The working world has become ridiculous

[Rothschild]

Recently a manager at my company attended an online meeting in tears because of a minor issue regarding her child's school. She excused herself from the meeting and took a mental health day.

I can barely get hold of anyone at 3pm in my (large) organisation because everyone is doing school pick up. I don't believe they're getting much work done once they've picked up because they become hard to contact, don't respond to messages and won't attend meetings, despite it being their normal working hours.

It's ridiculous. When our children were small we paid for wrap around childcare or for someone to collect. We were available to work between 3 and 4pm and afterwards.

I'm not talking about anyone who has negotiated flexibility or finishes at 3pm, I'm talking about others who are, frankly, taking the piss.

And if I had taken a mental health day every time I'd had some difficulty in my life I'd have hardly worked.

But it’s ineffective. Brainstorming at 4pm is not a good use of anyone’s time. Your brain is literally wired to do better quality work earlier in the day, not when the working day is almost over and you’ve already spent 7+ hours in front of a computer etc. If you want to come up with good ideas and enjoy a useful working session it’s best to do that before lunch.

You do not need to try at work at 100% capacity for the entirety of the day, it’s completely counter productive.

I think YABU in relation to the colleague who took a mental health issue. What may be a minor issue to you might not be to them or it might have been the last straw for someone already pushed to the edge.

But the people who are meant to work until 5 but are effectively logging off at 3 to pick their kids up and then become unavailable,is not on. Where do you work that is allowing this? I work in the public sector which is known for flexibility but no one I know at work behaves like this. We all pay for wrap around care.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14525409/amp/Gen-Z-worker-asked-paid-day-tattoo-mental-health.html

Pmsl at “deeply suspicious” - 3pm is during a working day!

but if they are supposed to be working and @Rothschild cant get hold of them or get a 3pm meeting arranged then they aren’t working

They are being paid to look after their kids and in breech if their contract

It’s not tragic. It’s pride.

Quite!!! Thank god for flexible working and a bit more balance in society.
the horror!!!

Pride in what? An employer who wouldn’t care if you live or die in all probability. It is absolutely tragic

That's laughable.

3pm is not "when the working day is almost over." At least, not for people of integrity who agreed to work 8:30-530 when they accepted their position, and who are accepting paycheques that reflect that agreed-upon schedule. There is still 1/3 of the workday left at 3pm.

We function quite well in mid-afternoon. I wouldn't employ anyone who doesn't.

Clearly some need courses in not being so gullible!

May be a bit of age divide on here. There is no point in working your arse off these days. The mirage of capitalism is dead and in bits on the ground .

But crack on all you worker bees , work yourself into the ground for the man👍

Pride in having the integrity to fulfill what was agreed-upon when the job was accepted, and when the paycheques are received.

In a sense, I am "the man." No one who doesn't like the arrangements needs to work for us. They are welcome to leave for greener pastures.

Well I now work in public sector and everyone goes to pick up their kids. I was in corporate before and there also everyone went at 3pm to pick up their kids. We do a working lunch so this is when we all take our break. My line manager is ok with it. And I manage a team of 10 and I am ok with my team doing the same. We also work flexibly so some start at 7.30 am others at 8am and some at 9am. Depending on when they start their finish time varies. We all work remotely 95% of the time. Meetings are primarily before 3pm or 4-5pm.

The OP is being unreasonable and saying she wants to have meetings at 3pm when it is not convenient for others. What if someone insisted they wanted meetings during your lunch break daily would you be alright with it?! I spend a lot of time on calls so a half hour break with some fresh air is actually good for health.

I do hope it was denied, or would that have precipitated a few weeks off because of 'stress'?

Seems to be going okay. This is American because I got it from Google; plenty of multinational and European corps do it, too.

Many companies offer benefits that include flexible working hours, unlimited paid time off (PTO), or dedicated "personal hours" (also known as flexitime) to promote work-life balance and employee well-being.
Here are examples of companies known for providing such flexibility:

• Google: Famous for its "20% Time" policy (though implementation varies by team), which encourages employees to dedicate a portion of their work hours to personal projects.
• Netflix: Offers unlimited PTO and trusts its employees to manage their own schedules and workloads responsibly.
• Dropbox: Provides employees with the ability to choose their own working hours and offers unlimited PTO.
• Dell Technologies: Implements "flextime" schedules, allowing employees to align their work hours with their personal productivity peaks.
• HubSpot: Recognized for comprehensive benefits that include flexible schedules and unlimited vacation time, plus a four-week paid sabbatical after five years.
• Microsoft: Embraces a hybrid work model where work hour flexibility is standard, allowing employees to arrange their workday around their life.
• Other companies that have been noted for offering flexible arrangements, unlimited PTO, or 4-day work weeks include:
• American Express
• Cisco
• Costco Wholesale
• GitHub
• JPMorgan Chase
• Nike
• Panasonic

The availability and specifics of "personal hours" policies often depend on the company's culture, industry, and the specific role's requirements. These policies generally aim to give people more control over their schedules to balance personal and professional needs effectively.

ETA: US corps can be more relaxed with things like unlimited paid time off, because they can more easily fire piss-takers. Plenty of UK-based companies operate to various patterns of time off entitlement, though.

Shit managers. End of. Performance management people properly and all this goes away without whiny hysterical boomer....

Shit managers and misogynistic ageist posters.

And I see people on this thread complaining about low pay - but God forbid anyone's childminder or hairdresser or cleaner or plumber or gardener should charge the rate for the job. Those plebs just need to know their place.

Agree
I don’t see less getting done
I don’t see people not coping with complex issues in the afternoon
If everyone was incapable after 3pm and yet we were all paying them for nothing most businesses would have gone bust by now

What’s utter nonsense and a lot of ridiculous excuses we’ve had on this thread

Im shocked people don’t understand what work is and what a contract means

Maybe schools need to explain that when people join the world of work there aren’t any play times and it doesn’t finish at 3pm. People on here think they’re still at school

Whats that got to do with not being ill? That’s just sheer good fortune , nothing to be proud of

What are all these arse kissing hamsters going to do when AI takes all their jobs? A question for the ages

This thread has gone way beyond people just being ill

As a manager the biggest struggle is dealing with people who can’t cope with day to day life due to mental health issues or neurodiversity. As a manager the onus is on us to then coach said employee and find ways to support them. This takes up a lot of my time for no extra pay. I feel a bit like a counsellor/ psychiatrist rather than a manager! Currently I have one person who takes up on average 6 hours of my time weekly due to the amount of support they need to work. This person is the least productive person in my team but there is no way this person can be sacked. I am sympathetic to their issues and want them to succeed but it is very hard as it takes up far too much of my time and I still have my own work to do!

Would that be the JP Morgan that demanded this year that its staff returned to the office 5 days a week because they didn't think hybrid working was conducive to good banking business?

Imho its actually about cost of living.

A slug of people now work full time who used to:

• go part time around kids
• become sahm

They can't afford to lose the income/live off one salary any more. They also can't afford wraparound. I do feel for them, a couple in my team are struggling along like this, really they need to be on 3.5/4 days a week but the maternity leave crippled them financially and they basically can't make rent without full time work.

My mum once told me when she & dad were younger, lots of people bought their first property at 23 or 24, when they still had lots of potential for earnings growth. By the time they came to plan a family their earnings had risen quite a lot while their mortgage payment hadnt, which made it more affordable for mum to reduce hours. Bills were lower as a proportion of their salaries so that helped too.

Whereas now the younger staff in my team (its a relatively well paid industry) can't afford to buy until they are mid thirties, often are having their first child at late thirties pushing 40. They are nearing their earnings peak and have to stretch like mad to afford mortgage and bills.

Unlimited pto is a swizz. In most cases it leads to people taking less pto not more.