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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

999 replies

Overthebow · 02/11/2021 22:09

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?

OP posts:
fuckyourpronouns · 03/11/2021 20:33

@KayKayWat

9am is hardly early. I start 6am and sometimes need to come in an hour early.
Because you can't carry out your workload in your working hours? Or because you prefer to?
Twentypast · 03/11/2021 20:34

@starryeyed19

YABU. There is no earthly reason for a 9am meeting. Even if it is the start of the working day, why not give people some time to check their emails and get their heads into the right space? Prepare for the meeting? Review their actions and notes?
Don't be so ridiculous.

The OP has said there's different time zones involved so there may be a reason. I have frequent meetings with colleagues in Singapore. If we start at 9am, that's 5pm and means they have to work until 6pm. Which they do. If I delayed the start they'd be even later.

Sometimes I even start a meeting at 7am so they don't have to stay late. These things are common in a global company.

AudacityBaby · 03/11/2021 20:36

@Puzzledandpissedoff

Where I work, the only people getting flexibility are the parents. The rest of us are picking up whatever needs doing when the school runs are on

Out of interest, AudacityBaby, how do the staff with DCs feel about that?

After all, we're told - quite rightly - that fairness is important, that women should be supported, and that we should all think of others and not just ourselves, so I'd expect they have a view?

They’re fine with it. The commonly held view is that it’ll be everyone’s turn to benefit when they have children and they describe the organisation as a progressive feminist place to work for.
Lady1576 · 03/11/2021 20:38

Lol to people who think it’s impossible to have your head switched on and be working at 9am on the dot. I bet you love slagging off teachers, GPs etc!

Lady1576 · 03/11/2021 20:43

Also funny to see the amount of people who think that no-one with children could possibly start work before 9.30. Lots of people do it folks!

CallmeHendricks · 03/11/2021 20:48

@Lady1576

Lol to people who think it’s impossible to have your head switched on and be working at 9am on the dot. I bet you love slagging off teachers, GPs etc!
We've already had a fair amount of it on this thread.

It's not so much various people's start-times that has astounded me, but the entitlement shown by so many. Not to mention the unprofessional mud-slinging and insults thrown.
Who the hell clocks on at work (whatever the time) and heads straight to the kitchen for a leisurely coffee?

greendiva · 03/11/2021 20:50

@edenhills totally agree, when are we going to start realising people are people with connections and responsibilities and yes even children.

Starpleck · 03/11/2021 20:53

The commonly held view is that it’ll be everyone’s turn to benefit when they have children and they describe the organisation as a progressive feminist place to work for.

Not everyone will go on to have children. Again, why are we keeping it as just a feminist issue?

SunShinesBrightly · 03/11/2021 21:01

@wewereliars

Clearly the person who can't attend the meeting should throw their child in the general direction of the nursery, only slowing down slightly, so that they can be in the weekly meeting which is crucial to the survival of the planet.

Bunch of absolute tools on this thread.

Or maybe they could pay for childcare/breakfast clubs/school drop offs like so many other people do. Once a week is hardly asking too much.
SunShinesBrightly · 03/11/2021 21:05

Starpleck

The OP doesn’t say whether the team member is male or female. Could be either.

Parker231 · 03/11/2021 21:06

Seems to be a lot of mothers doing the school drop off. What about the fathers ?(acknowledges single parent families).

Smashingspinster · 03/11/2021 21:07

Agree with the poster who said that there will always be people who push it with regards to the start time. Whatever your core hours, if you work in a customer facing position or have clients you need to work with then you need to do whatever you need to in order to get the job done. As the teachers on this post have pointed out, they need to start on time - imagine the outrage if their school drop offs meant they started later! You are being totally reasonable.

BeautyQueenIamNot · 03/11/2021 21:09

Jeeze…that’s taking the piss a bit, but I suppose it entirely depends on what the policy at works states doesn’t it??

I work in construction and I start between 6.30-7am, a 9.30am meeting would be seen as late on site 🤷‍♀️

Not everyone starts at 9/9.30

Starpleck · 03/11/2021 21:10

@SunShinesBrightly

Starpleck

The OP doesn’t say whether the team member is male or female. Could be either.

Yes I'm referring to the post made by the poster I mentioned that cited it as feminist.
SunShinesBrightly · 03/11/2021 21:15

Starpleck
Ah ok.

notanothertakeaway · 03/11/2021 21:16

[quote CallmeHendricks]@Postitmug unpaid holidays, remember. [/quote]
@CallmeHendricks

OK, I'll bite. Why are teachers' holidays "unpaid" and therefore different from the holidays that other employees have?

AutumnIsTheBest · 03/11/2021 21:18

Christ Alive. The responses on the this thread. Just shows you give people an inch and they take a mile!

Surely this persons contract states they have to do hours which suit the business need OP? Or be available to suit the business need?

I used to manage to be at work by 9 with 3 DC at school (had to pay for breakfast club and a childminder in the beginning) and got a toddler to nursery then did a 90 minute commute to be at my desk by 9. That was in the olden days when there was no other option and WFH was a dream.

This is ONE day a week and she doesn’t even need to be at her desk!

I’d have her up on a disciplinary. Not fulfilling her contractual duties.

Hercisback · 03/11/2021 21:21

@notanothertakeaway
Because that's how teacher contracts are constructed. We are paid for the days we do work, and no holiday pay (195 days and 1265 hours of directed time). However you could argue the holiday "pay" is part of the salary.

Whereas most jobs include 4 weeks of paid holiday per year.

sunglassesonthetable · 03/11/2021 21:27

*I used to manage to be at work by 9 with 3 DC at school (had to pay for breakfast club and a childminder in the beginning) and got a toddler to nursery then did a 90 minute commute to be at my desk by 9. That was in the olden days when there was no other option and WFH was a dream.

*
with all due respect, what a nightmare.

Why on earth would you want any one else to go through something like that just because you might have?

AudacityBaby · 03/11/2021 21:30

@Starpleck

The commonly held view is that it’ll be everyone’s turn to benefit when they have children and they describe the organisation as a progressive feminist place to work for.

Not everyone will go on to have children. Again, why are we keeping it as just a feminist issue?

I’m not saying I agree - I was asked what parent colleagues think. That is what they think.

(I’m infertile, single and an extremely poor candidate for adoption so I’m one of those who won’t go on to have kids. Believe me, their attitude gripes.)

CallmeHendricks · 03/11/2021 21:32

"Instead of having one parent excluded from contributing at work, and one parent excluded from participating in family life, why don't we just make it normal for both parents to be able to do both?"

Surely that's primarily up to you? I mean, in my world, my husband has always pulled his weight with regard to childcare and household duties. I wouldn't have accepted anything less. What we couldn't manage between us (as the luxury of turning up at work after 9 was never an option for either of us), we had to pay for and, trust me, there was a darn sight less childcare around back in the 90s than there is today.

shoofly · 03/11/2021 21:34

Pre covid I could drop my primary school child off at 8.30 and he could go into a supervised playground. Now he can't go into the playground and can't be dropped off before 8.50.
So while life on the surface is supposedly back to normal, in reality it isn't

Walkingwounded · 03/11/2021 21:34

Am really taken aback at the entitlement on this thread.

In my line of work, you adapt to client needs. You also don’t make colleagues in Asia stay at work late because you want to do the school run.

Totally normal to adapt in a global company.

sunglassesonthetable · 03/11/2021 21:36

Can we get over the whole entitlement crying.

Some work arenas are different to yours ok?

Some work sectors don't give a shit about school drop offs and all the rest of the crap being a human ( not only a parent ) involves.

The have ALREADY adapted and changed and don't require every employee to have a 'wife' at home.

Just accept it.

KayKayWat · 03/11/2021 21:37

@unim

Having children isn't a "lifestyle".

It's a crucial part of the survival of our species and the functioning of our economic system.

Let's not pretend it's something women are doing by themselves just for a jolly.

Ah, so the reason women choose to have kids is primarily for altruistic reasons?

Tbh, a huge reduction in the population would likely benefit the planet immensely. I'd actually wager that right now not having kids is more likely to facilitate our continued survival than continuing to breed at the current rate.