Do you leave work on the dot?

JDC14

I arrive 5 minutes before I'm due to start work (can't be helped because of train time and it's first train). Gives me time to turn PC on, unlock the door and make a cuppa.

Then I'll start and come back to my tea while waiting for post to arrive and replying to e-mails that came in late.


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As for clockwatchers - I have become one in my current job. The 'new guy' my colleague, has been there coming up a month.

He's meant to start at 8am every morning, but usually rocks up 5-10 past, which annoys me as it is (didn't see him till half past one morning), then he makes a cup of tea and sits down and reads the emails, he knows I've already dealt with, despite being told there's stuff to do.

So I've become one, because he angers me.

sapphireeye

I hate the perception that if you leave work on time then you can't be working as hard as other people or aren't pulling your weight. I work my backside off in the hours that I'm in work but I do take a lunch break (not the full 50 minutes I'm entitled to but more than most of my team who don't seem to take a lunch break) and I do stay late sometimes if I want to get something finished (though in my job the work is never finished). I don't feel I should have to sacrifice my life or my sanity for my job, it's stressful enough as it is. I've noticed that most people in my office do leave on time, I work in the public sector now and I've noticed that there isn't the same competition that there used to be when I worked in the private sector about who could stay the latest.

I have known plenty of people in my working life that have spent their working day wandering around chatting to people, surfing the internet, wandering about aimlessly with bits of paper and having chats in their office which they pretended were meetings, but because they stayed late people thought that they must be a really hard worker. In actuality, they were either staying late to get the work done they hadn't done earlier, or were surfing the internet but purposely staying late to make themselves look like they were still working hard.

I try not to stay late at work but I always get noticed at work for my productivity during the hours that I am at work and I don't feel that it should be necessary to stay late in order to be good at your job or a conscientious employee.

zildjian

Has anyone ever went from finishing a an hour or so later than contracted frequently, to then finishing bang on time all the time? In a way, almost as if to make a point?

scubaangel

I find it depends on the shift I'm working if I'm on an early I'll be at work and on the floor ready to start on the dot, and I'll leave as soon as I'm finished with my last task - I tend to try to get away from customer interaction tasks 15 mins before I'm due to finish as there's always something I as a supervisor can do that the general staff can't (quite often it'll be the ISO paperwork), means I can leave a note for the incoming supervisor about what needs particular attention that my shift hasnt finished. If I'm on a late shift then we're lucky in that we can leave as soon as we're happy that all the 'housekeeping' tasks have been done after I've cashed up, but the doors are locked on time unless we've any last minute stragglers.

I've one colleague who'll arrive at her start time, take 5 or 10 mins to freshen up her make up and generally faff before shes out on the floor, who then moans if anyone else takes a break when she wants one/is accustomed to taking hers and then when shes leaving will get away from the tills and customer facing tasks 30 mins before shes due to finish and is off the floor 5 mins before shes due to leave - then spends another 15 mins or so getting changed and redoing her make up before she goes home. Can't quite get my head around that one though.

telboyo

What if you all just turned up half an hour late every morning and told your boss that you would just work half an hour later at an unspecifeid time.
Putting "managers" on a "salary" of £13000 P.A. and expecting them to work 10-20hr per week overtime is just an abuse of the NMW.
Just try filling your car up with £60.00 of fuel and handing over only £50- they wouldn't accept it and nor should you.

Jessii1990

I hardly ever leave work on time. Unfortunately if the phone ring and I'm due to go home i have no choice but to answer it and deal with the customers inquiries no matter how long it takes after my shift. I'm not given overtime or TOIL either for it, its just expected.

I am always in work a least 30mins before I'm due to start as well to ensure my computer is logged in with all the right programmes and that i am ready to log in on the dot.

SingleSue

zildjian wrote: »

Has anyone ever went from finishing a an hour or so later than contracted frequently, to then finishing bang on time all the time? In a way, almost as if to make a point?

Yep! When I had just been given 3 months notice of redundancy.

At the time I was annoyed to be in the first wave of redundancies (it was an office relocation and they thought that as I had recently married and bought a house that I would prefer not to relocate). They in fact did me a favour as I got an even better job zt higher pay and paid overtime within the notice period whereas those who went in the second and third waves ended up with nowhere to go as quite a few big companies had gone to the wall in the meantime.

SingleSue

When I was working, I would always arrive at least 10 mins early and more often than not, would leave later than my official finish time.

I have been quite lucky however in that the majority of companies I have worked for have paid overtime or had other incentives which made the whole package attractive (a free 3 course meal everyday at one company!) but even those where overtime was not paid, I hated to leave on time if another team member still had a pile of work to do....I always thought it fairer if we all helped out and got the backlog cleared then we could all leave at a decent time.

That stance worked well as on another day, it could be you who needed the help, especially as in my last company, they had the horrible knack of putting all the complex files in one person's work pile, files which took a lot longer to work through than bog standard ones....so although the size of the pile looked the same, the work load was sometimes 5 or 6 times as much and thus, took more than the shift to get through.

outtawork

I used to work at least 40 hours and got paid for 25 hours, I loved the job & that's what it took to get the job done, was often called into work to sort a problem out, meaning I rarely got a day off. problem was management got used to it and expected it, then kept increasing my workload, but didn't want to pay for anymore hours. I still got let go without any redundancy pay.So much for that and I wouldn't do it again though.

jembie

I work flexi time in my job.
So If I stay late one day it means I can go early another.(Or build it up for a Whole day off)
My finish time is generally 4.54pm but because my buses are very erratic after 5pm I try to get out at 4.44pm to make sure I am there when the 4.55pm bus arrives.
I always start 10 minutes early.
About once a week, I'll get a 5.54pm finish and it is usually impossible to finish on time and I usually get out at 6.05pm. Then there are about 10 of us waiting for up to 30 minutes until a bus finally turns up.