My manager spoke to me about being 20 minutes short each day. How should I handle this?
Hi everyone,
Earlier this week, my manager pulled me aside and told me that I take about 50 minutes for lunch, even though, according to him, I'm only supposed to take 35 minutes. I work in an engineering office, and lunch here is very flexible. People take it whenever they want, and for whatever length suits them, as long as they complete 8 hours a day.
I usually arrive around 7:45 and leave at 4:20, which comes out to 8 hours and 35 minutes in the office. Most days I take about 55 minutes to eat and decompress a bit, so on paper I'm about 20 minutes short. Some people have asked me why I don't take a full hour like a lot of my coworkers, but honestly I don't need that much time, and I don't want to stay late just for the sake of staying.
The part that bothers me is that I get my work done on time, and often ahead of schedule, too. On many afternoons, I'm sitting around waiting for something else to do. I'm not missing deadlines or causing problems for anyone.
Apparently, the person who told my manager about this is an older woman in the office who regularly stays late because she struggles with the software we use. It seems she got annoyed that I come in after her and still leave before her. So to me, this feels less like an actual productivity problem and more like office politics.
My manager said we'll talk about it again tomorrow, and I'm not sure what the best response is. I'm salaried, and if I don't get paid extra when I stay late during busy periods, I don't see why I should just sit around to hit a specific number down to the minute when my work is already done.
How can I explain this without making it sound like I'm arrogant or that I think the rules don't apply to me?