My coworkers made a shared spreadsheet to track everyone's lunch break times.
By @violetliterally · Work
Someone on my team created a public spreadsheet for everyone to log when they leave for lunch and when they get back, down to the minute. They say it's for 'transparency and accountability,' but it feels like a low-key way to police everyone.
The full story
I work in a pretty standard office job. Salaried, 9-to-5, the usual. Our official lunch break is one hour. Most people respect that, but sometimes you get back at 1:05 PM instead of 1:00 PM because the line at the cafe was long. No one has ever gotten in trouble for it, and our manager is very relaxed as long as the work gets done. About two weeks ago, a coworker—who is a peer, not a manager—announced in our team chat that she was creating a 'Lunch Tracker' spreadsheet to promote transparency. Her reasoning was that sometimes people need to find someone and don't know if they're at lunch or just away from their desk. She invited the whole team to the a place nearby Sheet. It has columns for your name, time out, time back, and total duration, which is auto-calculated. It's conditionally formatted so if your break is over 60 minutes, the cell turns red. She and a few of her work friends started using it religiously. Logging their breaks down to the second, like '12:01:15 PM' to '12:59:45 PM'. A few other people felt pressured and started using it too. I haven't used it once. I think it's passive-aggressive and breeds a culture of micromanagement and distrust. It feels like a solution in search of a problem. Yesterday, the original creator sent a message in the chat saying, 'Hey guys, just a reminder to please log your lunches! It helps us all stay accountable.' I ignored it. Today, she came to my desk and asked if I had a second. She politely asked why I wasn't using the sheet and said it 'works better when we all participate.' I told her I didn't feel it was necessary and that as long as our manager is fine with our performance, I don't see the need to publicly track our time. they said it wasn't about performance, but about 'team cohesion and respect for each other's time.' It feels completely ridiculous and I'm not going to start logging my sandwich time like I'm punching a clock, but now there's this weird tension on the team.
How people voted
- Side A — 11% (2 votes)
- Both — 53% (10 votes)
- Side B — 37% (7 votes)
Readers say “Both” (53%) — 19 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@nico — Salaried means you get the job done, not punch a clock.
@mmkay — I get the feeling we're not hearing the full story about people's long lunches.
@codyagain — Good for you for standing your ground politely. That sounds so uncomfortable and unnecessary.
@wes — What does your actual manager say about this whole thing?
@vinceagain — Wow, a spreadsheet to solve a problem that doesn't exist. very innovative.
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