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....

I get my coat on, tidy my desk, generally faff 5 minutes before my finish time, and then leave dead on .

As long as you are not washing out your cup, putting your coat on etc. at 5.15. So you can dash at 5.30 I'd be fine.

Also, @DuchyDuke may I ask what time you start and finish? What's ur job role? Maybe your manager should give you extra work because I bet attitude ain't the best either. 🙄🙄

My OH previous employers all had a 5pm end time and security would come and kick anyone left out of the building at 5.30pm. Their view was if you had to stay past your hours either you needed more training for your job or you had too high a workload. Wish all employers were like that.

Having worked in management roles, I expect people to do their jobs mostly in the hours allotted to them.

If they are consistently working over and above those hours (as opposed to the odd 'doing the job that's in front of you', for a tight deadline or whatever), then that's a failure on MY part, as a manager.

On the other hand, somebody sitting with one hand on their jacket and car keys at 5.29pm isn't a great sign, and I'd probably question their commitment to the role/happiness a wee bit.

I leave dead on and what’s more make sure I fisnhed my work 5 minuets early

Conversely I need my employees to be working at 9am. If a customer calls i don't want please hold while I take my coat off, boot my pc etc. I've no issue with them mentioning to a customer / client that they need to stop at 5,.30 but I would be annoyed if they can't help at 5.25 as the emails are off etc.

I only work late if I'm doing something with my boss and he wants it finished. Else I'm out the door a few minutes early to miss the traffic all leaving the same industrial estate.

How is it a poor attitude to work your contracted hours?!

It depends on the nature of a role. In a senior position, I wouldn't expect someone to be clockwatching. It's understood that you sometimes / often need to work beyond standard office hours

ThistleAmore I don’t agree people have kids childcare closes at 6-6:30 most mums and literally running to the care after they calmly walked out of the office

It’s because often not about commitment but lack of flexibility on the employers part women asks for reduced hours woek says no women has to do a crazy fucking dash everyday not to be fined or kicked out of the childcare

I have to collect my daughter from after school club before 4 and baby friends childminder before 5 I have to get gone that’s all

I have flexi time. And if i need to leave yo do the pick up run at 3.30 that's exactly the time I'm leaving my desk.

I work a long way up a sky scraper though so it's probably another 5 - 7 minutes before I actually make it out of the building.

I'll have started between 7.15 and 7.30 am on those days though.

It depends on the nature of a role. In a senior position, I wouldn't expect someone to be clockwatching. It's understood that you sometimes / often need to work beyond standard office hours

I am an employer and never ask any of my employees to stay late, even the senior ones. If I ever did, then I’d be paying overtime.

Also, I'm the boss of my department and I quite regularly chuck people out of the office for working too long hours. If there's a crisis then fair enough, but in the normal run of things I expect my team to be efficient enough to get the work done in the time they have. If they can't, they come & talk to me and we get more training or reprioritise as appropriate.

OP you get paid to work 9-530 so, if you are able to meet all your deadlines and objectives in that time, then leave at 530pm. Dont worry about the others working past 530pm. No one is going to thank you for working later . I worked 25 years working late, getting in early, working during lunch breaks, showing considerable loyalty, and i got nothing for it. Just treated like shit. Often i was out the house from 530am until 9pm and my bosses moaned when I needed a day off at short notice because my dad was seriously ill. They didn't support me when the overwhelming stress of the job got to me and they forced me out after years of loyalty. So f**k em . Dont give a shit about impressing the bosses. Do your job efficiently in the hours you're paid for and then get home to your family and enjoy their time.

@Metoodear, but that's what I mean about it being a failure on the part of management - if somebody has commitments, be they caring or whatever, I (as a manager) would hope they would be able to come to me and it could be worked out, because that's the sort of relationship I would want with a team.

Good time management is fine and should be respected by all, but clock-watching isn't a good habit in the workplace.

I can work Flexi hours and like to start early
(8ish) so I can leave earlier (4ish) and have more time in the evening, but often stay later if I'm finishing things or it's a busy day. A few other people do that but there are some people who stay late. They always look sad, say they are too busy to go home early and won't be leaving for another hour or so... failing to mention they started an hour or 2 later than some of us.

It's definitely a martyrdom thing of 'look how late I'm working, I'm far busier and more important than you' when actually as long as you work what you are contracted and do your work to a good standard that's all that matters.

Why should you feel guilty about leaving work at the time they stop paying you? If others want to work for free then let them be martyrs. 9 times out of 10 employers wouldn't give two hoots about you so why work yourself into the ground for them?

I go above and beyond at work in the time I am paid to work then it's goodnight Sienna.

I hate the idea that working beyond your contracted hours (regularly I mean, not just in busy times orto cover absence) is expected. If the job requires more time to do, then it is not the job in the contract, or it isn't being done very well. We give up so much of our lives to work as it is; if you're getting your work done in the time allotted why the hell should you donate your own time to do more? Unless you're trying to impress for promotion or whatever, if youe on top of your work and it's home time why on earth shouldn't you bloody go home?? But this is the world we live in now apparently, where your labour isn't enough- they want your soul!

I leave bang on time, but do often arrive early. I always make sure my team leave on time too. If they can’t finish their work in the time they have then we look at how we can adjust things so they can. I get my work done, but I work to live and my workplace is focused on a good work life balance.

I worked in South Korea for a while where people literally sit around doing nothing rather than leave on time and I found it utterly pointless.

Yanbu. I had an job one step from entry level that expected us to work over. Salaried is one thing but by hour quite another. Unless I needed to finish something I was out the door on time.

When the layoffs happened and I was laid off with the rest that worked many hours over, turns out they were either working 'late' on their resumes, were having office affairs or getting divorced and didn't want to go home. Screw that, so glad I didn't give them my loyalty when they didn't give any to the people who gave it to them and the company didn't reciprocate.

I hate all this 'you need to show how committed you are' and work is the be-all and end-all, otherwise you are a slacker.

On the Continent, if you are not finished by the end of the day, you are not working hard enough during the day. No one should be working overtime. They have a great work-life balance!

If everyone is having to work over their allotted hours all the time then there is clearly a staffing issue.
TBH it's more likely that half the office spend hours cocking about talking absolute bollox and having a sneaky browse online then stay on till 7.30 in a fit of presenteeism.

I'm another one who is out the door like a speeding bullet as soon as I can. I eat my lunch at my desk, I usually answer emails at home in the evening, I often do little bits and bobs of work at weekends - but I will not stay in the office a moment later than I need to. I'm lucky in that a) I have my own office so there's no-one to really notice and b) I have a great boss who knows I put in more than enough hours overall.

I leave on time almost every night. If something is really urgent I’ll stay. I’ll take calls on my day off if urgent and work over weekend if necessary. But the truth is quite often it’s not necessary it’s just some twat over promising on your behalf, or someone setting stupid deadlines, managers trying to overload you with work. I my view people who work past their hours every single day are not working efficiently or unable to manage either themselves or their managers.