To leave work at 5pm?

[sunshineandrainbowz]

My work hours are 9-5 but it seems all my colleagues stay later than that (I come to work on a morning to emails sent at 8/9pm!) and it gets commented on a lot that I shoot out the door at 5pm.

I don't particularly enjoy my job but I do it well and everything is done by 5pm but I get snarky comments that I leave at 5 and don't stay longer. I don't care for overtime pay etc. and just want to get home. (I've been here a year and the comments have been consistent)

Am I coming across as unprofessonal/is it making it obvious I don't absolutely love my job? My boss has never called me up on it it's just side eye and comments from coworkers but it's making me uncomfortable

AIBU/rude? (I have anxiety so I'm probably overthinking this)

Yanbu - trust me , no one is better thought of for staying outside their hours , companies just expect it then. You're paid 9-5 you work 9-5 that's it.

The colleagues giving it the snarky stuff are pathetic.

If I was your boss, I'd be more impressed at your efficiency and time management in covering all the areas needed during work hours. People who send emails at 8-9pm aren't necessarily disorganised, but I despite optics and would wonder why their workload is so frantic that they haven't asked me to help them delegate, reprioritise etc

I don't want people to burn out on my watch. I'd rather have someone leave at 5pm every day but stay with us for 5 years etc.

Stick to your guns. They're used to you now and if the boss doesn't mind, it's fine. My last post was about being utterly burned out by needing to work long hours.

I "despise" optics. Bloody typo.

Defo stick to 9-5 and enjoy your spare time!

I leave 20 minutes earlier than other people in the same role. I actually negotiated this at my interview and it's in my contracted hours. I also come in half an hour early through choice. The amount of looks,sneers and "working part time?" comments were ridiculous.

If you’re not contracted to work beyond 5pm and all your tasks are complete then you are not obliged to stay longer 5pm so there is nothing wrong with you going home as there’s no need for you to stay beyond that time, if your colleagues want to stay longer than that then that’s up to them but you don’t need to and as you say, your boss hasn’t said anything so who cares.

I think it depends on which industry you are in. Majority of jobs I would say stick to your guns but the current industry I work in it is odd if anyone leaves regularly on time unless they have to for childcare as it’s very short deadline based.

Having said that we get to have easy days and long lunches etc on lulls (although some lulls are created by us working late!)

I used to work in a place like this. My contract said 9-5. Most of my colleagues arrived at 7-7.30 am and would still be there at 8pm.
I usually got in for 8.30 and stayed until 5.30 or 6 a few times a week. Until the day that I went out for lunch for an hour and got told off by my supervisor for 'letting the phone ring'.
After that I worked 9-5 with an hour's lunch every day until I resigned.

leave at 5pm without a second thought if that is your contracted hours. your time is not free.

I think it depends, if your work load is your own and you are completing all your own work that is fine.

I manage a team of 3 and we are so busy at the moment. We're all pitching in, 2 of the team are regularly doing overtime and helping out as much as they can. One person is refusing to do a single minute of overtime (she is 22, lives with parents and has no commitments). I will be putting the other 2 forward for a pay rise but not her. There will be a promotion opportunity within the next 12 months, and I won't consider her for interview. It will take a long time to change my opinion of her now, and it has been noted by higher management.

I suppose what I'm saying is if you are looking for progression, you have to show you're willing to go over and above and be a team player. If it is just a job, and you're not letting others down by not being a team player then no, it doesn't matter if you leave at 5 every day.

Eurgh this does my head in and I don't even work in an office job.

YANBU at all if your work is done and completed to a high standard. I make sure I leave work on time so only have to stay behind a few minutes if there is a genuine emergency, I have colleagues who pride themselves on being the last to leave, some are just working slowly but others are just hanging about chatting to the next shift. They've been pulled up about it by management who deem it distracting for the next shift and an obvious lack of time management skills.

I hate the bullshit culture of expecting people to come in early and stay late for nothing. If there is more work than can be done in the paid working hours then the company needs to either pay overtime or employ more people. No one should have to stay because others choose to.

YANBU. As long as your work is done and done well between the hours of 9am and 5pm then you should absolutely leave at 5pm.

I once had a team member who would arrive in school at 7am and still be there at 7pm when the caretakers were kicking him out (we are teachers). He was one of the most unproductive, disorganised people on the team. Apart from delivering 4 or 5 one hour lessons a day, I honestly do not know what he spent his time doing.

Always behind on marking, classroom a tip,missed deadlines etc. Any efforts to support/help him with his time management fell on deaf ears.

I would far rather have someone who spent less time in the building but actually did the work to a high standard!

Thanks for the reassurance all!

Yeah all my work is my own and I'm not on any bigger team projects and no one else relies on me so I'm not leaving anyone in the lurch by leaving!

I think maybe it's time to start looking for something else more fulfilling!

@sunshineandrainbowz your colleagues are the ones doing it wrong. Your company are also to blame, it must be really noticeable that people are staying 3 hours over their contracted hours - do they get paid for this? I hope so!

@cazzacat - they do offer overtime pay which is maybe the drive for why people do it? But shaming me for not doing it aswell is baffling

@Fettfrett are your employees being paid for this very regular overtime?

@sunshineandrainbowz totally agree, don’t feel bad! Walk out with your head held high!

@Roominmyhouse

I hate the bullshit culture of expecting people to come in early and stay late for nothing. If there is more work than can be done in the paid working hours then the company needs to either pay overtime or employ more people. No one should have to stay because others choose to.

Yep this. If they can't pay overtime then they should offer TOIL but no one should be expected to work overtime for free.

@RiftGibbon

I used to work in a place like this. My contract said 9-5. Most of my colleagues arrived at 7-7.30 am and would still be there at 8pm. I usually got in for 8.30 and stayed until 5.30 or 6 a few times a week. Until the day that I went out for lunch for an hour and got told off by my supervisor for 'letting the phone ring'. After that I worked 9-5 with an hour's lunch every day until I resigned.

Same type of thing happened to me - I used to come in 30 minutes early every day and stay half an hour longer. Had to go to the doctors one day which was just round the corner, let my boss know I had to go. I was gone for 30 minutes max and he emailed me and told me I had to make up the time.

I was fuming, but got my own back by coming in and leaving at the times I was paid for.

Best feeling in the world - as for other colleagues who were working on - hell mend them.

Yanbu, I hate presenteeism. I will and do work longer hours IF it's required but I sure as shit wont be sitting around at work after hours to look busy/good. Some of the time I simply cannot stay anyway as I have children to pick up, if something is still urgently needing doing that hasn't been finished within office hours I'll get to it from home.

Totally agree with you, if your work is done leave on time. If you need or are expected to work extra you need to be paid.
I always leave on time even if it means I do bits at home, I just want to get out of the buiding, my choice and I do not put in for the extra hours I work at home.
I have never been ambitious, or wanted to impress management, I give value for money when I do my job, never take a break and work through til hometime.

My old boss used to be like this. He would pull you up for leaving ‘on time’ and think you weren’t working hard enough. He would then make us all sit in on ‘time management’ training. It was bonkers! I’m quite happy to stay late and finish if I’m in the middle of something, but people would sit and play card games etc just to leave half hour late. Everyone was scared of him but I just used to put my head down and walk out at just gone 5 every day. Sometimes with a cheery wave if I caught his eye. Im still there 10 years later and he’s not .

I'm the same I'm efficient in my time management and what I need to do gets done and I finish for 5pm .
I've had digs too jokingly though , but I usually need to rush off to collect dc .
And I notice that the ones that work late do a lot of faffing during the day so if we measured the work I'd probably do more than a certain colleague who comes in earlier and leaves later discussing her private life showing pictures on phone online shopping etc .
If you were leaving and not finishing work off then that's the only time management have a problem . People that work longer seam to think it makes them look good but the truth is most managers don't care as long as the work is done and you work the hours your paid to do .