To think that pre 9am and post 5pm meetings are just wrong??!

[Youngatheart00]

I’ve noticed this creep recently, working day extended by up to 90 mins / 2 hours especially as I am in a lockdown area so they pretty much know we can’t be doing much else but be available for work (🙄🙄). They are justifying it as no one is commuting so figure it should be acceptable and ‘there is a lot that is urgent and diaries are full’.

Looking at my diary this week I have 3 days with 8am meetings and 2 days with 5pm and 5:30pm meetings (working hours are 9-5). Also seeing meetings scheduled over lunch, they introduced a protected lunch hour at the start of enforced wfh but that seems to have gone out of the window too.

It seems we’ve entered peak zoom over scheduling and with no change of scenery of f2f interaction by 5pm I’m absolutely spent and just need to get out to walk the dog!!!

It’s a salaried role so there is no overtime pay.

I don’t mind the occasional meeting out of hours if urgent but AIBU to think they are unreasonable, not me, and start pushing back?

bloody brown bag learning sessions.

But bring your own lunch, and erm, try not to think too much about the connotations of “brown bag lunch”.

You’re right, it is down to me to discipline my diary better. I’ve only worked for the company for a year so I am worried about last in / first out so I go out of my way to be ‘visible’, but I’m close to burn out.

To the posters asking do I expect to just work 9-5 with an hour for lunch, not every day no. I don’t mind doing extra. But I do mind being in meetings for 30-35 hours a week and then doing all of my follow up work effectively unpaid. The pressure to do so and deciding what to decline or delegate (i don’t have a team) is the next challenge

Block out you diary outside of working hours.
Decline meetings outside of hours unless someone’s had the courtesy to agree it with you ahead of scheduling.
We do earlier and later meetings sometimes but then many of us do a nine day fortnight with flexible hours.

Decline, it's as easy as that.

And if they query it, remind them of your working hours. Simple.

Get yourself into the habit of booking "actions and outcomes of XX meeting" for 1-2 hours at some point after the meetings.

So a Strategy 2021 meeting goes in Monday at 5pm. Accept, then block your calendar Tuesday 11-12 "actions and outcomes Strategy 2021"

Use this time to walk the dog and do bits and bobs.

It depends - I work in a senior role for an organisation with offices in the US and Australia, so I will occasionally have to schedule meetings as early as 6am or as late as 8pm.

However, I try to keep them very occasional and always take some time in lieu (i.e. an early start means an early finish and vice versa).

I don't accept meetings arranged for pre or post 8am/5pm from colleagues working in better-matched timezones unless they're absolutely critical.

In my contract it says I work 37.5 hours which are 8:30am - 5pm but it does say working hours can be dictated by the needs of the business! So I couldn’t really argue if I had to work after 5pm which i do, albeit very rarely!! Does it say anything similar in your contract?

Most people i work with start between 6:30-7, so meetings from 7:30/8 are acceptable.

If its not in your normal working hours, decline the meeting, easy

This has been creeping in under the guise of flexibility (ie you can be flexible but don’t expect the same from us).

So I block out the days I don’t work, the hour before I start work, my lunch and the hour after I finish work. I’m only part time, I’ve never minded doing the odd bit here and there if the business needed it but the expectation is that I would work 10 hours a day from home when I only get paid for 7.5.

YANBU. I went for a 9-5.30 job years back & got told 'i expect staff to be in for 8.30 for a daily catch up meeting'. Bugger that for a crap pay admin role. I think I'd just state my working hours & decline. Once one person does,the rest will follow IME of crap workplaces.

Is some of this to accommodate staff juggling home stuff alongside work?

Its happening less than it was earlier in the year but I has a lot of meetings with people who normally work more standard days to enable them to take pauses during the day for other stuff. Wasn't an issue for me as I do lots of calls outside "normal" office hours anyway but if its more than you are happy doing either schedule time out during the day or simply say "no" and suggest an alternative time.

YANBU I have not experienced this but places I have worked seem to like to schedule meetings over lunchtime and I find that annoying. It is less of a problem since working at home but still annoying as it makes things like going for a walk with DP over lunch difficult. If he has a meeting at 12 and I had a meeting at 1 then we can't have lunch together.

I think occasional meetings before 9 and after 5 are okay but not habitually. Even if you has a commute to work you may still have had that time to yourself by reading a book on the train or listening to music on the drive in.

I like the idea of booking time out for post meeting actions. And I reckon if I booked two hours I could get stuff done in 1 and then manage a walk or a jog. I am really not work shy, at all, I’ve just been lacking balance and that is now catching up with me. Some great tips and perspectives here, thank you.

I work in an international team and if I am not careful there are meetings scheduled at all times. I advise you block your calendar where you don't want meetings, it is easier then when people are looking for slots to book

I book my calendar out from 4pm until 5:30 pm. I officially finish at 4, never do, but if I'm working late it isn't on other peoples meetings! If anyone books a meeting over it they get told it is after my working hours/I have something personal planned and can they reschedule.

I will occasionally have meetings outside my working hours if specifically requested, if they are desperate they can book a meeting with me at 7am when I start.

Ditto 1pm meetings!

Apparently lunch breaks are optional these days

Blimey, I just wouldn’t accept them!

I work 9-5 from home with a few face to face things if necessary. I don’t book anything before 9.30 or after 4.... unless it’s a real emergency and only then if DH is free to do both the after school club and nursery runs.

I think a lot of workplaces (even good ones) are seeing this sort of work hours "creep".

It seems quite acceptable in my workplace to decline meetings. You don't have to give an explanation and you may never be asked for one.

If you use Outlook then you can block out chunks of time so people can see that you are busy when they set up the meeting. Also a lot of my colleagues have taken to using do not disturb when they do not want to make themselves available for calls.

The worst was at the start of lockdown when they had lots of mental health sessions,

My workplace is doing MH session - I have signed up for a session so as not to be "that person" and on the day I will log in, mute myself and then go and do some gardening .

Yeah the mental health sessions...as yet another zoom call. People are going to need counselling to get over the zoom onslaught and headaches and eye strain from constant screens!! Not to mention the forced fun....I have a team meeting on Friday from 3-5 and then forced fun from 5 til 6, I will most certainly be declining that.

Not a teacher then! We have four meetings a week that start at 8.20 and I work until 5 and then two more hours at home. Long hols though so I always think it’s just squashed into term time.

No not a teacher, but then I only get 6 weeks holiday a year, not 13 or whatever it is teachers get!!!

Just out of interest....what is forced fun? How fun can it be if its via zoom?!

Not aimed at you OP but amazing how many people will not do above their hours. I have friends in places like Taiwan and their hours are insane and terrible pay. Our work hours in the UK are short compared to a lot of countries. I certainly woukdnt have got away with 9 to 5 in professional role even though didnt get paid extra. Was more like 7 until 7 on a good day. Guess its all relative to where you work and what you want though. You want promotion and senior leadership team respect you have to always appear to be there, seems to be more important than if youre even doing anything!!

I agree about the working hours creep. Officially I work 37.5 hours a week, but I do expect to do more as I am in a senior role.

Things have actually improved since kids went back to school. I was starting at 8 and working until 7, whereas now I am on school run 8-9 and 3 days a week pickup between 2.30 and 3.30.

Today i was invited to a meeting next week and i have said it is half term and I plan to be away. If I’m not away, I’ll probably attend the meeting, but no guarantees. I got back “noted” from the organiser.

I also had to block out pick up time as I was forgetting and booking myself meetings!

@Youngatheart00

You’re right, it is down to me to discipline my diary better. I’ve only worked for the company for a year so I am worried about last in / first out so I go out of my way to be ‘visible’, but I’m close to burn out.

To the posters asking do I expect to just work 9-5 with an hour for lunch, not every day no. I don’t mind doing extra. But I do mind being in meetings for 30-35 hours a week and then doing all of my follow up work effectively unpaid. The pressure to do so and deciding what to decline or delegate (i don’t have a team) is the next challenge

But you should expect to just work the hours you’re paid. You don’t get paid for your lunch hour. All these people giving free hours to a business are part of the problem. No wonder UK work-life balance is up there with the worst! I’m freelance and it’s absurd to me that people give up their free time for no financial gain to a business that isn’t theirs. I charge to the nearest 15 minutes!