Need to log in everything we do on a weekly basis, must add up to 40 hrs. The bullsh-t justification is this will provide leadership a better understanding of the work we do. No, the justification this is going to be used for layoffs. So, Sr Leadership has no idea the work their employees do under their own umbrella? That's a problem in itself.
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Coming from another company who requires hours to be logged, I can help share some insight.
Hours logged (if done accurately) can allow leadership to determine what the work capacity is with the current headcount or if additional headcount is required (or the opposite).
The metrics help provide historical and present data which allow for further analysis on utilization, time to completion, etc...
Example: Today an employee may be working on "Task A" which takes 100 hours. 3 years from now that same task is taking the avg staff 200 hours. This allows leadership to recognize that the landscape has changed, the task is more complex and requires time thus resulting in a potential increase of headcount to complete the same number of tasks in a period of time.
It's very annoying for the staff, but you CAN create templates, stay on top of it, and make it more efficient and less painful. If it's there to stay, you must learn to accept it, find the best way to deal with it, and adapt.
These metrics can be used to have a conversation with your leadership to tell them "look, I've been logging 60hrs every week for the past 3 months, I'm overworked and underpaid" - (Caveat: If the avg team member is more efficient than you and only working 40hrs for the same work, this could backfire).
This all goes with the assumption that your leadership is using the metrics or plan to use it at some point and another assumption that the staff is entering their data accurately.
You work for the company - follow their policies. If you don't like it, find another job.
Change is not easy but it is inevitable. Learn to accept it, adapt, leave, or grow yourself into a higher role and make the changes you believe can help the organization succeed while keeping the staff happy. Good luck. I hope you all find happiness.
We used to use optics. We no longer have to. We had layoffs and after that no more optics.
My area has been doing this nonsense for years. We were told it would “help management better allocate resources.” BS! My mo--n of a manager once admitted, “no one really looks at it, they just check to see you enter your time each week.”
I would be curious to know, if this is happening throughout the organization, or just in certain areas.