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When it comes to getting a day’s worth, what attitudes would constitute a mortal sin according to the 7th commandment with regards to use of company property for personal use or company time?


  1. *]Browse the web for personal interests.
    *]Use the phone for personal calls.
    *]Check CA Forums.
    *]Run personal programs on company computers.
    *]Print personal documents using company equipment and supplies.

    Am I being too scrupulous by thinking that such acts are mortal sins?

    TIA

    :blessyou:
 
I try to look at it from my employer’s perspective. If all the work is done, caught up, and I’m just waiting til my skills are called for – I could use the phone for a brief personal call. But I have young children who I need to keep in touch with.
I would never browse the web, even CA, use the equipment for personal stuff, or run personal programs. I have copied documents when I was in a hurry – short ones, one or two pages.
Employees should do what they are being paid to do. Sometimes I read novels in my current job because I’m caring for a child who falls asleep at times, and am there for my expertise in case of a medical problem. If I were being paid by the hour to do something – I’d have to put in an hour’s worth of work except for break times.
I’m not sure I’d call those mortal sins – doesn’t seem that wasting a few pieces of paper is grave matter. But who wants to commit even a venial sin? If you have time on your hands, you could pray the rosary – tons of people need our prayers.
 
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Viki59:
I try to look at it from my employer’s perspective. If all the work is done, caught up, and I’m just waiting til my skills are called for – I could use the phone for a brief personal call. But I have young children who I need to keep in touch with.
I would never browse the web, even CA, use the equipment for personal stuff, or run personal programs. I have copied documents when I was in a hurry – short ones, one or two pages.
Employees should do what they are being paid to do. Sometimes I read novels in my current job because I’m caring for a child who falls asleep at times, and am there for my expertise in case of a medical problem. If I were being paid by the hour to do something – I’d have to put in an hour’s worth of work except for break times.
I’m not sure I’d call those mortal sins – doesn’t seem that wasting a few pieces of paper is grave matter. But who wants to commit even a venial sin? If you have time on your hands, you could pray the rosary – tons of people need our prayers.
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We have limited internet access where I work, but I wouldn’t use the computer for anything at work. Somehow it doesn’t seem right. I am being paid to do a job, not sit on the computer
~ Kathy ~
 
I thank all those who replied, but I’d appreciate more comments on this subject.

TIA

:blessyou:
 
Even when you are at work, you are a still a human being and not a drone. I think most people are at their best as workers when they know that they have the freedom to have friendly personal conversations with co-workers, make a personal phone call if there is something on their mind, or check the internet at a site like this for a bit of a spiritual refresh. As long as all of these activities are done in moderation and are not interfering with you being able to accomplish your tasks, I don’t see how they could be considered sinful.
 
I had this same dilemma at my job this summer. I needed work to fill the 1-month gap between returning home and grad school, and my job ended up being organizing the hard copies of a very slovenly employee (literally paperwork feet-deep flooding his office). However, I got it done early and had nothing else to do, so after checking for other work with some of the other employees I returned with nothing to do. What do I do then? Sit with nothing to do a stare ahead? I did play a mean few hours of pinball, and I checked some CA forums, but I still felt bad.

It seems that company policies are set up to prohibit employees from wasting time on other things when they should be doing work. There was no work for me to do, so I wasn’t shirking my responsibilities by reading the forums…but it still felt a little improper. Some days I left early because I didn’t feel right getting paid to surf the internet. At the risk of giving too much leeway, maybe these policies are like the rules in Pirates of the Caribbean: “They’re more like guidelines”.

Anyone else got something more concrete?
 
That being said, there was a guy at my dad’s work who used company time to run an online business, sell items on eBay, etc. If you are getting paid by a company to do their work, then you shouldn’t be doing stuff on company time to make money from another entity, so that would definitely be wrong. But I think we’re talking more like passing the time, or using supplies for non-commercial purposes, right?
 
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RockAndHoops:
But I think we’re talking more like passing the time, or using supplies for non-commercial purposes, right?
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Yes. I mean, as a software engineer, sometimes building a program or running a test takes from a few minutes to over an hour. I try to multi-task, doing other tasks, but sometimes there’s not enough time to dedicate to another task (some do require some concentration and research before hand) or there’s really no other task to perform.

Yet, wearing the company’s shoes, I still feel like stealing… Let’s see:
    • Browse the web for personal interests.
    • That uses network bandwidth that others in the company need to perform their work.
    • Use the phone for personal calls.
    • Granted, it probably doesn’t cost the company any more, but I’d be using up a phone line that could be used to make business transactions. Although I use a calling card of my own to make long-distance calls, it’s still a phone line being occupied…
    • Check CA Forums.
    • See #1.
    • Run personal programs on company computers.
    • Not for commercial purposes, but scientific ones (SETI@home, etc), yet uses energy.
    • Print personal documents using company equipment and supplies.
    • I try to use the other side of discarded paper, but I still use company’s ink or toner.
    Am I being scrupulous? Or am I just rationalizing a sin?

    :blessyou:
 
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dulcissima:
Even when you are at work, you are a still a human being and not a drone. I think most people are at their best as workers when they know that they have the freedom to have friendly personal conversations with co-workers, make a personal phone call if there is something on their mind, or check the internet at a site like this for a bit of a spiritual refresh. As long as all of these activities are done in moderation and are not interfering with you being able to accomplish your tasks, I don’t see how they could be considered sinful.
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Well, company policy doesn’t give margin for that. I know what you mean and I even put such arguments to my boss, but all he said was: “no comments”. 😦

:blessyou:
 
My only question is how much company time do you waste worrying about wasting company time?
 
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dulcissima:
My only question is how much company time do you waste worrying about wasting company time?
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:rotfl:

Now, seriously, I only think about it at home. 🙂

:blessyou:
 
Peace be with you

I was workning with someone who claimed to be sinless,yet would go shopping on company time, not just during breaks. I would tell him we are all sinners and no hear today is without it, so for an example to him I pointed out to him that very question you are asking.
His response was that he had permision because no one complained.
So i put to him this way. On days when I was in charge I would tell not to do all those types of things or else he would be conciderd to stealing time.He would always try to dance around the issue, but the question is are we or do steal from our employers when do private things on company time? If you have recieved permission fron the proper authority at the time to so ,then the answer is no, but if take libberties not given you are committing a sin.
Ron
 
Having thought about this a bit, I came to a few conclusions:
  1. Talking to loved ones on the phone in moderation is not wrong, we have responsibilities as Human beings, not just workers.
  2. Talking to fellow workers in moderation is not wrong, it boosts team spirit and a happy worker is productive worker.
  3. Employers realise they get more out of there workers by giving them slight benefits like these and the internet.
If your boss is happy with your productivity and you are being open and honest about what you do during your work day, i wouldn’t worry.
 
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