Do you feel guilty finishing work on time?

[Cordial11]

Just a general question that has come to mind.

I am productive at work and get everything done in my hours by time managing well. If it's a busy period or day when I am needed, I will stay behind , come in earlier or shorten my lunch. However the majority of time I am wrapped up and out the door just after my scheduled finish time.

Sometimes I feel guilty for this? And see a lot of others staying behind?

I am not running out the door leaving anyone else in the lurch so don't see the point in hanging around for the sake of it when I want to get back to my family and enjoy my free time.

Thoughts?

I think that's sounds reasonable. Do you respond to emails or requests that come in after you leave work? I am not nearly as productive as I'd like to be and pend many late afternoons and evenings working however this seems to be the culture for my small company. I'm also WFH but with Slack and email traffic lights and constant communication it pretty obvious who's online.

Nope , I'm straight out of the door 😀

@waterthedog yes always respond to my teams messages and any calls (not many)

@pumpkinpie01 not just me then

No. HTH.

Nope. Not one bit. Infact I've never even considered it till I read this

No, because that's the time they stop paying me!

Never understand the mindset that you should work outside your contracted, paid hours.

If I am not paid, I don't stay/do it.

Personal/family/leisure time is as important as work as far as I am concerned.

Nope. I literally watch the clock and as soon as that last second ticks over, my laptop goes off. Ta-ra, cheerio, TTFN, Tattybyes, Au revoir!

Oh god no
I recently started managing a team whose culture which came from their prev manager was if you want to succeed be in early and go home late

NO!!! Come in on time do your best job in the time given and go home

Occassions such as spikes in demand we all need flexibility but Ill remember who worked longer and make sure its given back

No merits for longer hours

Your company will replace you in a heartbeat so dont replace your home life with work

Nope. I don’t feel guilty for being efficient. I don’t feel guilty for being honest when my workload is too high/low. I won’t win any medals (or even any pay increase or bonus) by staying behind so I don’t.

I work the hours I'm paid and that's it!

Nope, I don't work for free unless it's voluntary work at my local horse sanctuary.

I work my contracted hours. My work phone is turned off when I am not at work. I work to live, not live to work. I saw first hand the effect of "going above and beyond" for free by my dad and I vowed I would never do that as my personal and family time is more important.

Many, many years ago I worked with someone who spent a great portion of their day socialising on the work phone. When I started packing up for the day, she used to start working! The management team never clicked what she was doing and I used to get filthy looks for letting her struggle on with her mountain of work whilst I left on time! I eventually confided in a respected older lady who let the management team know what was actually happening. Amazingly enough once she stopped all the phone calls she was able to get her work done on time too!

I have always done a fair days work for a fair days pay. If there have been occasions that are busy I have of course worked over, but as a rule I don't. My home life is too important and paying me a wage doesn't mean you own me! I'm very much of the opinion that if you can't get done what you need to in a day, then there is too much work and that needs sorting out, working late regularly just masks the problem.

Absolutely not, I do my contracted hours and thats it.

If I'm being paid for the extra work I don't mind occasionally staying behind to get things done if it helps other people out.

But if I need to finish on time, my personal life comes first, and if I'm not being paid - unless it is an extraordinary situation - I won't be staying. If the company want me to care enough about them to put extra hours in, they should care enough about me to pay me for them.

This is assuming you work hard during the day. If you have work left at the end because you were dicking around during working hours, that's of course different.

No. The ones staying behind are avoiding dinner and bedtime.

Presenteeism.

Presenteeism is a major issue for those of us trying to have work-life balance. I work bloody hard in my hours, which are flexible to allow me and DH to drop off and pick up kids between us, yet I still feel guilty thanks to those people who insist on coming into the office at 7 and leaving at 6. These people like to make a big song and dance when you come in after 9 or leave at 3 but are funnily no more productive than you despite spending 10-12 hours a day at their desk.

Most of these people have nothing in their life apart from work or are trying to get out of spending time with their family.

No

No. Absolutely not
I’m paid until x time. I will do whatever I need to during my working day but at ‘home time’ I’m gone
No pay no stay

I leave as much on time as I can. I finished 10 minutes late tonight but had one thing to just get done and over the line. I will be flexible where needed but being railroaded into weekend o/t in my last job put me off.