‘We are not in school anymore’: Employee upset over being reported for using phone during work hours - Singapore News
· The IndependentSINGAPORE: An employee expressed her frustration online after discovering that someone had complained about her phone usage during office hours, even though she insists her work performance has never been affected.
Sharing the incident on the r/singaporejobs forum, the employee said that she has been working in a “typical corporate office” for over a year, where the workforce is largely made up of older staff.
She noted that “a lot of people are above 40,” with only about 10 per cent of employees in their 20s like herself.
She then explained that she consistently “finishes whatever work she has by the end of the day.”
However, because she finds it difficult to stay focused for long, uninterrupted periods, she tends to alternate between work and briefly checking her phone throughout the day.
During slower periods, she also uses her phone to reply to messages or scroll through social media.
Despite this, she was recently flagged by someone outside her department, who allegedly monitored her behaviour and reported it to her supervisor.
“I recently got a note from my direct boss saying that someone not from my department has been monitoring me and reported that I use my phone too much,” she wrote.
Caught off guard by the complaint, she questioned whether such scrutiny is normal in the workplace.
“Is this normal? How often do you guys use your phones at work? We are not in school anymore. Why is my using my phone bothering someone else who has 0 work relations with me?”
“Precisely, you are not in school anymore. So act like it.”
In the comments, several Singaporean Redditors said that phone use is still generally frowned upon in more traditional office settings, even if the employee is getting all their work done.
One user pointed out that even if a direct supervisor is fine with short phone breaks, other colleagues may not be.
“There will be other people around the office who will find an issue with it. Unfortunately, that’s just how typical toxic corporate culture is.”
Another shared that in some workplaces, there’s this unspoken expectation to always look busy.
“You’re expected to ‘pretend to work’ when you don’t have work,” they wrote. “God forbid that you be doing work that doesn’t look like work too. Someone actually reported me before for ‘surfing’ when I was actually searching for sales leads.”
A third added, “Because the expectation at work is to work. Not to scroll social media. What the other generation does is that they mingle and gossip instead in their free time. It’s just more socially acceptable. The same for how smokers can take smoke breaks but non-smokers can’t take phone breaks. It’s just how society is for now.”
Meanwhile, some commenters advised the post author to manage her short attention span by taking brief pantry or toilet breaks, or walking around occasionally to stretch her legs during the workday.
On the other hand, a few people were more critical and felt the employee didn’t really see why others might view the behaviour negatively.
One wrote, “Precisely, you are not in school anymore. So act like it. You’re at work. Not paid to leisurely sit there on the company’s time to chit-chat on the phone or scroll social media. If you have so much free time at work, it means your workload is too little or your job is unnecessary.”
They continued, “What’s your point of bringing up age groups? You are younger, so phone usage is the norm, and people should accept it? Those in their 40s probably have more personal tasks to do on their phones than waste time doom scrolling or stalking influencers like you, yet they aren’t using company time to do so, or smart enough to be discreet.”
In other news, a Singaporean jobseeker has shared online that he feels rather “hopeless” after being unable to secure a job despite lowering his salary expectations to around S$3,000 to S$3,500.
Posting on the forum singaporejobs on Monday (May 4), the 26-year-old described the job market in the city-state as “brutal.”
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