Hey all.

I work as a consultant in a government department, which means in Canada that we have a lot of choices in our hours (for example, my boss works from 7-3, I work 9-5. As long as the hours are there, you can start and finish between 6 am and 6 pm). One of the other guys in the office has occasionally used the fact that the boss starts and leaves work early to leave earlier than he technically should. Someone mentioned it to my boss and now he wants me to let him know if the guy leaves early.

The crux is this: First, he's a nice-ish guy and I don't particularly want to toss him under a bus. Second, I'm a consultant, not an employee of the department so it's not really in my interest to engage in activity that could cause conflict. And third I have occasionally used his tendency to leave half an hour early to skive off 15 minutes early myself, so it seems a bit hypocritical to nail him to the wall about it.

The way I see it is this, I can straight up tattle to the boss on him every time he does it, I can tell the boss about it any time it would be obvious he has (i.e. he leaves early, and someone else shows up looking for him so he's gonna hear about it anyways), I can quietly let him know that our boss has heard he's been leaving early and he should probably knock it off, or just say I'm uncomfortable passing information on a coworker and let the boss find someone else to keep an eye on him.

It would be nice to get some feedback or alternative options though.

Best thing to do is talk to your colleague and tell him that it bothers you. If you don't want to do that then don't do anything unless it is actually affecting yours or another's workload. It's not your responsibility to inform your boss after all...

The last thing you want to do is be called out for sneaking out early too.

Out of those options, I'd probably do C - A (telling all the time) leaves you open to get revenge-tattled, B (telling when its obvious) will leave it obvious that you aren't really paying attention, and D (saying you don't want to get involved) makes it look like you've got something to hide.

Let the guy know that the bosses are on to them, and make it clear (in a non-aggresive way) that him leaving so early needs to stop. But then, so should you skiving. xD

Tell your boss he has no right to hold others to rules he doesn't follow.

If the set times are 9-5 then nobody should be there outside those hours, but nobody should be leaving early without specific reasons. Turn up 9 on the dot, leave at 5, no exceptions.

It's a matter of the scale. You're skiving off 15 minutes, and since your boss asked you to keep tabs on the guy I assume you're productive and helpful and generally a good worker, so how much is this guy trimming? If it's so much more he's being actively suspected by your employer you should just tell him "hey man, you're on watch, I get the trim but keep it reasonable". If he doesn't listen and keeps doing it, you do what your boss asked. I'm confident your boss probably knows you do it a bit too.

Personally I would tell my boss I was uncomfortable being put in that situation, and perhaps also offer to talk with the worker about it and see if the problem could be resolved. If your boss is concerned with ensuring people are working the proper hours, and not with making an example of the guy or anything like that, then I would hope this would be an acceptable solution.

I would simply tell the boss that I would not spy on my co-workers. Then tell the guy who is knocking off early what has happened so he can stop his behavior. You don't have to grass an employee or lie to your superior, he keeps his job and the boss-man gets a model employee at the same time. Everyone wins.

Craorach:
Tell your boss he has no right to hold others to rules he doesn't follow.

If the set times are 9-5 then nobody should be there outside those hours, but nobody should be leaving early without specific reasons. Turn up 9 on the dot, leave at 5, no exceptions.

From the sound of it the boss is holding others to the rule of 40 hours a week, which he does follow. The boss doesn't care that the guy leaves at an earlier time than someone else, he cares that the guy is leaving before putting in his 8 hours. Claiming that you worked 40 hours when you worked less is fraud and theft.

Nerexor:
It would be nice to get some feedback or alternative options though.

I'd probably tell the co-worker to stop skiving without mentioning that the boss is after him. That way he might stop skiving, and the problem is solved without you telling other people about a conversation that your boss wouldn't want spread around.

Then, if he doesn't stop, you can tell the boss when he next skives off without being bitchy - you did warn him after all!

It's worth considering that the boss might also have asked other people in the office to keep an eye on this person, so decide what you're going to do sharpish, or the boss will think you're covering for the other guy!