Paid for 37h, working 37.5

[Petunia90]

I've recently started a 9-5 role with a standard 30 minute unpaid lunch. The problem is that we're paid for a 37 hour week, yet this equates to 37.5h as suggested in my title.
Therefore, we're owed 6 minutes per day. I should raise this with management really, I know it's only 30 minutes per week but it adds up.
Wibu to either leave 5 minutes earlier or take a short morning/afternoon break to compensate for the extra time? In fairness I'm sure I've seen people leaving at 55 past the hour.
Just don't want to be taken advantage of by employers. Does anybody else have this?

We solve this by finishing 1/2 hour early on a Friday maybe suggest this

That's good, my other new colleague actually asked that question on Friday just gone but we were told it doesn't happen :(

Your employer has bought 37 hours a week of your time so that’s what they are owed. You can be sure that if you did 30 mins less a week then words would be had so it needs to work both ways. Either your contract needs to be amended, pay increased or you just leave early to cover it. Stand up for yourself. Over the year, you’re giving approx 3.5 days of work for free
if this carries on, why would you do that?!

Yes you're right, it shouldn't be acceptable. It's a very large organisation so I'm surprised they're able to get away with it! I am going to start taking a 6 minute morning break.

Totally agree. And if you times that by how many staff the company employs that is a huge amount of time the company are stealing each year.

Please don't just start taking a break - raise it and make a fuss.

Or it could be called give and take, you know drs appointment, sliding in late etc

i come from an era when it would be just that

I had this issue. My contract stated 37 hours, yet the hours added up to 37.5. I queried it on my first week, I thought we’d finish 30 minutes early on a Friday, nope. Manager said I’d get a letter, I never did. I mentioned it in every 121. Apparently there was a IT issue contracts were being sent out wrong. People were working silly hours, I am talking til 2 in the morning. 🫣 No overtime, or time back. The volume of work was impossible to do in the hours, high staff turnover, so left. I stayed a year as kept being told it will improve, it didn’t. I then requested the owed 1/2 hour per week that they had not paid. They paid it. 🥳 if you are working 37.5 hours they need to increase your salary to cover that half hour. Might be worth getting advice from ACAS. Hope the other aspects of the job are better. 🌺 As previous poster said, I would not recommend taking a 6 minute break, you need to get your contract changed to 37 hours, or your pay increased to cover that 30 mins.

I would speak to your manager and follow it up in an email so you have a trail of evidence. I’d even copy in my home email address so you have future reference.

I think you're going to have to be the one that cracks this on behalf of all fellow workers.

I wouldn't go for leaving 6 mins early - that could easily get lost by a telephone call or a colleague chat. So I'd give management the option of paying you the extra half hour or leaving half an hour early one day. It's just not fair, so get some colleagues behind you and sort it.

It’s up to you but playing hardball over 6 minutes with hours cuts both ways so no breaks at all if you need to make the odd personal phone call it’s a no in works time

If it makes you feel any better, my contract says 32.5 hrs a week and I do about 60 to 70.

That is wrong, why do you accept all that unpaid overtime?
I will speak to them tomorrow, thanks for suggestions.
I was told that other departments do leave early but ours doesn't, it's just not right.

Here come the teachers!

My contract says 7 hours 24 minutes a day. If we work the 7:30 we can add up the extra minutes until we get an hour / half day / full day off!

Are you civil service by any chance? Mine also says 7h24 but I haven't been informed of anything like this :(

Most Civil service departments offer flexi time, so you may well have flexi time, do you have a copy of your contract? Or do you work via a temp agency?

LOL.

With the amount of unpaid overtime that’s been expected of me in the past I’m genuinely amused that someone is complaining about a measly half an hour per week.

Not saying you’re in the wrong, because you aren’t, but it’s amusing nonetheless.

I've got another thread going on about this but what does your contract actually say?
Mine says '35 hours on average'. 9-5 with one hour lunch break.

Professional jobs rarely involve this level of accuracy in hours worked.

I need to double check it but I'm fairly sure it just says, you will usually work a 37 hour week.
Well that's the problem, we shouldn't have to work a minute unpaid, employers are getting away with it because we accept it. Even if it's only X amount of time, over the years it will equate to a lot of unpaid work.

Yes definitely check out what’s happening. I never understand why people do zillions of hours free work… I’ve seen it happen and done it myself. I don’t now, life is for living.

yes this. My husband works 37 hours and does this

But that's the issue. The wording of your contract doesn't say that you're getting paid for 37 hours (which is such a strange figure!).
It says, you're getting paid to work that on average (=usually).

I don't like the wording - but if you think about it technically it doesn't just mean you have to work more than that. It could also mean less.

I put in loads of hours during busy period but can also block out my diary for personal stuff during the day , over time it evens out. When it's less busy I can pretty much do nothing all day. So I don't mind. I can leave at 4:30 or 4 any day I want, nobody cares.

I agree that you should be getting the 0.5 back as standard of your contract says 37 but do you need it officially mandated rather than leaving early of your own accord? Are you watched and expected to be at desk strictly from 9 -5?

Most teachers contracts state 27.5 hrs, which as I’m sure you’ll agree is a total piss take.

OP as people have said you need to email management. Perhaps give them the options of pay 30 minutes extra a week, adding 6 minutes to your daily break or finishing 1/2 hr earlier on Friday.

I thought it was civil service. Have you started yet, do you know how you actually record your hours? Our agency and related department uses flexitime for the lower grades (not SCS) so all hours are recorded on a spreadsheet and if you do over your hours you can “spend” it as additional time off, and conversely you can accrue a certain amount of negative time (subject to certain limits). Before I had kids i constantly worked over my time to get extra leave, now I have 3 kids I barely manage my contracted hours most week and usually have to catch up in the evenings or in the hols if my parents kindly have them for a few days.

I can’t believe you’re clock watching for 6 minutes a day. Depends on your job role of course, as I get some roles are very click in/clock out, but like @rwalker says it depends if you want any flexibility from them the other way

playing hardball over 6 minutes with hours cuts both ways so no breaks at all if you need to make the odd personal phone call it’s a no in works time

What happens if you are late to work or your lunch break runs long? Do they dock pay for that? If they do then I’d be complaint this isn’t equitable. If not think about whether your happy for them to start doing that.