If you start work at 9am, should you arrive at 8.50am?

[pontipinemum]

I watched a video recently where people were complaining that if they started work at 9am, 3pm what ever it might be that they will turn up on the dot if their boss expects them to be there earlier they need to pay them more.

I do agree, as apparently some places ask you to arrive 15mins early for a seamless cross over. Which could actually work out at nearly 60 unpaid hours over the year.

I have been bang on time arriving to work and would not consider myself late but I had 1 boss who would consider that late and she made sure I knew.

But if you want to get in, get a cuppa tea, say hi to people you aren't arriving 10 mins early to actually start work. I have worked with people who come in at 9am on the dot, then go to the kitchen for 20 mins before even turning on the computer.

I wfh now so I do tend to start a bit earlier then my official start time

I thought this too, haha over my regular wee'er status. It's just more acceptable later? Just don't take a wee and be two mins late, relatively speaking to maybe some of the same posters who have the time to sit on here posting all through work, anyway.

I expect there are people in the workplace that do take the piss.

My view is that whatever your start time, you should be in work, stuff put away, and ready to go on the dot at the time you start. Nothing worse than people who take the mick wasting half hour eating breakfast in the kitchen and similar.

I just walk in the office. Hang my coat/jacket up on the door. Turn the computer on and start work.

Who needs a poo and a drink as soon as you get there? Just do it later.

Surely as long as you are at your desk at 9am, the time it takes to log on to the computer you are within rights to class as work time?

Depends on the job. My first job was in a high street bank and hours were 9-5. We were told we had to be in, coats off etc ready to work at our desks at 9 so we really had to arrive about 8.45 or so. Not unreasonable. If customers come in and need serving you can't be chatting by the coffee machine.....

We had a signing in and out book. If we worked late on the Thursday late night opening, or filled up the cash machines at weekends, we got paid overtime.

I later moved to head office and worked in HR. Managerial level and more flexible - you could start any time from about 7 and leave whenever suited. You could work through lunch or take two hours to do Christmas shopping. You could work from home if no meetings scheduled (long before Covid). You did also often answer your phone evenings and weekends, and travelled and stayed over in hotels. No clocking in and out then, and no overtime...... 😁

So it depends on the job. But if you're hourly paid and working to set hours then yes - you should be at your workplace ready to work at 9 am.

I once worked at a well organised care home where I concluded that At OTHER establishments the ' handover,' routine was for the benefit of Seniior staff where ONE SENIOR would hand over the shift to The Whole Workforce. While in the well organised place HALF The Staff would begin work , then half- hour later would swap and get hand over eliminating the need for people to start early.

I worked somewhere quite recently where it literally took 30-45 mins for the laptop to connect to the system. With the considerable time it also took to log off the system, I worked out that everyone spent about 6 working weeks logging on and off the system. No way is was happening on my time.

For me start time is when you fire up your laptop to log on - if you do that 15 mins before your "start time" that's almost 5 working days a year you're giving away for nothing.

I work a flexitime job though so I determine my own "start time". I log on and do some work before I get a cuppa, or when I'm at home I arrive at my desk with said cuppa!

Because of childcare I come crashing in about half an hour after our Practice opens. 😆 I'll run down, grab a drink and get to my desk as quickly as I can. My colleague is the same and luckily our boss is OK with it as he knows we can't be there any earlier. We often stay after closing and will always be there early in the holidays. Another 4 years and I'll be back to being there for opening again. Then I like to get there 10 minutes early to grab a drink and get up to my desk before 9. I'm glad they've been able to stick with us through the hectic school run years. They've always been great at supporting us working round having our kids.

All tbe comments about arriving early so you can get a drink and have a wee before you start, can't you go to the loo or get a drink when you want?
It has never occurred to me in 40 years of working to arrive early so I can drink and wee before I start work.

Not in the first or last 90 mins of my shift, no

I think it’s less about being ready to start bang on the dot of 9 or whenever, as doing what you need to do to make sure you’re never late. If that means arriving 10/15mins early just in case there’s traffic, etc., then that’s what you have to do.

Personally I’ve always been someone who arrives early to start work and have done well in almost every job I’ve had and been promoted and/or given a pay rise, got on well with my managers and colleagues, and so on. I think arriving early sends a positive message that you’re committed and reliable and you’ll get rewarded for that in most cases down the line. You’ve got to think big picture, not quibble about clocking up unpaid hours!

Im in an office job where we can start or finish whatever time we want but have to do a set number of hours a week. I count my time from when i walk into the office building mainly because it can sometimes take 15 mins to get up to our floor, find a free desk, get my station set up etc. That does include time to hang up my coat (all of 30 seconds), and time throughout the day when i go to the toilet, filling my water bottle (i dont tend to drink hot drinks) but i think its normal for office jobs to include comfort breaks in normal time. We dont include lunch break, so i can vary my finish times depending how long i take.

To work a 9-5 job you need to start your work at 9 and finish it at 5. It’s not rocket science.

All tbe comments about arriving early so you can get a drink and have a wee before you start, can't you go to the loo or get a drink when you want?
It has never occurred to me in 40 years of working to arrive early so I can drink and wee before I start work.

Not in the first or last 90 mins of my shift, no
What line of work are you in @pelotonaddiction
The only jobs I've had when I couldn't please myself when I had a break was when I was a swimming teacher and aerobics teacher and they were decades ago.

Contact centre

When not on maternity I am meant to work 9-5. Sometimes I’m in and actually working at 8 or 8:30. Sometimes I’m not actually working till about 9:20. I’m fine with this & reason it out that I can’t remember the last time I actually was able to finish & leave work at 5pm.

over the years I have had issues with employees that consistently are already out the door at 5:01 like another poster has said. I have found that generally people that do this every day often tend to be people that think it is ok to come in at 9:05, make a coffee, take off coat, chat to colleagues etc before starting work. Everyone should be able to leave on time, but if they do they have a responsibility to start on time too.

I like to get to work early so I can make a brew/get ready.
When I was working in a call centre again I liked to be early and was logged in read to take my 1st call at 9am on the dot.
When I worked for Asda in the warehouse they were clock in as close to your start time and staff would mill about by the clocking in machine not doing anything until they clocked in....don't blame them though as you aren't getting paid until you clock in.

I am one of these people whose early for everything though....got asked to drive round the block on our wedding day 😂

My husband on the other hand has always been start at 9am, Arrive at desk at 8.59.....drove me nuts when we worked in the same call centre as I liked to leave early than him and he was never ready as had loads of time in his mind.
He's the same now he works from home. Will boot his laptop up, go make a brew and be in his chair at 8.59.

i volunteer but i always arrive 15 mins before my shift starts to set up a library so theirs opening up shutters up heating on, kettle lights on buy time ive finished its about 5 mins to start of shift

No. I need to be in a classroom and can't leave the children unsupervised. So when I can easily go for a drink and to the toilet is limited to set times. In emergencies it can be sorted usually, but just in general then no.

My current commute is just over an hour because I drop the Dcs off at school first.

I absolutely need to go to the loo after that, not least because I have 3 coffees in the morning.

But when I used to work on a checkout, no you could not go to the loo when you wanted. It was on breaks only.

Then pay your staff to start their PCs earlier. We don't have meetings before 9:15 for this reason.

Should be ready to start work at the time you are supposed to start, so arrive early enough to be ready for that. I could not just turn up on time, the very idea makes me uncomfortable - 10 minutes early at least.

DD's teacher in 1st and 2nd grade was nearly always late - she must not have got the memo about teachers having to be in much earlier! (Not complaining about her being late at all, she was a wonderful teacher which more than makes up for a few minutes of the children waiting at the beginning of the day)

No, I think that is unethical. Where I work, nothing is scheduled before 15 minutes after your start time.

I would expect you to be available for meetings starting at your start time so that does mean arriving 10 minutes or so beforehand to get set up.

No, I think that is unethical. Where I work, nothing is scheduled before 15 minutes after your start time
I agree that it is unethical. I start at 8.00am sometimes and when I've suggested a 9.am meeting I've been knocked back from other agencies, saying they don't start work until 9 so could we make it 9.30 instead. Seems reasonable!