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

That's actually very true. If they expect you to be taking calls/ actively using your computer at 9am then start time needs to be a bit earlier.

Absolutely give and take works both ways

5pm team meeting on a Saturday 😳I'm an accountant, the first practice I worked with had us in at 8am on a Monday for a full office meeting, 40+ of us squished into a boardroom without enough seats. We did not get paid/ time in lieu I don't think I'd do some of the things I did when I was younger now! I actually don't know if a lot of the younger gen would do them at all (based purely on what I see on tik tok etc)

We can clock in at 9 then get changed in there time at 5 we clock out and get changed in our time that’s how it works

In old job I had to have the doors open and everything ready to see customers at 9am. Current job, I need to sign in by 9am by the downstairs door. Then walk upstairs to open computer, taking jacket off, getting my cuppa .

Yes, definitely. Employers can't have it both ways. Sine minimum wage came in most office workers have unpaid lunch breaks and employers have done their utmost to ensure that they don't pay us for a minute more of our time than they legally have to.

Well fine, but then they shouldn't get a minute more of our time then, either.

If it takes ten minutes to open up all the sodding windows and get logged in to the various screens via two factor authentication etc, either pay staff for those ten minutes or alternatively accept that they'll be tied up in such activity for the first ten minutes of the working day.

I think younger generation have the right idea tbh !!!
i refuse now and my husband picks me up so they can’t keep me in the salon 🤣 cus he will be looking in waiting for me !
it’s crazy what places have got away with tbh !

Id be walking through the door at 9am. I couldn’t be do with a boss splitting hairs over the 45 seconds I takes to sit your bum down and turn your computer on. I had a boss who expected 9am starters to come in early so they were sat and computer ready for 9am. The same boss didn’t make a peep though whenever anyone worked through their lunch hour

He should be paid for that, if it's an explicit expectation of a fixed amount of lead time.

The time taken to login is part of your working hours. The employer has provided the computer and the login is a necessary part of using it.

The other stuff, absolutely, you shouldn't do that on the clock.

Maybe it's like everything, that over time attitudes and expectations change, but there's a crossover period between those trained in the 'old' way and the new. I was always taught that one should arrive 15min before the start time of any job, but it seems that most people no longer think that way.

My boss wanted us to come in unpaid at least 30 mins before

this was also the boss who asked me to not go to the bathroom my entire shift 😂😂

@Nicetobenice67 that might well be how your employer does it, but if you're paid at base NMW rate then they will be causing a breach my making you get changed out of protective wear in your own time.

It’s not protective gear it’s a uniform

I am not paid to put on my uniform (or off!) so I arrive 10-15 minutes before work and leave 10-15 minutes after shift ends. We have lockers and uniforms in basement of hospital and it's mandatory to use.
The joy of being a nurse.

Would that still be a breach we get changed into uniform in there time and out in our time

I had a job where my hours were 8:45-3:15.

It was in a school (not teaching),but some tasks were impossible to do when school was open as I had to be in one place when the students were in.

no one would listen. They would have a go at me if I left my post to do the tasks that I had to do. But they would have a go if I didn’t do them. I couldn’t win.

So I used to come in at 8:15 and leave at 4 (unpaid), do do them.

I left as soon as I could find another job, it was impossible.

The agency I wanted to work with showed me the reference. They said I had “extremely poor timekeeping skills” and the agency asked me to explain. The bitch of a head teacher said to me, “you come in early and leave late. That’s extremely poor time keeping skills.”

I walked out there and then (giving her both barrels on the way).

I had that in a care home.

the manager helpfully told me not to eat or drink (for 13 hours) and then I wouldn’t need the loo.

Exactly this - luckily I have a brilliant boss now but i’ve worked in places like this (where working through lunch goes totally unnoticed and unthanked). I log on at 9am get straight into work (takes 2 minutes max to log on) and my boss tells me to go if I stay 10 minutes late as i’ve got pick up to do. Couldn’t ask for better. It definately motivates me to work harder.

I'm at an office/wfh job with flexi time (no start/finish time) just log in the system when i start/finish and work150 h every 4 weeks.... pre covid we were in the office every day with a fixed desk ... so my laptop/files stayed there ready to set up and i could arrive and be switching on in a miniute (coat off, tea already pre made etc) and chatting with coleages as computer warmed up/i deleting the 20 emails abut the lift not working etc.. now we're wfh 3 days and required to go in to the office 2 but because they have dowsided/no permerminant it desks and there isn't enough equipment in the office on my days in' I can be 10/15 min hunting for a spare keyboard or lead for a monitor, adjusting the chair etc befor I can start working ... I count this as employers time rather than mine....

It seems petty to me to insist that this is 'unpaid time' and therefore refuse to do the above. I don't get paid to commute either but obviously still do it.

But, oddly enough, it isn't petty of the bosses/employers to insist on you being there doing a vital part of your job unpaid?

@Nicetobenice67 if it's a uniform then the rules usually depend on whether you could, in theory get into your uniform at home or not. If the business only let you get changed at the work premises then changing time would count as working time too

@Nothingandnobody

It's not a 'few minutes each day' FFS. You are clearly either a boss/manager - OR you do not have a job! Some bosses expect people in to 'set up' the workplace some 15 minutes before they start getting PAID. And they are expected to stay even longer, after work some days. ALSO UNPAID.

Many people get the piss taken out them by bosses, and can do as much as 2 and a half hours extra work each week UNPAID. Some even more if they end up working through their lunchtimes (or part of it.)

Funny thing is - these 'bosses' expecting the employers to do 30-45 minutes a day unpaid work, throw a fucking hissy fit if you are 30 seconds late.

Exactly that ..we have to get changed in work time cannot wear uniforms to work but we have to use our time to get changed at the end of the day

There was a legal case a number of years back where it was determined that if a shop opened at 9 am but floor staff had to do things to prepare for the store to open (get cash, set out stock etc) then that prep time had to be paid for. So while people had been paid 9 - 5 this needed to be changed to 8.45 - 5.15 or similar. I don't know if this is still prevalent for most large retailers.

I know that it hasn't been the case in offices where there is the assumption that you can walk in at 8.59 and be at your desk at 9 ready to go (even if it take 20 minutes for the systems to boot up)