When does a shift start?

Undervalued

mr_stripey said:

I mean, it's obvious really isn't it? You should be ready to start work at the time your shift starts.

The exact build up to that point will vary on workplace environment etc. Consider a nurse arriving for their shift. Hospitals are massive and it can easily take 10 minutes or more from parking up to arriving on the ward. 

Ideally the worker should be arriving a few minutes before so grabbing a coffee, chit chat with colleagues etc can be out of the way in time for starting work.

I can't see how the walk from car to workstation can be considered work time.

Exactly.

The commute to work is a significant but normally unpaid part of the day. Except in the the most unusual circumstances, the fact that 10 mins of that commute might be walking on the employer's land rather than the highway is neither here nor there.

If the employer moved a couple of miles down the road there would normally be no entitlement to extra pay for those that had a longer journey, nor would anybody who now lived closer to work be paid any less!

Ditzy_Mitzy

Fascinating variety of jobs we've had between us!

Police force was rather similar to the ambulance service, in that officers were expected to be ready and 'kitted up' - i.e. in uniform, in possession of all personal equipment, car keys and with radio fired up by the shift start time.  The preparatory steps had to be taken on the premises as some items, C.S. spray and radio batteries in particular, were not supposed to be in officers' possession during non-work time.  

There were exceptions.  If a car was still out, the relieving crew wouldn't be able to take the keys and so on.  

Car inspections were generally done in shift time, however.  

robatwork

If I can generalise a bit, in most office jobs the first 30 minutes are more important/likely to be busier than the last 30. I'm ignoring shift work and thinking about 9-5ers. As such I'd expect the management to prefer leeway at the end of the day to the beginning. At least that's how it is in our company.

The expectation is your computer is on and you're ready to go at 9. If you want to leave a bit early on occasion, that's OK. 

Savvy_Sue

robatwork said:

If I can generalise a bit, in most office jobs the first 30 minutes are more important/likely to be busier than the last 30. I'm ignoring shift work and thinking about 9-5ers. As such I'd expect the management to prefer leeway at the end of the day to the beginning. At least that's how it is in our company.

Ah yes, that was the argument used by the micromanager who insisted I had to be in the office by 9 am (apart from the days when I was 'it' for one of our team being there at 8.45, also at their insistence, in case a tradesperson arrived to do something, and no-one outside our team knew what to do), and in order to support my team I had to be there by 9 Every Single Day. 

Never mind that anything happening at the end of the day WOULD be dealt with by me, and it was often more critical at that point than first thing. Tradesman arrives earlier than scheduled? "I'm so sorry Fred, you're a bit early, just give us a minute and we'll be all sorted. Colleague's laptop freezes just as they're trying to finish a report before leaving? "Here, let me have a look" seemed preferable to "I'm so sorry, I've been here since before 9 and I'm clocking out now."

I do get it: in some places you need, absolutely MUST, be there, ready to work by a fixed time. I'd never take a job like that. As it was, the micromanager left before I did (and mine was not the only huge sigh of relief), but it was a close thing! 

robatwork

Of course this works both ways, but I'm mainly talking about a telephone support service where the majority of calls are morning, with the majority of these being early morning. 

The "last thing" calls could be the worst, and longest, and the management would stay late to deal with those

DullGreyGuy

robatwork said:

Of course this works both ways, but I'm mainly talking about a telephone support service where the majority of calls are morning, with the majority of these being early morning. 

The "last thing" calls could be the worst, and longest, and the management would stay late to deal with those

Inevitably depends on the contact centre... I've done work in 24/7 operations and there are multiple peaks in the day. Working for the water authority there was a peak around 7am when people were waking up and finding a problem with their supply, similar one around 6pm as people get home from work and find a problem. Unusually we didnt have much of a lunchtime peak unlike other call centres I've done 

In non-24/7 operations the final calls were dealt with by the operators but a team leader had to stay until all the calls were completed just in case an override was required or the agent needed advice etc. 

Savvy_Sue

robatwork said:

Of course this works both ways, but I'm mainly talking about a telephone support service where the majority of calls are morning, with the majority of these being early morning. 

The "last thing" calls could be the worst, and longest, and the management would stay late to deal with those

In my experience, managers were much better than me at leaving on time. 

EnPointe

elsien said:

Whether the car park is on company grounds or not, I still wouldn’t expect a walk from there to your workstation to form part of your working day. 

indeed , the absolute earliest  your shift  starts is when you walk into the building / through  security 

LightFlare

I’m curious as to whether there is a generational difference in the interpretation of the original question.

I’ve always gone by: “on time is late”

I agree that in some jobs punctuality is much more important than in others. In those that aren’t, as long as the employee does at least the amount of hours they are meant to - no problem