What counts as starting work?

theoretica

So long as you are paid at least minimum wage overall, you do not need to be paid equally for every minute worked, so it is perfectly legal for your employer to say your work hours are 9-5 answering calls at £X an hour, and however many minutes you need to set up and shut down at £0 an hour.

TELLIT01

From my reading of the situation the OP does have their computer on and ready for work by 9am so that isn't the issue.  Everywhere I worked after e-mail came in we were told to read them before doing anything else in case anything had changed since previous working day.  If the OP left reading e-mail until half way through the day they could be in trouble for not being up to date with latest requirements.  Looks like a lose-lose scenario for the OP.

When I started working for the DWP, office based long before the pandemic, it would take up to 15 minutes to get all the PC powered up and all systems working.  No way would I, or any of my work colleagues, consider going in 15 minutes before the start of our contracted hours to cover the shortcomings of the systems.

paycre

Hey. I really appreciate everyone’s thoughtful input on my question. Definitely some things to think about. I wouldn’t even have asked except the nature of the email was so formal, in such a way that it makes me believe it’s laying the ground work for future action, should I not be ready again at 9 and therefore I would like to know where I stand, where as a simple conversation from them and I’ve had got the message just as well and not felt threatened. 

There are a few comments about being more flexible for the employer or more willing etc, not to quibble and whilst is theory I totally don’t disagree and this was how I was raised.  The one thing I would say is that things have really changed in the employment market and especially with minimum wage or zero hours jobs, with many companies it is no longer give and take. It doesn’t matter how much willing you show. How often you may stay late to tidy something up. They care about what the computer says and that’s it. 

TELLIT01

Sadly you are correct about company attitude and relying totally on stats.  Those stats rarely take account of other bits and pieces people are asked to do during their working day.  Again from DWP experience, they got rid of all the Admin Assistants where I worked which meant much of the work they had previously done fell to us.  No problem with that, apart from the fact that the amount of our 'normal' work we were expected to achieve wasn't modified to take it into account.

Ksw3

A previous company I worked at solved this issue by having phone lines go live at 9:15. Although it doesn't sound like your employer would be keen to consider that or offer any flexibility. 

paycre

Ksw3 said:

A previous company I worked at solved this issue by having phone lines go live at 9:15. Although it doesn't sound like your employer would be keen to consider that or offer any flexibility. 

Yes I won’t go into details but I have offered flexibility around rostering to ensure readiness for the time they require. But that was a no. 

paycre

Jillanddy said:

paycre said:

. I wouldn’t even have asked except the nature of the email was so formal, in such a way that it makes me believe it’s laying the ground work for future action, should I not be ready again at 9 and therefore I would like to know where I stand, where as a simple conversation from them and I’ve had got the message just as well and not felt threatened. 

 

I think you need to be very cautious about assuming that any answers here - or even the question you asked - have any relevance to this "new" question, which is "where do I stand?". Because if, as I suspect may be the case, you have less than two years employment (it would seem odd that it took more than 2 years for such a basic issue to emerge), the where you stand is being able to be dismissed for almost any reason - or even no reason. So if that "future action" is dismissal and you have less than 2 years employment, then they don't even need to lay the ground work, they can simply dismiss you. Even with two years notice, I think that if I were prepared to take a stand that could lead to dismissal over a few minutes when I work from home anyway, then I would definitely be thinking this isn't the job for me. Whilst I realise that the employer is taking a stand over what is only a few minutes , the point of fact is that they can do so with impunity, and you can't. 

Hey. I appreciate your warning here and I’m very aware of the lack of employment rights prior to two years service, which to be honest is just crazy and I certainly wouldn’t be taking anything here as fact. But I am genuinely interested as to peoples opinion on what counts as starting work. There are many other issues within the company but sometimes it’s the little things that tip you over. 

theoretica

Just rereading - have any of your colleagues had similar emails?  This could be a bulk/automatic thing sent to everyone who didn't pick up the phone on the dot.  A united response from the whole team might be stronger than facing this alone.

[Deleted User]

Are these emails/updates that need to be read before taking the calls? If you don't have time to read them, I'm assuming there's the issue of giving out incorrect information on the calls, if you haven't yet read the emails/updates. In some places, there is no time to read emails/updates between calls, as it's one call straight after another. Therefore, it would only be fair for your employer to allow time at 9.00am for the emails/updates to be read.

Marvel1

I expect to be ready at that time.

Example: I normally phone a call centre at the time they open (to avoid heavy queues later on) lets says 8am -I expect to get through and not listen to an auto message saying closed and their opening hours.

Reading emails/notices etc is work time so in between calls.

Not call/PC related, but previous employment end of day when store closed, many of us late finishers were always up to 15 mins late - duties after store closed.  Employer changed it and had 1/2 the staff start 15 minutes later of their shift to cover the end 15 minutes.