To get to work at 9?

[forgeti]

My contracted hours are 9-5. Aibu to get to work at 9?

There are 2 unpaid breaks that we generally have to work through. IE when colleagues are off (which is daily, loads on long term absences but full caseloads attached) we are expected to work through breaks and take a short lunch to cover them.

lunch is 30 mins paid, 30 mins unpaid so manager expects you to work through the 30 minutes unpaid.

therefore aibu to get to work at 9? I’m being told that I’m not a team player by not getting in any earlier.

Your manager sounds stressy and toxic

I think you should be ready to start work from when you get paid, so 9am. Where I differ from most is I count 'setting up' as being at work. You're paying for me to be ready at 9, in correct place appropriately clothed etc. Logging on, setting up a machine/equpment, fetching supplies, pening up shop, being debriefed etc...that's work, so that will happen in the employers time, likewise packing away. I wouldn't expect to be given an additional paid half hour break most days though. If I regularly got that I'd be more inclined to be a bit more giving.
My pet peeves are coworkers who say stuff like 'Here she comes, late again' ....'Eh no Julie, I think you'll find I'm 3 minutes early!' Or those that come into the office at 830 and log on, then make a bloody bowl of porridge and a cup of tea and actually don't do anything productive until after me!
I was once told I'm not really a team player. I replied Yes, I never said I was!

It's fairly clear why everyone keeps going off on long term sick. I would look for another job. It seems all take and no give from your employer.

It's not, they are taking the absolute piss.

Personally I prefer a bit earlier to get ready, but I understand you're perspectives op

You work your hours. No more, no less. If they want to be martyrs and work hour after hour for no pay or reward, that’s on them! Tell them you’re coming from an early morning cleaning job and can’t get there earlier. Or the school run. Either way, doesn’t really matter anyway as you start at 9!

To the PP who mentioned banking, was it Natwest? I know someone who left because of the expectation to be in early and leave late for no pay! Madness!

My bosses like us to be in earlier as they do have pre 9 meetings but our timesheets log it and we get flexi time. Bit much to expect it unpaid and no time in lieu.

This is the same in lots of places I think. Civil service, say shift started at 9, we had to be at desk, pc on and all software loaded ready to take a call at 9am. So including time to get a cuppa, put stuff in locker, loo, starting pc up which could take ages you'd be realistic to get in for 8.30, 8.40 at the very latest. Every second late to sign in to take a call was recorded and logged. All unpaid time. Same at hometime having to stay logged in right to final minute and use own time to log off and pack up

Really? Is anyone this pernickety about the odd 30 seconds anymore?

I disagree with many of the PPs. If they want you in earlier, they need to pay you.

Turning on your PC etc IS work and should be paid as such.

Your employer is taking the piss. They want you in early, working through breaks and lunch. I would not be complying with that!

I actually do a ton of unpaid overtime in my current job. This is MY choice and I do that on my own terms where required. I feel very strongly that if an employer "requires" you to work outside of your contracted hours, it should be a request not a demand and they should pay you for your time. Especially if you are poorly paid. If you are on minimum wage your employer is likely breaking the law by requiring you work any additional time at all without payment.

I would get there ready to go at 9am, so arriving at 8.55am. If they want me there at 8.30 or 8.45 they need to pay me.

Asda were in the news for this a few years ago. They wanted staff to clock in early but refused to pay them.

They were heavily criticised for it and it was all over the papers etc

I have no idea what the outcome was though and whether they made any changes.

I love getting to work 15 min early because I get to chat with my colleagues (friends!) And then we chat less during the day / get more work done. But that's my own personal preference

I’ve been asked to come in an hour early one day next week and in return I can finish at 5pm on the dot…. Er, I’m supposed to finish at 5pm when I start at my normal time! I don’t mind working the extra hour as it’s unusual circumstances but don’t many out you’re doing me a favour!

like others say, start at 9 means logged on and starting at 9 rather than walking in at 9.

like others say, start at 9 means logged on and starting at 9 rather than walking in at 9.

Why? You can’t work without being logged on; therefore it is a work-related task. Why shouldn’t you be paid for it?

Urgh how DARE they? This makes me so mad, and makes me glad I am in a job now (WFH - 26 hours a week,) where I can work flexi time and start/finish when I want. You just know that these fuckers would go batshit if you're 5 minutes late, yet they expect you to come in early - 15 minutes or more - unpaid every day. And these same fuckers frown, and side-eye you, and say 'early finish for you today?' if you DARE to leave dead on time.

I worked in a job for 5 or 6 years, (3 days one week, 4 days the next,) when my DC were little, and I had to leave at my finishing time 4.45pm (started 8.30am) because I had to get to the childminder. I HAD to leave to get the 4.57pm bus to which got me to the minder for 5.20pm. If I got the next one at 5.17pm it got me there at 5.40 pm, and I was late. She was only paid til 5.30pm.

I finished a bit earlier than some because I chose to have only a half hour lunch, and they chose an hour.

Every Single TIME that I quickly packed up to finish at 4.45pm, someone said (usually a manager or supervisor,) 'early finish is it? Good job yer not in the middle of a phone call to a customer, or stuck at the reception counter with a customer talking to you.' Always a fucking sarcy remark, every fucking day, about me finishing ON TIME. Funnily enough, I regularly came in at 8.15am to 8.20am, ten to 15 minutes before my start time, and nobody ever commented on that!

In fact I strolled in at 8.13am one day, and went to get a coffee before I started work, and my manager TOLD me a customer was waiting for their 8.45am interview. I said 'it's not even 8.15am yet. He said 'they're here! Go and interview them and don't be so rude and lazy.' It was MY TIME. I hadn't even started work! It was that, that made me look for another job. I left (after nearly 6 years,) a few months later.

Some workplaces/employers suck, and they treat their workers like shit. You get no thanks or praise for doing 50 things right, but you will get a bollocking for doing a single thing wrong. And as I said, they will not say a THING about you coming in early or working through half your lunch, but they have plenty to say if you finish ON .TIME

A certain budget hotel is an absolute demon for this ... They expect their workers in 15 minutes early every day, so they can do a handover to the next shift. But they will not pay them the 15 minutes extra pay. They used to pay, and they stopped it about five years ago.

Three or four people I know who work there, do come in 15 minutes early - coz they get told off if they don't, but they make an absolute point of making sure they get at least a couple of extra 10 minute breaks (in addition to the ones are entitled to) during their shift. It's only fair!

Blimey OP we are still hybrid working. I have a colleague who is supposed to work 9-5 she is lucky if she is logged on by 9:25 on a good day. She then disappears at 10.30 to eat breakfast and always takes a full lunch hours sometimes more and is forever nipping out starting even later or leaving work early to collect one of her teens from school, take her cat to the vets, collect a parcel from the post office take someone to the Dr’s, dentist or opticians etc.

If you start at 9 as long as your seated at 9 and have switching on your PC by then thats fine. I usually like to start and be there 10 to 15 minutes early but thats just me.

Agree the bosses are being cfs. But, tactically, I would arrive early a couple of times and wait till the "limelight" isn't on you and they go and harass some other poor emplyee maybe!

I’d aim for 8.55 in your position. Only because your boss seems a stickler and if you ever came in at 9.02 he’d probably jump on you!

Get into an efficient arrival routine, e.g. set the stuff you need in your locker so that it can be lifted out and carried with one hand, turn the laptop on first before taking off your coat and before plugging stuff in, so you can be booting up in parallel.

If there are technical issues that mean it takes longer than 4 minutes logging in, that should be on the company’s time.

Solidarity with you on having multiple people off. Honestly feel like a mug sometimes for coming into work nearly every day while so many people around me seem to go off sick at the drop of a hat with no consequences. As tempting as it is to join I won’t but refuse to do all their work. I’m much better at saying no than I used to be.

Not surprisingly it’s a civil service job (Australian equivalent).

Workplaces with big absence issues are toxic and I’m working on getting out.

Yanbu. Make sure you take your breaks. The staff off sick are off sick for a reason, the management are poisonous. I work in a similar environment, but I make sure I stick to my hours. I never do extra as it’s never appreciated. My colleague does extra and moans, our jobs are different. I work 8.30 to 5 M-F, except one day til 5.30. Feel like I’m there all day. Get one hour unpaid lunch which I take.
When people suddenly ‘disappear’ we call it the X company black hole.

thank you everyone

I’m going to get to work early until the spotlight is off me, then use the extra time in the office to apply for jobs! Or just faff around in the canteen. I don’t normally eat breakfast but I might start…at work!

I wouldn’t say I’m paid enough to justify meetings at any time. I don’t get paid extra to come in earlier. I can bank flexi time but there’s limits on what time we can start/end and limits on total flex we can build up. A manager needs to authorise you leaving even 5 minutes early so it tends to be difficult to take due to staff absences. You lose it if you don’t take it so it’s not ideal.

Depends on job and industry.

I work in consulting and if someone doesn't rock up until 0859 with no reason ie school drop off I think pretty poorly of them tbh. Seems rather lazy imo.

But then I'm expected to give limbs and flesh in return for my salary. So I expect the same of others.

When I was being bullied the idiot team leader doing it told me he wanted me in at 8.30 every day. It didn’t work for me travel wise and still came in at 8.50 abc was logged in for 9(with the way they were treating me I wasn’t doing a stroke of work unless I was being paid!)

He brought it up again that he had noticed I wasn’t coming in at 8.30 to get myself ‘set up for the day’. I e-mailed him cc’ing HR asking for some clarification following him advising me I must be in office no later than 8.30am. Was the shift to an 8.30 start a change to my contracted hours and if so was I now due to finish at 16.30 rather than 5. If I was still working till 5 I would expect to see a wage increase circa 10 hours a week and as I was working over my contracted 35 hours a week would the extra hours be paid at overtime rates…..

HR called him with 15 minutes and he went into a private room to call them back. It was never mentioned again. I wish I’d heard that call!

I guess it depends on the job. Ours is that we have to be logged on and ready for our shift start time so we can't walk in as our shift starts