Do you finish work 'on the dot'?

[BananasAreForever]

Most people I know (including me) are regularly working outside of their working hours (weekends and evenings), even without being in particularly high paid roles or being paid overtime. This seems to be a more accepted part of the world of work now but I don't feel this was the case 20 years ago when I started my career.

The expectations put on employees all feels a bit grim, especially as we don't have a huge amount of free time anyway.

Are you lucky enough to have a job where you are able to leave at the exact time your hours finish without the expectation you will be putting in extra hours? If yes, what do you do?

Yep. The whole office does.

I work reduced hours over half term, which it is here this week. I logged back on at 6pm.

I can’t finish on the dot, there is no dot 😂

The first office job I had there was a bell, like at school, and it would buzz at the start of the day, at lunch time and at 5pm. Everyone would start packing up at 4:55 and stand behind their chairs ready to go on the bell. I was told very firmly in my first week that I wasn’t to go to the loo during lunch hour, because you were allowed to get up from your desk for the loo so it should always be done during the time you were being paid. It was a crap job with crap pay but I miss the people!

I manage a small team of 10 people in a public sector role where we are being put under more and more pressure to deliver more and more for less and less.

We all recently completed a staff survey and everyone my grade and above rated their work life balance and their satisfaction with their ability to do their job in the time allocated much more poorly than the grades below us. The difference was striking

This because most of the senior managers are protecting those below when extra work is being requested of alread very stretched teams. The most unhappy were my grade who are the bottom tier of senior management (or middle managers) as we directly line manager those who do lots of the work. I end up doing a lot more actual project work than I have time for, or should be doing.

So no I NEVER finish work on time . I often start a bit late, though it never completely makes up for the extra hours at the end of the day

I probably work an additional 7-9 hours on top of my contracted 30 hrs a week ( I am on a 0.8fte contract) every week without fail. Then every couple months maybe an additional 10-15 hours on top of that

generally not but I work in IT and have a flexible working environment. I have a child that needs to be dropped and picked up but i work at 6:30 when needed and also can still be working at 9pm when needed.
should be 9-6 but haven't done since covid and having a child.

I've always worked in the same role. I always leave on the dot or occasionally a couple of hours overtime but it's always toil.

Nope I finish on time . If I was late every morning they wouldn’t tolerate it so why should I stay later if I’m not being paid . The only time I would go over was if I was in a care role .

No, but I do always take the time back as I won’t get paid overtime. I don’t work for free.

I left 5pm on the dot in my old job. If I didn’t, I’d miss the train and have to wait half hour for the next one. And I absolutely hated my job, the quicker I could get out every day the better! But I used to go out the back door as our director was an absolute bitch and would make a comment about you leaving on time.

I've been retired for a while now, but I spent most of my working life as a lecturer (FE then University). My hours were all over the place, particularly when assignments/projects had to be marked by deadlines. I spent lots of my evenings preparing lectures etc. Of course I could work from home, and other times were easier.

However, interestingly it took a lot of time for me NOT to feel guilty when I wasn't working in the evenings.

When we’re in the office we’re all pretty prompt at logging off on time but it’s not unusual to see everyone still green on teams and working a little later on WFH days

It to 5/10 minutes ether way
no time for these people who sit with there finger hovering over off button at 4.59 and 59 seconds
as you never have a personal phone call, chat or quick glimpse at the internet in works time

I've actually never worked a job where anyone has paid attention to my hours. I do my job, I get paid. My current boss said when I asked "I don't care what hours you work, just about results" - this was in response to me doing school pick up and drop offs some days.

Genuine question - why do you work until 10 if you’re only paid until 5?

Is it because you love the job, or want to get ahead, or are afraid of losing the job, or you love what you do? I’m genuinely curious.

I couldn’t work until 10pm every evening. No way.

Most of the time, but I do start 10/15 minutes early everyday.

I definitely don’t work til 10pm every evening. I used to do it more when I was starting out, but now I only do it when I need to. I really love my job, which helps. I now work for a charity but in a professional role, so I really care about the issue we work on too and that motivates me to put in extra hours. Obviously working for a charity means I don’t earn that much compared to what I was making in the private sector, but I am fine with it (most of the time!)

But honestly, I think it is very, very, rare these days for any professional jobs to finish “on time.” Most of my friends are professionals in various roles and sectors, and I don’t know anyone who does a 9-5 working week. I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but I do think it’s the norm.

I’m in a professional job ( marketing ) and I leave at 5 on the dot. Sometimes before my team even ( though their commute is five minutes, mine is an hour )

I think attitudes are shifting. People are becoming more aware that a) working long hours is no guarantee of recognition and b) work just isn’t that important.

I admire your dedication to your job, particularly working in the charity sector, but I don’t think it’s as common as perhaps it used to be.

I have flexi which makes things much easier but on the whole I like to finish at my official clocking off time, I like my 4pm finish and find if I go over it's because I've faffed around during the day or something unexpected has happened.

I used to work extra all the time - an hour after finishing most days, sometimes finishing at 11pm when we had deadlines and having to come into the office. I was paid a pittance as an executive assistant who did a bunch of other things alongside.

I have thus swung in the opposite direction now that I work in risk management. I take my full lunch hour, often leaving the office so that a succession of people can't grab me for a "quick question" and I leave within 15 minutes of "the dot".

I am paid a lot more now and arguably should be putting in more hours but I think I got burnt out.

Work in a school. Leave on the dot or couple of minutes before. No problem. I arrive about 20 mins early in the morning as I get a lift.

I never finish on the dot, nor does my team but I work in an industry that requires lots of flexibility and i've always worked outside of my hours, evenings and weekends. Not an issue for me as it's very much the career I signed up for. We do have people who leave on the dot at work but they tend to be in more junior, admin based roles

I’m working at a place where the business shuts at 4pm and the boss is literally waiting by the door with his bike so that he can lock up on the dot and leave. He gets quite narky with us if we keep him waiting. Brilliant.

I sometimes switch my day off because of work commitments but I NEVER work more hours than paid. Neither should you. You are doing everyone a disservice by doing so.

No but I don’t really work a lot more than my contracted hours.
our workplace is pretty flexible so some start early and finish early, some start late and finish late, some do a “split shift” of sorts. I sometimes go for a run during the day which means I usually finish a bit later that day.

whereas it would be nice to be able to down tools completely at a certain time, I personally welcome the flexibility more

I am very much an arrive and leave on the dot person; 'work' doesn't give a shit if you do free overtime. However, I will work late if a job needs to be finished to meet a deadline but that is maybe once or twice a year. I even got up in the middle of the night once when the solution to a problem suddenly came to me, but I would have been awake anyway (thanks menopause!) so it was actually quite nice to have something productive to do. But, I keep a log of my hours and make sure I claim time back by logging on late or having a longer lunch break.

On the flip side, the nature of my work sometimes means I can have a few days downtime while waiting to be assigned to a project, and as I can wfh it is nice to be able to potter around and not be sat at my desk all day. I would never check emails on non-working days, and my employer is one that encourages you to have the 'please don't feel obliged to answer this email out of your working hours' type messages in email signatures.

Even though I like my job and have a fair employer, work to live, don't live to work, is my motto.