To think employers are taking the piss? Extended working hours.

[FrostyNethers]

Looking for a new job in admin.

Many jobs are being advertised with working hours of 8am-5pm, 9am-6pm, 8.30am-5pm or even 8am-6pm!

Where are all the 9-5s which you used to see?

Its not like the pay is higher for these jobs, it’s actually low in the region of £20-25k.

I though we worked the longest hours in Europe already!

AIBU to think this is a piss take?

I’m also finding this, I refuse to start at 8 or finish at 6 especially for a job paying under 30k. My husband works long hours but he is a high earner and it is frowned upon to leave the office before 6 in fact they’d have him stay there all night if they could.

Pretty much everyone I work with does 8 to 6. Some even do 7:30 to 6 with half an hour unpaid lunch break. I think 9 to 5 is a thing of the past.

We work 07.15-20.15 or 20.00-07.45 (nhs) with an hour unpaid break per shift. Often don't get the break, but still have an hour unpaid per shift.

I’ve never had a 9-5 job and don’t know anyone who does.

9.30 - 5.30 is standard hours in my industry (London, legal - almost everyone works later than 5.30 though). I'm non-lawyer so can usually get away with getting in just after 9 and legging it just after 5 to make nursery pick up.

DH has recently been offered a new job where everyone is expected to do 7h15m a day (not including lunch) but can do that however they want as long as they're working 10am - 12pm and 2pm - 4pm. He's planning to do 8.30 start, 45m for lunch, out the door at 4.30pm. I've not heard of this but think it's ideal (not least because it means I can do evening events again because he can do nursery pick up too!)

I wouldn't be doing 9 hour days for 20k a year. I have plenty of work ethic thank you! I am not a mug though.

I’ve been trying to work out what’s changed as likewise haven’t been in work (nhs)or managed anyone else for a long time but I always thought working time regulations allowed for a paid break per 4 hrs worked.. I’m sure something has changed but I can’t work out what! I know in the NHS the working week did get extended during all the agenda for change shenanigans. I certainly dropped in bank holiday entitlement and increased nhs pension age (was 55 for mine and certain other nhs professions at 1 time) during the course of my career and the op may be experiencing a similar tactic to increase working time.

I used to work 8.30-5.15. The rest of my team were late starters/late finishers. It was the kind of place where it was noticed more if you worked late than started earlier and I could feel the disapproval as I walked out at 5.15.

Also, having a half day usually meant you finished at 1pm or even later.

My job (large high street bank) is 9-5 and regardless what my colleagues do I never work over my hours.

Lowest salary IIRC is £23k but plenty of scope for more. PM me if you want more details @FrostyNethers there's lots of WFH positions as well if you're not in my area. I WFH exclusively although I'm not in admin.

I'm moving to 35hr a week full time from teaching. Flexible too.

I'll do fewer hours full time than I do "part time" each week.

Hurray!

I started work in 1989 and 9-5 was certainly the norm then. We had half hour lunch so did a 7.5 hour day. I switched jobs several times throughout the 1990s and it was exactly the same at each company - no expectation of 9-5.30 or whatever.

Only really heard of offices having 9-5.30 from the 2000s, although where I worked, it always stayed as 8 hour shifts with half hour lunch.

Actually, @Anotheanon in the days of my Youth, originally Civil Servants worked a 42 hour week 8.30 - 5pm Monday to Thursday and 8.30 to 4.30 on a Friday - with an hour per day paid break for lunch. When Flexi time became an option was when the actual hours worked moved to 37 per week for obvious reasons.

I don't know what they do now but when I retired in 2011, overtime rates etc were still calculated based on a 42 hour week and not 37 ( less per hour that way) and I assume they still do. Used to confuse a lot of people

Daffodil, nurses and midwives don't get paid breaks and rarely get to take the unpaid extra that's added to the shift times.

I did a busy clinic today and got 10 mins of my 30 mins unpaid. This was due to people turning up late.

@2022again I think you are right and something has changed about entitlement to paid breaks.

My employment history

30 years ago: 8.45 - 5.15 with unpaid hr for lunch = 37.5.
20 years ago (new job): 37.5.
Approx 10 years ago: standard hrs for new hires increased to 7.75 a day = 38.75.

When I started working in London at the end of the 80s, my hours were 9.30 to 5.30 with an hour for lunch, so a 35 hour week. 20 years later I moved out of London and suddenly my hours were 9 to 5.30 with an hour for lunch, so 37 and a half hours (for less money and holidays, obviously. And shorter holidays).

I don't work in the kind of job where you clock in and clock out, and never have done. BUT I was surprised that my most recent job has a 35 hour contract which is 9-5 with an hour unpaid for lunch. Prior to that I'd always had 37.5 or 40 hours in my contract (not that it made any difference in my roles). Much earlier or later than 9-5 is surely pretty impossible with childcare, assuming you have to travel to get there. And I wouldn't want to work later than that for a low salary.

I'm wondering if employers are advertising in some cases the maximum they want, because some prospective employees seek to negotiate down. So set a high starting point. An example being coming into an office five days a week, so no-one can quibble about coming in some of the time.

I have to get a train at 6.45 to be sure I can be in by 8.30 with delays. Why should I leave later than 5.30?

Working 9-5 was the norm. Even Dolly says so.

In my first "proper" job I worked 9.30-5.30. The next one was 9-5.30. I think the one after that was 9-5. I used to do 8-5 to fit in with nursery hours and my boss raised his eyebrows that I left on time. Tosser. Anyway I digress.

I don't work full-time now, but I think office hours are 9-5.30 in my current job. My DH works 9.30 to 5.30.

8-6 is taking the mick.

The salaries haven't increased but the cost of living has

I'd look for WFH roles if I were you, OP

ArseInTheCoOpWindow Thanks for linking that obscure song or we'd have had no idea what you meant

I’m going to shock some of you….

In the ‘80s my DF had a 9-5 with an hour for lunch. Finished at 3 on a Friday, that was standard, not a special arrangement or flex working.

Its awful how backwards we’ve gone. It’s why I prefer jobs with shifts as I can’t be made to do more hours than scheduled unless I volunteer.