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?

As someone who had been working for more than a decade before I commenced my 'career', it has been interesting watching my DC start a career straight from Uni.
The biggest difference that I notice is that I had a lot less to lose from changing jobs - whether through my choice or not. Starting a career in 2023 seems to have a lot more downside, a highwire act that can end almost before it has started.
I'm encouraged by the younger generation recognising the reality of their situation - particularly their attitude to stupid employers offering 'competitive salaries' - if they're too embarrassed to advertise it, it is anything but.

I’m my 30 years of employment I have never worked an 8-5 or 9-6 job until my recent job. I’ve always worked from either 7 - 3:30 (30 min lunch) or 7:30 - 4:30 (hour lunch). Now I work 8-5/9-6 (days vary) with an hour lunch. We have those hours because work across time zones so we have cover the other time zones as well.

DH company bucking the trend here has just reduced the working week from 37 to 35 hours. No pay reduction.

Our local council is trialling the four day week so has reduced hours from 37.5 to 30 for the next 12 months. Again, same pay.

For both the workload remains the same despite reduction in hours.

I think it would be interesting to know what normal office hours were pre war.
I know we are getting on for 100 years now, but I think a lot of people are referring to some post war golden era when there was tremendous house building, cheap social housing etc.
People could afford to be picky and take the 35 hours full time, paid lunchbeak jobs.
So office jobs were good! Even in the 80s they were great. The 90s is where they started to get worse in terms of hours, breaks and pension I think. A little job at the local council really was desirable.
I have a relative that is close to 65 now, she had a little job at HMRC in the 80s, only stayed a few years, left to have kids, never went back and still has a better pension than me 🙄

I'm still a lot better off in my 37.5, unpaid lunch job than I was working retail though.

I'm encouraged by the younger generation recognising the reality of their situation - particularly their attitude to stupid employers offering 'competitive salaries' - if they're too embarrassed to advertise it, it is anything but.

Same. More power to them!

I've never had 9-5. 9-530 is the lower normal. Most of our admins are 930-6.

My findings on cutting hours from 40 to 37.5 were:

1. A few months where the half hour back put a spring in everyone's step. They cheerfully just worked a bit faster at the same tasks, and faffed a little less.
2. They started designing/redesigning tasks to lighten the load. It removed unneeded perfectionism in the workforce (e.g. productivity that didn't produce a meaningful, profit driven output - deckchair straightening)
3. Because this was accompanied by other morale boosting perks (free food, office downtime, wfh and actually using employee feedback rather than filing it in the bin), about a year in, the company REALLY started ticking. Incredibly productive ideas meetings, greatly improved team relationships, and a total diffusion of discontent and burnout.

We all just about tolerated each other before, but in the end we all had a huge amount of respect for each other. After all, it's hard to be a grump when you have a greatly improved home life balance and you're well rested.

@thecatsthecats so good to hear!
In France the working week is 35 hours. You can work more than this but only if you take the time back via additional annual leave. The French have higher work productivity than the UK.

In short: yes, it is a piss-take. 9-5 is a cliche precisely because it was the norm, and now it isn't - even though real wages have definitely not caught up to the extra hour.

Tbh, I think I scare future employers by referencing this sort of thing in interviews! They think that I'm going to come and unionize their staff.

But it all came from a selfish motivation: I was sick of working in a shit company, and as soon as I got the power, I started bloody well using it to fix what I didn't like.

And it worked. These policies aren't big, clever or original. The research is all there, but I think lots of people are scared of reforms like this because they think it costs them power or authority. Since I don't care about those things, I didn't mind sharing them amongst the staff, who were all good at their jobs, and didn't need chivvying to be productive.

Sadly the PT role I took to go alongside training is also shit, but I'm only here another month!