The Australian tax office has asked workers to report colleagues who eat or read newspapers at their desk PAIt’s a small pleasure enjoyed by many office workers but Australian civil servants who eat at their desk while catching up on the news now risk being reported by colleagues. The 20,000 staff at the Australian Tax Office have been ordered to report anyone they see taking long lunches or wasting time by eating breakfast or reading newspapers at work. Such activities may amount to the falsifying of working hours or even fraud, parsimonious bosses have warned. “You might have seen it before,” the memo issued to public servants states. “A colleague makes a habit of taking long lunches; or regularly leaves early; or spends the first hour at work eating breakfast and reading the paper .

Source: The Times February 20, 2018 17:03 UTC