Assalamu alaikum
I would like to ask about my salary!!!
I am a software engineer. By nature my job is halal. The office I am employed in is a software firm. (not any riba based bank or haram industry). So basically my income is halal alhamduLillah. But suddenly I have got a question in my mind that is,
some time it happens that in the office hour I am not doing the work properly. Or doing some other personal business via online. Usually my doing so does not hamper the total output of my work. Like, in the starting of a month you are assigned your task for that month (which may change if needed). So I need to complete them on time. For each task you have an assigned time period. If I can not deliver your task I will have to answer to my senior/boss/client. So even if, I become negligent or lazy or give time to my personal business at the working hour at the end of the month/specific period the deliverables are always ready. (99%) of time. So does this negligence/time pass/laziness make my salary mixed with haram!!!
I will be honest here, as far I can remember, only one task that I could not complete which I think, could be completed if I tried more genuinely. Though later on, about this task I had talk with the client and he moved it to next month as the task was not conveyed properly.
And one other task got delayed as I failed to give total work hour to the task due to personal issue (I fall asleep in the office time!!!)
All the other task I can remember was done properly (though in the work time I passed some lazy time, did some facebooking, checked my personal business messages and answered them). I mean though I passed leisure time, did my personal business messaging in the working time but this did not hamper the total outcome of the task.
May Allah bless you.
There are many scenarios which I cannot address here. However, there are three things I will mention here:
if you have entered into a agreement with someone, then it is not permissible to break it, as God says: “O you who have believed, fulfill [all] contracts.” [5:1]
The prophet (pbuh) said “…And the Muslims will be held to their conditions, except the conditions that make the lawful unlawful, or the unlawful lawful.” [Tirmidhi]
if you break the agreement then you must repent to the employer/manager if possible, and do istighfar. If you can even return part of your wage, it would be even better because one may argue that part of this wage was earned through deception.
sometimes, it is tempting to go on the phone or do other things whilst we are at work. This can happen when it is very quiet and there is no customer around etc. Most of us do it, and many of the managers would turn a blind eye to it at times. This I understand can be tolerable. However, when the time comes to do the work, then you must fulfil it completely and in the best manner possible.
I have seen with my own eyes, Muslims going over their break time by 10-15mns and then later on, leave their position during the working hours to go to pray, when all they could have done was to take their break at the time of prayer. This is unacceptable and against the character of a good believer to do things in this manner.
Assalamu alaikum @Mufti_Billal thanks for you answer.
actually, yes it is true that, there is a office time of 8 am - 5 pm. But actually every day you are assigned with a task. Which is planned to be done everyday, Like in every morning you teammate will decide who will do what. And you will be assigned for a part of the project. And you will have to complete it. An most importantly in every sprint you have have to complete a full task no matter how.
So my issue is at the end of the sprint my full task is done almost everytime (some exception happened which I shared with you). But yes I confess that, if you anyone ask me that "do you work from 8 am to 5 pm continuously? Don’t you miss use the time? " then I am blameable. But on the other hand I complete the task by giving extra office time. Like sometimes I work till 9pm/10 pm (We are not paid for extra time work.)
What should I say to my boss? By the way, they are more or less happy with my progress and work. Earlier (when I joined here first, at the end of the first 11 months) they were unhappy with my attendance and work so they gave me show-cause and ultimatum.But that time actually I did not misuse times in that sense!!! They mainly got anger because of my being late to come office more or less once in a week (due to late attendance sometimes salary was deducted according to office rule) and was not happy with my work. though my immediate manager did not said me to improve anything! What he asked me to do I did them. so I could not trace out that they were not happy with me. Then I got ultimatum from the authority. When I asked my manager about it he told that the authority is mainly unhappy as I was absent for some days and late attending office. then he said I wanted more performance from you. though he never told me earlier that he is not happy with my work, progress. So I could not really trace out that he is not happy with me. As, from my point of view whatever he asked me to do I did them, someetimes I failed but I tried to complete them.
But after that time, now it has been around 2.5 years I am working here. My seniors are happy with my work more or less, sometimes due to joining office late salary gets deducted as office rule! SO what should I confess? I mean, if your boss/client/manager/authority is not happy with your output they call you and asks about the issue. Or salary increases less than the other or some manager comes to you(physically or virtually) and notify you about your late attendance which is making authority unhappy.
How should I calculate it? I can’t remember how much time I misused. All I can remember, as an office rule sometimes my salary was deducted due to my coming late to the office. And I also think I have completed my tasks more or less properly.No matter how much time I killed, I completed the task. And for working extra time no extra payment is done. I mean I did not worked over time for the greed of extra payment but due to complete it. And at the end of the predefined period I handover my task properly to the client/boss/manager 90% if not 100%. Now how to calculate the part? I really don’t remember the time that I misused!!! I can remember last week (as we are working from home. I got asleep!! and started to work after 4/5 hours. And some sprints ago I was absent from office for 4/5 hours. And during this quarantine, everyday our morning meeting starts at 8.45 or 8.15 or 9.30. Before that actually I don’t have any work to do actually. So after giving attendance from 8am to the meeting time I take a nap!! I am very fond of sleeping actually Even if I don’t get asleep at that time I will be sitting idle as mainly in the meeting we decide what is planned to be done by today. (I think more or less every one spent this time doing their personal thing.) But WHATEVER the issue is I complete my task according to the predefined time 90 percent times if not 100.
now what should I do?
And 1 more thing the task I am assigned everyday, most of the time I am capable to do them within 5-6 hours alhamduLillah, if I don’t loss time in an intolerable way. So if I don’t pass some time!!! then I have to sit idle for rest of the time! As working time is officially 8 hour! And sometimes when I complete my task before the predefined time then I actually need to sit doing nothing or waiting for the teammates that if they ask me for help then will help them or sit literally idle. In that case, after completing my daily task is it ok to do my personal business within this office time?
And one more thing, I have invested my salary for my business. Now I can’t really understand what to with the profit. Do I need to throw them! I mean please help me
Anything that has been dealt with by the manager already is fine, whether they took actions or not. For example, when you were late and they knew about it.
But anything, that you are deceiving them about and they are not aware about it, then this must be addressed.
If you can afford to return part of your wage, then just try to make an honest estimate of what your heart tells you.
Again, I would like to highlight that given the nature of today’s work environment, it is not easy to always follow the rules of the work place. However, as Muslims we need to draw a line somewhere where there is a clear deception caused towards the employer, and when we are causing a lost to the business due to our own negligence.
A very extreme example, but a case worth mentioning to create some awareness of how important it is to respect our contractual duties:
Thank you for your reply. Honestly for my negligence, time passing no loss happened to the company. As far I know. Otherwise they would give me a show-cause. Yes some mistakes happened but those were not due to time pass. And i would like to say here no matter how much time I passed or not I completed my task with in the time period. Like you assigned me a task to complete in 4 days. May be first 2 days I worked less and did some time pass, personal business but last 2 days I completed the task. So ultimately after 4 days the task you assigned me is done. Am I blameworthy in such cases too?
I can not give the company the money back. I mean it is not possible for me to approach them with such an offer. Will it be ok if i give the estimated money to charity, some needy person, someone who needs help for treatment etc (muslim
, non muslim both people)?
What about the profit that I gained by using my salary in business. Can I keep that or need to give away a portion of it also.
I’ve been in brother @Eaiman 's position as employee/software engineer and can totally understand.
In a knowledge based economy as a software developer, you may not be writing code all the time. But alternatively, I’m not paid while thinking about work in the Shower at home as well
Now I’m in the position of employer with 6 employees all working from home in a different country.
While I’d love for my employees to work 100% during work time, I accept this is not possible.
Also, it is sometimes obvious what day someone has had a good day of work/not a good day of work. Sometimes it isn’t obvious.
A persistent slacker is definitely obvious. And I’ve fired a guy for that after an extended duration.
Thanks for your input in this thread. As you also belong to this field moreover now you are an employer, hope you can get the situation! Like easily you can understand at the end of the sprint emplyer mainly wants to see the out put. He does not want to know how many hours one passed in laziness or something like that if the ultimate development is done properly. So in such cases actually as an employee I mainly focus that the work is done within the specific mandays. If I pass some extra time today I will cover that next day (some day in the sprint) so that ultimate goal is met! However, now a days I have started to put jira work log as much accurate as possible, though I REALLY doubt that our employer/client does not even look at those work log as long as the main purpose is served!!!
I mean, if your boss/client/manager/authority is not happy with your output they call you and asks about the issue. Or salary increases less than the other or some manager comes to you(physically or virtually) and notify you about your late attendance which is making authority unhappy.
