The Timecard Trap: Why an Auto Body Shop’s Revenue Is Plunging After a New Manager Target a Veteran Painter’s Schedule
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With most things in life, a little flexibility goes a long way.
That’s what this auto body painter thought after working under a flat-rate pay system where finishing the work mattered a whole lot more than watching the clock.
So, if staying a little late helped keep the shop on schedule, that was never a problem.
But then a new manager decided everyone had to be in the building by 8:00 sharp for a morning meeting. So the painter started following that rule just as closely at the end of the day.
Before long, jobs started falling behind because the extra work that used to get done after hours simply had to wait until morning.
Read on to see the manager’s reaction.
Manager enforced working hours
I used to work in the body shop industry. In America, flat rate is a very standard form of pay. You get paid per estimate, not for being clocked in. So I could be in the building for eight hours but only have one car to paint that paid me four hours of paint time.
Typically, it’s better than it is worse, but overtime pay is not a thing with flat rate.
The place I worked was open from 8:00 to 5:00. I was a bit fast and loose with 8:00, admittedly. Sometimes I’d get there at 8:15… 8:20. But hey, I’m paid to paint, not be **in** the building.
The new manager was more strict about the start time.
I was also free and easy to stay past 5:00 if a body man got something ready for paint close to the end of the day. Eh, I’ll stay late and set myself up for the next morning. Plus, they aren’t paying OT anyway.
Then the manager decided that at exactly 8:00, everyone was having morning scheduling meetings. Okay, I’ll be here at 8:00, but I will also leave at 5:00.
They were always happy with the fact that I was willing to stay late to set up for the morning because that was **my** time I was giving up.
So, as usual, the body men would get stuff ready for paint late in the day, and I would just let it sit because if it’s strict for us to be here at 8:00, it’s strict to leave at 5:00.
Needless to say, he didn’t last long.
Jobs got behind.
Bossman: “Hey, zellamayzao, why are we running late?”
“Well, sir, the body man didn’t get this to me until 4:15, and prepping it would have taken me past 5:00. That’s when we close, so I decided not to stay late and worry about it in the morning.”
I never did get out of the morning meetings, but he got my point about how I was doing not only myself but also the shop a favor by staying late. He wasn’t there much longer, and his replacement had a much more laid-back approach to supervision, which better fit the personality of the shop.
Nice! That manager sounded like a nightmare.
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Let’s see if the people over at Reddit have anything to say about this.
This is just crazy.
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It should be, but that’s not what it means.
Most people have had both types of bosses.
That does sound like the only incentive.
The painter wasn’t trying to make anyone’s job harder. His manager changed the policy, and he was just following it.
The problem is that the manager forgot flexibility works both ways.
If employees have to be there exactly at 8:00 every morning, they shouldn’t feel expected to stay late every afternoon either.
Let’s hope the next manager understood that because a little flexibility would’ve kept the work moving and probably saved everyone a lot of unnecessary frustration.
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