To work my allotted hours

[sniffle12]

I've started a new job where my colleagues often eat lunch at their desk and stay late. I work hard, I currently have enough time to do everything I need to do, additionally I'm prone to work stress so I generally take my full lunch break to get out and clear my head and I leave at 5pm. Even though I've been told the company is pleased with my work and I always offer to help out others and do stay 5-10 minutes if I'm in the middle of something at the end of the day - I still feel a bit self-conscious that I'm always the first to leave and that my absence at lunch might be conspicuous.

Today I've found out that a colleague who takes the same attitude to working hours has been struggling to keep up with his work and that the manager has suggested very bluntly that he should be taking shorter lunch breaks and staying longer if he can't deliver in his normal hours.

It's made me feel anxious that my colleagues associate shorter hours with less work and that even though I'm delivering everything I'm asked to I might not be 'playing the game' properly. Tbh it's also riled me a bit - I saw my father's happiness swallowed up by an all-consuming corporate role which always wanted more and more from him and although I work hard when I'm at work, I'm already giving up 37.5 hours of my life a week until I'm 68 (if not more) - I'll give extra time here and there when there's an urgent need to get something done but I'm just not willing to give up my time for free on a regular basis.

Am I being unreasonable??

No one has said anything and you are delivering all you are expected to. Nothing suggests you need to change anything.

Does depend to some extent on the job, but - as you say you are getting all your work done, and delivering on time, than I agree with noblegiraffe - can't see any reason to change myself.

Perhaps the colleague who has been challenged is not working efficiently enough to manage their work load. If you are organised and get everything done then I think you do not need to worry.

I am very like you. Very organised in work, prioritise well, delegate and generally finish on time and take my lunch break.

I sometimes too feel like to odd one out when colleagues in the Same role seem to come in early, stay late etc.
however I have come to realise that it's because I have the rift skills for my role and it suits me.

I know it's easy to say bit don't worry and be proud of what you can achieve

yanbu, but you're not "giving up 37.5 hours a week", you're working and being paid for those hours. You're not a volunteer, are you?

Your colleague is probably working less efficiently, hence the need to work extra hours to finish the work. If you knuckle down, don't chat, don't surf the net in work time it should be doable. There is a culture of presenteeism in workplaces, try not to get sucked into it!

I have never "finished" my work (sw so ongoing) but I have to leave early for childcare and I try not to feel bad but it's tough really and we don't get paid extra.
I occasionally stay later if dh is off to pick them up.
Don't feel bad, especially if your work is up to date.

Absolutely right about the culture of being present for as many hours as you can be. I work in schools, and there often seems to be a competition of who can arrive the earliest and stay the latest.

Bugger that, you have to stop somewhere, even if you love your job to death.

"grocklebox Fri 18-Jul-14 19:14:45
yanbu, but you're not "giving up 37.5 hours a week", you're working and being paid for those hours. You're not a volunteer, are you?"

True haha! Freudian slip meaning "If I didn't need money, I wouldn't be there" Let's just say they are 37.5 hours I would be using differently if I won the lottery!

I arrive before most people in my office, (only 15 mins or so before start time) work my hours, take a short lunchbreak at least half the week, and leave on time unless there is a dire emergency.

I broke the habit of a lifetime this week and did some work at home after I put DS in bed. This was due to the fact it needed to be done urgently, and it was my own fault for not having done it earlier in the week. I will not be claiming it on my timesheet.

Any hours over and above my contracted ones go towards my TOIL - I keep a day in hand in case DS gets ill, etc.

My management do not feel it necessary to comment on my work. I do see some colleagues lamenting the fact they have had to work in their own time at weekends, but I wonder if they are committed to finishing the work within office hours?

RESIST the pull towards longer hours. Like you noticed with your father, it can be soul and life destroying. Our lunch breaks are pitiful enough at 30mins, so I dislike the culture of working through it and eating at your desk regularly, it is not healthy for body or mind.

A boss I worked for a while ago now, always used to say "if you can't do your job in your work time, then you can't do your job!" I was happy with that and always went home on time.

It depends on your job I guess. I very rarely take a lunch break and none of my colleagues do, except when they trot off to the pub eating with one hand whilst moving the mouse in the other is standard practice. However because of this I do finish an hour early 3 out of 5 days as long as nobody else is on holiday or off sick.

Today was the first day I sat outside to eat my lunch in about 2 years.

God yes, fight that culture where if you're not sat at your desk until midnight then you're not really committed - it's bloody awful. If you can do your work in your contracted hours then you have nothing to worry about. And if you can't, and you know you're competent and efficient, then someone needs to look at workloads.

Carry on as you are. Get out of the office at lunchtime and take your hour. Could your colleagues have a heavier work load because they have been there longer?

YANBU.

but some fuckers will always count the hours rather than your productivity.

Years ago, I single handedly smashed a team target so everyone got the team bonus. However, as I did this in my standard hours rather than working overtime (so at no extra cost to the company) I was marked down on "attitude" and hit less personal bonus than all the people who'd worked "overtime" but had been hungover on a Saturday morning watching Yoytube videos at their desks.

I don't work at that company any more.