What’s going on with working hours these days?

[CateringPanic]

I work in the public sector. My working hours are broadly 9-5 although I can flex this if I want to eg. 8-4, with 30 minutes for lunch. Either way it’s 37.5 hours a week which I thought was standard for full time work. I’m reasonably senior so obviously I might sometimes choose to work late to get stuff done but these are my contracted hours.

BILs girlfriend is young, early 20s and in her second job out of uni (was only in first for 6m). Her old job was 9-6 and her current one is 8-5. She thinks this is normal - I think her employers are taking the piss.

She is salaried, not hourly paid, and these are low skilled, low stress administration jobs so no real need to work long hours at all.

AIBU to think this is more than full time work and she shouldn’t have to be working an extra 5 hours a week for crap money or am I just out of touch with how things are out there?

Companies choose to set their hours, employee chooses whether they're happy with the hours 🤷‍♀️.
I've had 37 hour weeks, 37.5 hour weeks and 45 hour weeks. I've had either a 30 or 45 minute lunch break. I've had fixed start times of 7.30am, 8.00am or 8.30am, full on flexi with core hours where you could build up a day off every four weeks and flexible hours where no one really bothers as long as the work gets done. Finish times have been 4.30pm, 5pm, 5.30pm, sometimes earlier on a Friday of 4.15pm or 1pm to make the hours work.
I'm old school, maybe, and see full time as anything between 37 and 45 hours a week. I prefer an earlier start and finish these days, but when I was younger it was a push to get in the office for 8.30am!
My contrated hours currently are 9.00am to 5pm, but I choose to do 8am - 4pm.

I work 37.5 hours a week. My boss has the attitude aslong as you work your hours she doesn't care what hours you work. I work 9/3 Monday and Tuesday and then 9/6 Wednesday-Friday. In the office 2 days a week (no Fridays as shut) so I can't complain at all. It's generally 30 minute lunch unpaid with 2x 15 min breaks except I get 3 on my longer days. I barely know anyone that works Monday - Friday core hours these days it's quite rare xx

@BringOnSummerHolidays if you read the thread I think you’ll see that I am not unusual and a lot of people agree that it’s pointless making people work extra hours for free

A lot of my friends are in the office for 6.30am and don't leave until at least 6 that night. It seems very very common these days but all in the name of "career progression"

I used to work somewhere where 42.5 hours was standard. 830-530 with 30 minutes unpaid for lunch. I didn’t realise it meant I wasn’t as well paid as I thought I was until I left. Now I’m older pension contributions and annual leave are a factor in my decision making when looking at new jobs. Priorities change.

I think what's depressing is there seems to be an acceptance that working conditions should be getting worse not better. Technology was meant to help share the load, not add to it. I work in the public sector and always work over, miss lunch. Too much work to do. No wonder retired people don't want to return to the work place, why would you if you don't have to.

FT at my work is 40hrs. I was PT on 32hrs but increased to FT

I call it "family avoidance syndrome"

There is no possible reason someone in a private sector office job should work those hours. If they are routinely doing them then their employers need to look at recruiting more staff. All your friends are doing is reducing their hourly pay rate by a significant level.

Oh and lunch is 30 mins but we get 2 x 15 min other breaks too

I've worked 40 hours a week for many, many, years. It's fairly standard here.

I have never heard of any "9 to 5 job" anywhere else than MN. What are all these jobs?

It's always been 8 or 8:30 (rarely 9) to 6, and the more senior roles don't clock watch.

Only on MN are people leaving work so early there's always 2 people to deal with the kids diner, bath time and bed time. In the real world, it's hard enough for just one parent to be back home so early

why do you think people are fighting hard to stick with WFH when it's proven they are more productive and it benefit their employer?

It also allows for a decent work-life balance. When the job is office based and suitable for WFH - of course not all are - I am now guessing that the few misery guts whining because they want everyone back in the office to have a social life, these people must work part-time or reduced hours

It’s normal for private sector. A lot of public sector workers complain about salaries, but their terms and benefits are so much better. I haven’t ever worked a 37.5 hour job in the private sector.

I worked in private sectors in the 90’s in 3 different places

8.30 to 4:30, finish 2.30 on Fri
9-5
8.45-5.15.

All had an hour for lunch

@wholivesondrurylane I’m a mental health nurse. Practically all NHS community is 9-5. In practice this means that I get there at 8:30 so I have time to make a cup of tea before my first service user turns up. I manage my own diary so I don’t like booking in people later than 16:00 unless absolutely necessary. This then means I can leave on time. As I said, it’s pretty good. I do have to work a bit in the evening sometimes and I wish I was paid a bit more, but, really, I can’t complain.

When I started work in the 70s public sector standard hours were 37.5 and private sector were 35 - I worked 34.75 in private sector AND all overtime was PAID at around 1.5 normal hourly rate. These were salaried posts

This is one of the reasons why I love my employer. I work in the private sector (a bank that’s hot on people having a work life balance) and full time hours is 35hrs a week. Some people do shifts based on the roles but those not working shifts do either 8-4 or 9-5 with one hour lunch so 35 working hours or 8-3:30 or 9-4:30 with 30 mins lunch and anything above that is overtime. Obviously as we do hybrid work and have a caseload, sometimes you log in at home to finish somethings but it’s not an expectation.
I remember when I was applying for a civil service job and saw that work is 37.5 for almost a similar pay, it felt so long, luckily I found another role with my current employer. So I feel those employers who expect people to work for 40hrs are just taking advantage

My full time hours are 35 a week. My previous employer was 40. There's a lot of variation company to company.

In my industry it's 8-5 but everyone does 9ish to 4ish

I’m surprised by these answers! I’m in my late twenties and in my working life post university, I’ve only ever worked 9-5 with an hour’s break (unpaid). We have flexibility around those hours e.g. our core hours are between 09:00-14:00 and we wfh most of the week! I would never accept a job with an 8-9am start & 5-6pm finish unless I had no choice! I work in finance for a bank. Very grateful.

Everywhere I've worked in manufacturing head offices, a standard week is 40 hours and lunch is a luxury!

I’m retired from a public sector job, worked 8.30-5.15 and it was frowned upon to take more than a 30 minute lunch break and felt I wasn’t pulling my weight by leaving at the time I did. A half day meant finishing at 1.30-2pm. They did away with core hours which actually resulted in less flexibility rather than more.

I also work for a bank, on a 37 hour a week contract with flexibility etc.
Granted, there are a variety of different roles but I'd say your working hours depends on your role and manager.
I have signed away my rights to the working time directive and get no overtjme.

My work is peaks and troughs I can work 14 hour days, or 2 hours when it's quiet so I like it

I've always worked either 37.5 hours per week in offices ( public and private sector) or in teaching- Scottish teachers' contract is very clear on this, although most people work far more.
Working more than an 8 hour day is counterproductive as the more hours you work the more entitlement you have to breaks and so it becomes quite complicated

YANBU in thinking this is more than what, until relatively recently, were standard full time working hours. (Although there has always been an expectation in the private sector companies I have worked in that all staff will work many hours free overtime per week, even though contractual hours were 9am-5pm, with an hour for lunch.) However, loads of job adverts I have seen over the last few months have similar hours advertised to those of your BILs girlfriend.