Misrepresenting timesheet on bosses' request - big deal?
Prior to the question, I have read multiple questions and answers about misrepresented timesheets on this page, but all of them were about different situations than the one I am in. I work as a software developer. This is my first job. I've been in the company for a few years. Recently, the company has started requiring us to track our worktime in timesheets. At the end of each day, we have to enter the amount of time we've spent working on each project we've worked on. For now, we've been instructed by our bosses (my boss and his boss) to enter the time spent working on each project factually, we should enter the time we've really spent working on those projects. But here starts the reason for my question. Each project we are working on has a specific number of days which can be spent working on it each year. The number of days is determined by the price the project was sold for. Our bosses have mentioned that after we have used up all the allowed hours on a project, if there is still more work to be done on the project, we (the developers) might be required to enter in the timesheet those hours spent working on those projects as if they were spent working on some other project whose allowed time for the year hasn't been used up. We also might need to enter some of those hours as administrative hours, education hours or similar. Since it is the beginning of the year, we still haven't used up all the hours for any of our projects. But we might in a month or two. The thing is, some of our projects were sold for less money than they should've been. And it was done intentionally, because some of the higher-ups were desperate to sell anything. So when the time on some projects runs out, it won't be a matter of an unlucky estimate guess. And then there are projects that won't have all of their time used up. My colleague developers, both those on the same level and more senior than me, are all ready to enter the "fake" hours as required by our bosses. Specifically, my boss and his boss are on it, their higher-ups don't know about "the fake hours request". My question is: is it moral to comply with my bosses' request? Is it a common occurrence in the corporate world that is simply a result of corporate mess and should not be considered a big deal? Or is it a big deal? Is it something that I should quit the job over rather than comply with? Since it is my first job, I am unexperienced with such situations. It seems unethical. It's a nice job which I wouldn't like to lose. Confronting my bosses about it doesn't seem like an option. This is not US if it matters.
Prior to the question, I have read multiple questions and answers about misrepresented timesheets on this page, but all of them were about different situations than the one I am in.
I work as a software developer. This is my first job. I've been in the company for a few years. Recently, the company has started requiring us to track our worktime in timesheets. At the end of each day, we have to enter the amount of time we've spent working on each project we've worked on.
For now, we've been instructed by our bosses (my boss and his boss) to enter the time spent working on each project factually, we should enter the time we've really spent working on those projects.
But here starts the reason for my question. Each project we are working on has a specific number of days which can be spent working on it each year. The number of days is determined by the price the project was sold for.
Our bosses have mentioned that after we have used up all the allowed hours on a project, if there is still more work to be done on the project, we (the developers) might be required to enter in the timesheet those hours spent working on those projects as if they were spent working on some other project whose allowed time for the year hasn't been used up. We also might need to enter some of those hours as administrative hours, education hours or similar.
Since it is the beginning of the year, we still haven't used up all the hours for any of our projects. But we might in a month or two.
The thing is, some of our projects were sold for less money than they should've been. And it was done intentionally, because some of the higher-ups were desperate to sell anything. So when the time on some projects runs out, it won't be a matter of an unlucky estimate guess. And then there are projects that won't have all of their time used up.
My colleague developers, both those on the same level and more senior than me, are all ready to enter the "fake" hours as required by our bosses. Specifically, my boss and his boss are on it, their higher-ups don't know about "the fake hours request".
My question is: is it moral to comply with my bosses' request? Is it a common occurrence in the corporate world that is simply a result of corporate mess and should not be considered a big deal? Or is it a big deal? Is it something that I should quit the job over rather than comply with?
Since it is my first job, I am unexperienced with such situations. It seems unethical.
It's a nice job which I wouldn't like to lose. Confronting my bosses about it doesn't seem like an option.
This is not US if it matters.
