To leave work on time?!!

[skyblueeee]

I find working full time (9-5:30) quite hard, I feel tired and restricted, which is why I can't wait for the clock to strike 5:30 and I can walk out the office, drive home, eat dinner and relax....

But the problem is, no one ever leaves at 5:30 I look around and everyone is still working while I walk out the door, I even get a few judgemental looks from colleagues. I'm usually the first one out, if not I'm one of the first.

Does it look bad to leave work on time? Obviously if I had something urgent to do I would finish it, but I don't want to stay just to look good. I already get home about 6:20pm depending on traffic and not keen to have an even longer day....

shadypines - I was a nurse too. One of my friends fainted on the ward as we weren’t allowed to drink water. She was admitted with a kidney infection and then had a formal discussion with the ward manager who wanted to discipline her for sickness absence! She was told that fainting on the ward in front of patients and relatives was unprofessional! The union got involved...

I don’t know how pregnant health care workers manage.

Ah, the well-known country of "Europe". Also loving the fact that CalF didnt use the example of nurseries being locked until someone else suggested it. "Aha! A supporting argument for my bullshit story!"

"They can stay in the office or leave and have their contract terminated(through the fire exit)."

You say fire exit, I say Moon Door :D

@CalF123 The Exit door is locked?! That sounds more like a prison and a massive breach of fire safety regulations!

@CalF123 What if a Staff member's child has been rushed to hospital and they need to run out? What then? They have to wait for you with your bunch of power-laced keys to come sauntering along?! Yeah great.

If my DD has been rushed to A&E or God-forbid, been run over then I am NOT waiting for a dodging door to be unlocked by Adolf Titler. I'd be smashing glass!!!!

Adolf Titler

@SickOfPeterRabbit

Incidents with DC are dealt with the same way as other emergencies. Staff submit a request to leave the office, and it will then be reviewed and a decision made by senior management within 15-30 minutes.

What the hell .
So if my child is in an ambulance you're going to make me wait 30 minutes to leave?

Calf. I call bullshit.

Wind up merchant.

I love Cal's comment that the senior management are too busy to see employees if they come to the management's office. Its very poor management if you don't have time for your employees.

Perhaps they wouldn't be so busy if they didn't invent such stupid policies. I have 90 staff reporting to me from graduates to senior managers. I don't know who is and isn't in work today - that's why you have a management structure and empower employees to manage their own working lives.

Cal the more you post, the more fantastical it becomes!

You have six directors to run the "company" (why no MD or CEO?). Those directors are all very busy. Yet they happily make the time and find it completely appropriate to spend a good portion of their working day literally policing staff attendance?

No one is seriously going to wait up to 30 minutes for some micromanaging little Hitler to give them permission to respond to an emergency involving a child.

@ilovesooty

They don't have a choice of whether to wait or not, unfortunately. The entrance is locked so their only other option would be to leave via the fire exit(which would set off an alarm).

So they would go via the fire exit. No parent is waiting for you to "assess" the situation if their child has fitted/stopped breathing/been run over

cal, you still haven't answered my question. Do you work in a nursery or a big company.

They don't have a choice of whether to wait or not, unfortunately.

I love the way you've said "unfortunately" - like this is a matter which is completely out of your hands and control...

And good luck with that at a tribunal
"I sacked her because she left via the fire exit. The doors were locked and her child wasn't breathing and she didn't submit the correct request and wait 15-30 mins"
Tribunal -

I'm pretty certain any parent worried to death about their child would be leaving via the fire exit then.

So you would terminate their contract, which would be very unwise if they've been there more than two years. I just have a feeling that you have a very high staff turnover though.

Cal - your earlier comment - We will review each request for emergency leave carefully and compassionately. But ultimately, if it comes down to someone asking to leave for a trivial reason- i.e. their goldfish has died or their child cried at nursery, they have two options. They can stay in the office or leave and have their contract terminated(through the fire exit).

You aren't in a position to decide what is an emergency. When my DS's nursery rang me at work to say he was crying, I knew it was an emergency as his nursery only contacted parents in an emergency and my DS's was unlikely to cry at nursery. I left work immediately and it turned out DS had appendicitis. Under your regime you would have refused my request to leave work - irrelevant as I would have left through the fire exit ! I doubt a reasonable employer would have terminated the employment as an Employment Tribunal would have torn you to shreds.

@SteamTrainsRealAleandOpenFires

It's not a nursery. It's a medium sized company with just over 100 employees.

Something is bugging me... I think I have seen Cal post before and the office is (supposedly) in Turkey.

Either that or its a poster with very similar story.

CalF where are you based? U.K. or somewhere else?

If you are only paid 9-5.30 then leave at 5.30? If your work is done and up to date there is no issue. In my office we all fly out the door at 5 .... there is one martyr who stays late but she pisses around all day long so that's why. We are not allowed flexi so why should we stay late.

So what percentage of your employees stay more than a year CalF? What percentage have been sacked for trying to leave in an emergency?

@MarshyBradyo

All I can say is the office is based in Europe. We do have a lot of UK staff.