Morality at work

[Juanshark25]

I work as a manager in construction. One of those responsibilities is to code invoices meaning for every job that is done there is a specific budget for that job. When I code the invoice I have to write down one sentence of what work was done and what phase of construction it went to. My question is if I have extra money in other areas of my budget is it lying to use it? For example, I may have $100 for my trim carpenter. However, I spent $120 dollars. Therefore, I code the $20 differential to a different phase.

This practice is discouraged. If you leave detailed notes on what was done supevisors dont have a problem with it. The majority of the guys, if not all of them, just use the extra money they have even if it they’re not being 100% honest about the work. In my opinion as long as I’m making sure everyone is getting paid for the work they’re doing it is ok. However I want to make sure I’m not in the wrong morally.

I can try to better explain if need be. Somewhat difficult to explain and keep relatively short.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

You need to discuss this with your own manager at work, not with us.

We can’t tell you “oh yeah, it’s just fine for you to engage in a ‘discouraged’ practice”.

 

[christofirst]

It seems to me you want to be fair and honest, making sure the workers get paid, while turning a profit for your employer. If you find a particular phase of construction is consistently going over budget, I would bring this to the attention of your supervisor or estimator so that adjustments can be made going forward. That said, I personally would not have a problem juggling manhours, provided I knew that an overage in one area would be offset by a surplus in another area.

I was an electrical construction foreman for a large company for many years, and thankfully, my situation was different from yours. I only kept track of manhours, and I never had any idea how much money had been allocated for any particular task.

 

[Shasta-Rose]

Yes. I would ask for more guidelines, such as, “You can ‘code’ the additional money as something else, but not more than ten percent of the amount.” And if it’s a larger job, not more than five percent. Exact figures, definite limits. And get a written memo from your boss about this–and hang on to it.

 

[Dan123]

This definitely feels more like an internal company decision than a moral one. Presumably the company uses the information to adjust future bids. The customer isn’t being charged more, no one is being paid more/less than they should, so as said above I’d just get clarification from supervisors.