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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To leave work at 5pm?

140 replies

sunshineandrainbowz · 16/07/2020 20:53

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)

OP posts:

OhWhyOhWhyOhWhyy · 17/07/2020 08:43

I think posters who say that those working overtime and straying late are seen as inefficient and thought of badly are kidding themselves

I think most of the time it's staff picking up the slack of poor management not wanting to spend money hiring the right amount of staff they quite clearly need. I don't get why people do it. I'm not giving up my home life because my boss CBA to put his hand in his pocket and hire the right amount of people for the amount of work coming in. You don't even get paid overtime in my line of work either and yet you still have people staying all hours. It's ridiculous.

My2catsarefab · 17/07/2020 08:43

I work in a school and the amount if snide comments/ 'banter' from other teachers was awful. Never mind the fact that I was taking books home to mark, up all night planning etc, the 'part timer' comments were ridiculous- till I snapped and said "Yes I'm going home to my children, I'm the one constant in their life and they need me."

It was like a bloody competition between them as to who could stay the latest. The snide comments came from child-free colleagues too.

OhWhyOhWhyOhWhyy · 17/07/2020 08:45

It was like a bloody competition between them as to who could stay the latest

See I just find that incredibly sad and a bit pathetic tbh.

Tappering · 17/07/2020 08:46

Don't feed the troll, people.

FishyDuck is the "director" who allegedly works in a company where they lock their doors during the day so staff can't leave. And if you're ill at work you have to email the senior management team with your symptoms, so that they can decide if you are unwell enough to be sent home.

A complete fantasist who seems to think that an office akin to a Victorian workhouse is something to which we should all aspire 😂

Pobblebonk · 17/07/2020 08:46

If you're 'shooting out the door at 5' that generally means you've actually stopped working before 5 in order to get your coat/bag, put your tea cup away and be ready to shoot at 5. That's also not ok. You should be working until 5 and then stopping and getting ready to leave once 5 hits/has gone.

This is a nonsense. OP has finished her work before she goes. Is she supposed to work more slowly so that she is still working at 5? How can that make sense?

Mary46 · 17/07/2020 08:50

I go at 5pm too. Tense enough in some places I worked so you be glad to see 5pm. Im only paid til 5.. I did notice in purchasing 2 guys did the role and werent kept. Think he wanted workaholic type people to stay all evening. Hard if creche collections no waiting around

OhWhyOhWhyOhWhyy · 17/07/2020 08:50

This is a nonsense. OP has finished her work before she goes. Is she supposed to work more slowly so that she is still working at 5? How can that make sense?

Obviously you're just supposed to sit silently staring at a blank computer screen until 5pm. Heaven forbid you start to put your coat on at 4:59

Mary46 · 17/07/2020 08:55

I have a life outside of work too!!

Fiona1987 · 17/07/2020 08:55

I used to work overtime in my current role when my boss asked me to do this, but I won't do it again. My boss has let me down a couple of times and disappointed me with his behavior, so now I only work my contracted hours from 8-4. If I'm asked for overtime again, I just say I have prior commitments

Bearlyawake · 17/07/2020 08:56

I hate this kind of work culture, I worked in an office like this for about 6 years. A few people would stay late even if they didn't have work to do, just to 'play the game' as they put it. It certainly didn't help my mental health at all. I got a new job in a different sector with a completely different ethos, and it's so much better.

If leaving isn't an option, I would say stick to your guns and leave at 5pm. As long as you're completing your work, you're well withing your rights to work contracted hours only.

WinterAndRoughWeather · 17/07/2020 08:57

I hope when people say overtime, they mean paid overtime. It’s not overtime if you’re working for nothing, it’s a scam.

OhWhyOhWhyOhWhyy · 17/07/2020 09:03

@WinterAndRoughWeather

I hope when people say overtime, they mean paid overtime. It’s not overtime if you’re working for nothing, it’s a scam.

Nope. In my line of work, law, it's often not paid when people stay in the office until 8pm and come in at 7am.

It's ridiculous and expected unfortunately (thankfully not where I work now though!).

Fettfrett · 17/07/2020 09:03

@WinterAndRoughWeather

Do you make it clear and official that people can get their time back later FettFret, or have you just quietly allowed a culture of workers feeling like they can’t go home on time because you think it makes them more productive?

At my last office we regularly worked late hours due to the nature of the job, but management would insist that we took the time back either the next day or at the earliest convenient time. Which meant everyone did, and our time at work always had a value. People should never be expected to work for nothing.

Yes, it isnt always the exact amount of time back, or the next day but they know they can say to me that they need to go to a school play and will be an hour late, or is it OK if they leave at 4 for a hair appointment and I will say yes.

And neither of them are forced or guilted into it. They choose to stay, i think I've only ever asked if anyone could possibly stay late to meet a deadline once and the rest of the time they stay only of they need to finish something off. They do leave on time (around 5.10 by the time they've shut down) most of the time.

The one that leaves on time stops working at least 10 minutes early to go and rinse her mug and shut down so she can be out the door as the clock switches over to 5. If you're paid to work until 5 then you should be working until 5. I can't imagine ever not finishing what I was doing because it was 5pm. How do you manage to make sure the task you're doing stops at 5pm on the dot?

Mary46 · 17/07/2020 09:04

I used stay if phones busy but he wouldnt pay the extra so no just do my set times now..

Pobblebonk · 17/07/2020 09:12

A colleague of mine used to work in a city law firm. She wasn't planning to stay and wasn't bothered about promotion, but she says that for those who were, the culture was ridiculous. They were almost competing to be the last one out of the door in the evening, but for large chunks of the day they were off chatting, smoking outside, even going out to local bars; people used to leave a jacket draped over the back of their chairs so it looked as it they'd just popped out for a bit. They were supposed to account for their time by recording what they did for billing purposes and had to do a minimum number of chargeable hours, but all that happened was that at the end of the day they would take the few cases they might have worked on that day and divide up the allocation of hours between them. Their clients were also big businesses whose finance departments didn't really check the bills so they got away with it. My colleague simply did her work and achieved her chargeable hours within normal working hours and left at 5.30, but she was regarded as a total lightweight.

Scout2016 · 17/07/2020 09:13

@Fettfrett so say they do even just an hour a day extra for 3 weeks - that's 15 hours. Do they get paid overtime, or do they get to claim TOIL? Because if they do that a few times a year, say three times a year, that's 45 hours, just for staying an hour later over 3 weeks or so a few times a year.
If an employee can claim it back or gets paid more then fine.
It's not realistic to think that there will never be any work left to do at the end of every day but it's wrong to imply they are leaving work for others to do. They are leaving the work that can't be done within contracted hours and it shouldn't be taken personally. Unless this employee is somehow directly responsible for the work coming in, eg. they personally have taken on more orders than you can fulfil. I wish I'd had that courage at 22.

eaglejulesk · 17/07/2020 09:14

I learnt a very long time ago that no-one gets a medal for staying later, or starting earlier, than they are supposed to. Ignore everyone else and arrive and leave at the times you are paid for. In my last job several women would get to work early, but they weren't actually working in that time, so they might as well not have been there.

ginghamtablecloths · 17/07/2020 09:18

I had that nonsense at my last office job OP. Our hours were 9.00-5.30. A latecomer would get in at say, 9.15 and would stay the extra to make up - perfectly reasonable and grown-up. The rest of us leaving on the dot was commented on as we'd 'left her on her own!' Well, hard cheese.

And they wondered they they couldn't keep staff. Just one small detail in a long line of crappy treatment.

scubadive · 17/07/2020 09:18

Just tell the commenters you are more efficient and they should spend less time faffing each day.

The work place needs more people like you, we have a crazy work culture in this country.

theemmadilemma · 17/07/2020 09:21

If they get paid OT then fair enough if they want to. Not sure what the side is about then at all, unless it's jealousy that you appear to be in a position to not need OT?

When OT isn't being paid, the only winner is the company who just then expect you to work it regardless.

WinterAndRoughWeather · 17/07/2020 09:22

No FettFret, knowing they can come to you and ask for a bit of extra time off for a school play is not the same as a proper TOIL policy, as I’m sure you know.

They shouldn’t have to ask, and they shouldn’t have to give a reason. I’m sure your attitude to working unpaid is something they’re well aware of, so they won’t be getting all those hours back, will they?

In a proper TOIL system, workers are treated like adults and trusted not to take the piss, and managers encourage a proper work-life valance and don’t take the piss with asking / expecting their staff to work without compensation.

maggiethecat · 17/07/2020 09:31

Had a colleague who was out the door without fail by 5. No matter how busy she was, and everyone in the team was, she would start shutting down by about 4.50. No kids to collect or deadlines for racing out (she was very chatty about her life) so it was amusing how rigid she was with her timings that she had to be out the door not a minute later than 5. It was not amusing that she would often ask me to help explain things to her on my time.

Bloops · 17/07/2020 09:46

No, you're not being unreasonable for sticking to your contracted hours. The others clearly don't have much of a life outside of work which is actually unhealthy.

Fettfrett · 17/07/2020 09:48

@WinterAndRoughWeather

No FettFret, knowing they can come to you and ask for a bit of extra time off for a school play is not the same as a proper TOIL policy, as I’m sure you know.

When they do an hour or more they get TOIL, as the minimum you can log on the system is an hour. Generally they will stay until 5.30/5.45 once or twice a week to finish something up. They never leave before 5.10ish because they're conscientious and continue working up to 5pm when they stop getting paid to work. We have regular appraisals and weekly catch ups when they are encouraged to tell me things they aren't happy with, never has either of them said they feel like they are forced or guilt tripped to stay later. They do tell me things they aren't happy with so I can't see why they would stay silent on this if they weren't happy with our current way of working. Why are you so angry on their behalf?

Maybe you all work in very different situations but I've never had a kind of job where I have a set amount of work to do in a day and when I've done that I run out of work and sit twiddling my thumbs until home time.

SweetPetrichor · 17/07/2020 09:51

I hate the attitude that working hard means staying late. In my workplace, if you're working overtime then clearly something has gone wrong. Work should be planned such that you don't need to work more than your stated hours. And I'm glad to have that attitude in my workplace. Work is just work. I love my job but I do my 40 hrs and that's that. And it doesn't impact my pay rises or career progression.

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