Wasting time at work

[sw85]

I think if I’m presently in danger of any sin, it’s wasting time at work. It’s probably at least venially sinful most of the time, but are there circumstances under which it can become a mortal sin?

My mind drifts naturally to some very egregious examples. In my company, for instance, a man was recently fired for billing hours to a contract when he was actually at the golf course (this, obviously, is simply theft). Other examples might include a doctor whose laziness and negligence imperil the lives of his patients, a police officer whose laziness keeps him from responding promptly to dangerous situations, etc.

But surely there are circumstances which also mitigate the sin, for instance, lack of supervision, deadlines, clear instructions, or access to the tools needed to do one’s job.

What do you think?

 

[bmullins]

Any sin can become a mortal sin if you do it enough. Especially if you adopted an attitude of something like “I know this is a sin, and I don’t care… if it hurts you God, good.” That sort of thing could definitely be mortal.

The thing about venial sin is, it’s still serious! The problem is if you do enough venial, it can indeed become or lead to mortal. We shouldn’t think it’s ok to go ahead and do it, it’s just venial. We should attempt never to injure God with our actions. So even venial should be avoided at all cost!

There are indeed mitigating circumstances, but we have to own up to our own part in it. Even if we don’t have a supervisor… we are responsible for doing our best. As Catholics we believe that being at work should be our best, as if we are working for God himself. If we don’t have someone supervising us, we should do our best to find out what to do… and make the best of our time. It’s never someone else’s fault if we slack. There is a difference in your boss saying “Hey if you don’t 'have anything to do, just hang out till time to go” and sitting there because you don’t feel like figuring out what to do next.

 

[agnes_therese]

While there can be mitigating circumstances, I don’t see “lack of supervision” as one of them. Supervisors should be able to trust employees to do their work without being watched constantly. Same thing for deadlines – not having a specific deadline doesn’t mean it’s OK to just blow off a project.

 

[anp1215]

We are often not in control of things that pop into our head, they just pop in! So if your mind starts to drift unintentionally, just correct it immediately. Say, “Nope, back to work!” If you allow these thoughts to take hold of your mind and begin being lazy at work, that’s the problem.

 

[jbarbaretta]

I think if I’m presently in danger of any sin, it’s wasting time at work. It’s probably at least venially sinful most of the time, but are there circumstances under which it can become a mortal sin?

My mind drifts naturally to some very egregious examples. In my company, for instance, a man was recently fired for billing hours to a contract when he was actually at the golf course (this, obviously, is simply theft). Other examples might include a doctor whose laziness and negligence imperil the lives of his patients, a police officer whose laziness keeps him from responding promptly to dangerous situations, etc.

But surely there are circumstances which also mitigate the sin, for instance, lack of supervision, deadlines, clear instructions, or access to the tools needed to do one’s job.

What do you think?

This is definitely a struggle for me - especially since I am required to report worked hours accurately and I work most of the time out of my house. It is easy to get distracted with things that need to happen around the house. In my case, I need to remember to subtract that time out of the hours I submit.

I went to a retreat over Lent. The priest giving the retreat was pretty blunt. If you get paid for time spent doing things other than work (his example was spending 3 hours a day on Facebook) then you are stealing money from your boss. Stealing is objectively grave. IF you do it knowing you are stealing money from your boss – that can be mortal.

I think there are things that are not an issue. Everybody’s mind drifts while working on occasion, as it does during prayer on occasion. As long as you get yourself back on track as soon as you realize it, I don’t think it is a big deal. (Assuming it didn’t take you half an hour to realize it). It is socially acceptable to say “Hi” to your co-workers, but it would be an issue if you stood around gossiping for an hour. People need to use the facilities and most companies allow workers who smoke to take 5 minutes to deal with their addiction a couple times a day. These are not an issue, just life. Think about it from the point of view that if you were the boss, would you feel cheated if an employee did that to you.

Also, the work customs vary drastically from place to place, so the same behavior might be more of an issue in North America where everything is “work, work, work!” while it might be less of an issue in a Mediterranean country where people are expected to spend more time socializing.