AIBU to think that team should be available at 9am for meetings?

[Overthebow]

I set up a weekly client meeting for my project team at 9am. I have had a decline from a key team member as it clashes with school drop of time. AIBU to think that 9am is a standard working time and my team should be available to attend important client calls at this time, unless they have a formal working hours agreement in place?

All our regular meetings start from 9.30 now. I work in male dominated industry and one big improvement thanks to Covid has been far more men being involved with childcare - their voices are heard so we've had a number of family friendly improvements.
Frustrating that's what it's taken but I'm grateful nonetheless.

Wow is 9am Meetings a bad thing now? Who knew!! I didn't they that memo!!

And I work for the most incredibly family friendly and flexible company I have ever experienced in 25 years of my industry

I always put my meetings in for 9am. I too have school Drop off but I am always home and in front of lap top for 8.30am

9am is such a shit time for a meeting. At least push it to 9.15 if not 9.30.

Depends on your specific employment policies, not what you or we consider a "standard working time" .

9am would be outside my core hours. I can work then but I don't have to be available.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

I don’t think it does any harm to push it back to 9.15/ 9.30 does it?

It really depends on the set up. If there are people who have formally requested flexible working or reduced hours then if other people do it without the reduction in pay it will be unfair.

However it does depend on the sort of role etc involved.

We have core hours 10-4 to enable people with caring responsibilities or other personal reasons to come in later. As well as working parents in the team, this also benefits my colleague who gets her mum with mild dementia breakfast and another colleague who uses public transport in a wheelchair and says it's so much less stressful for him outside of rush hour.

It's nice to support our teams as much as we can surely and show them they matter.

To answer some questions, we don't have official core hours. The company is reasonably flexible but 9am has always been considered a standard working time and 9am meetings are not unusual.

The meeting is with a client in another time zone, and they have set the meeting time. It is not negotiable, especially as team member are from many countries so trying to find a suitable time to accommodate lots of different time zones is tricky. Starting later would mean someone else has to finish work late.

If this makes a difference we are all employed and are reasonably well-paid, well above the average UK wage.

9am
Meeting are rubbish. Give people time to settle in, read overnight emails/ check for emergencies/urgent queries. 9.30
Is perfect for that.

When I worked in the office my hours were 8-4 with hour break but would be flexible as required. Now I wfh I work 7-8.30 do school run until 9.15. Back to work until 2.30, school run/childcare drop off until 3.30. Them back to work until 5.30. I don't take a lunch break and will work in the evening as required. So whilst I do school runs I actually work at least 1.5 hours more each day - sometimes more.
There's an unwritten rule now that unless it absolutely can't be avoided no meetings are booked during school run time. Seems to suit more than it doesn't!

Lots of my colleagues do 9.30 -5.30. If anything it's the people without kids who rock up at 9.30.

9am isn’t a formal working time at my place. We have core hours 10am - 4pm. It works for my manager (without kids) as he’s a late rise and prefers to start later. He quite enjoys pottering around in the solitude of the office when everyone else (who prefers to do 8-4) has gone home.

9am is a formal working time for DH’s work but they’re stuck in the dark ages and up until about 3 years ago, they had to wear a full suit everyday. Actually, they had to get permission from a partner to remove their suit jacket on a hot day.

Whether you’re being unreasonable or not, depends on how much you like the stick up your arse.

Well obviously it's different if a client has requested that time, especially if they are in a different time zone.

They need to sort a 9am start for the day of the meeting.

We also have lots of team members with reduced hour contracts and official working hour agreements in place. It is already hard enough to fit in all the necessary meetings around these, but would be impossible to have to accommodate the unofficial working patterns too.

You seem to already know the answer

I was going to tell you not to be the dick who insists on a 9am meeting but If you’re accommodating several time zones and the client wants to start at that time because of that then your staff member needs to make arrangements for that day. Breakfast club? Drop at a friends to go in. Partner does it.
What did they do when they had a commute to the office? Unless they have an agreement in place to start later of course but even then I would expect them to be available.

Why does it have to be at 9am? Start it at 9.30 and give people a chance to catch up on emails etc before diving straight into talking.

If this makes a difference we are all employed and are reasonably well-paid, well above the average UK wage.

It doesn't. HTH

OP if you have people in different agreements then perhaps you need to start looking at core hours of 10-4pm for meetings and let your clients know this.

The info in your second message might have been helpful in your first. You know the one in which you say you set up a weekly 9am meeting and added nothing about the context.

we don't have official core hours

Ok, well do you have an official start time? Rather than your vague "considered a standard working time" thing?

The company is reasonably flexible

Even if there's no "official" flexi policy they may have created one by custom and practice, if they've always acted as if they have such a policy.

Our core hours are 10-4, but there are many meetings outside of these times, particularly as some involve different market time zones or stakeholders who work shift patterns.

It's accepted though, that a 9am meeting may not always have full attendance. Personally I'd rather budge a meeting back by 15-30 mins and have full, prepared attendance, than stick to 9am and have people miss, be late, or not have had a chance to prepare.

What do you expect the coke magus tondi, not take her kids to school on the one off chance there is possibly a meeting

Just seen that the client asked for it. How annoying of them, do they realise that's the very start of the day for us here? I suppose you have to give in to it, if they insist.

I wouldn't like a 9am meeting with an external. Realistically you'd need to start at 8.50 to ensure you are logged in and set up etc.
I drop my kids off at 9am and am at my desk for 9.05 and always work over at the end.
I'll do an internal 9am and drop a note in to say will be few mins late but I wouldn't want to be flustered and rushed where a good impression is important.

The meeting is with a client in another time zone, and they have set the meeting time. It is not negotiable, especially as team member are from many countries so trying to find a suitable time to accommodate lots of different time zones is tricky.

If it's a one off/occasional thing that's reasonable.

If you are like my friend's boss and oddly enough this happens almost every day, yet never ever does a meeting fall between 12.30 & 1.30 when he likes to go the the gym, well..... you have your answer.