To think 9 to 6 are long working hours

[Coolcucumbers]

For UK standards, office work.

All companies I have worked so far have been 9:30am to 5:30pm

I think it's long. In my office our full time hours are 35 a week.

In an office I've done a variety of hours
Some offices are open 24x7x365

10 to 10 days & nights
7 to 7 days & nights
10 to 6
8 to 530
9 to 5
6pm to 10pm

We have agile working but full time is 35 hours a week and always has been in my sector. 9 to 6 is 40 hours a week - I think that is high for standard full time contract.

My contract was 40h, core hours 10-4 and you could make up the rest of the hours based in your preference so 8-4.30 or 10-6.30 for example. Most people worked 8.30-9 until 5-5.30.
My partner is only contracted to do 35h a week but generally works 7.30 until 4-4.30 with another hour at home a couple of times a week

In a previous life I worked 8.30-7 Monday to Friday, 8-10 pm 2-3 times a week and 11-3 on a Saturday and Sunday.... average 60-70h a week, now they felt like long days and weeks. I typically got 2 days off a month for just over a year

Mine is 0900-1730. But I generally start at 0830 so I have that extra half an hour either throughout the day or so I can leave early if needed. I start as early as needed for appointments etc so I don't have to use holiday allowance. It can be draining, but I've been in corporate office work for too long to care anymore.

The dealership I take my car to operates from 0800-1800, so there is quite a bit of variation. It all depends on the company and the work being done.

I start at 9.30, so does DH. Most marketing / media type places in London start at 9.30, I haven’t started at 9 for at least 15 years.

I work 37.5 hours and agree with those who say that 9-5 with an hour lunch used to be the norm. I have done a 40 hour week at times in the past while working briefly in North America and found the extra hour each day felt like a lot. We shouldn't be accepting this.

I think it very much depends on whether this is a ‘strictly enforced’ 9-6 with no working before or after.

If it is, then I would say that in practice it is a normal amount of hours to work. Most people on a 9-5 or 9-5.30 contract will, ime, be working at least 30 minutes either side of these hours, giving an effective 8.30 - 5.30 or 9 - 6 or 8.30-6 working day.

On the other hand, a 9-6 contract with the ‘custom and practice’ of working 30 or more extra minutes a day WOULD be longer than the norm.

I've worked 39 hours 7.30 - 4 and finishing at 3 on Fridays, 1/2 hour for lunch.. 41 hours, 7.30 -4.30 finishing at 3 on Fridays, 1/2 hour for lunch. These were factory hours although my job was office based not factory floor. Now I work 37 hours, 8 - 4, 1/2 hour for lunch and 3.30 finish Fridays in a school.

The worst for me was a couple of years of doing 9 - 6 with an hour for lunch. I'd much rather have taken 1/2 hour and gone home earlier!

I used to do 11-8/9pm in a senior role.

I’m UK based but work for a US owned company and we have a 40 hour working week. Fortunately I’m home based so start at 8am and finish at 5pm with an hour for lunch. The company is pretty flexible though and we can more or less do our hours when it suits us as long as we meet our deadlines.

My previous office based job was a 36 hour week when I joined back in 2002, by the time I left most new starters were on a 40 hour week so the working week has definitely been getting longer.

The job I do now is 8-4 with 30 mins lunch and no breaks, I also have to work 9-2 every other Saturday to make up to 40hrs
i did apply for another one which was 8-6 but that was the same, 30 mins lunch and no other breaks

9.30 - 5.30 is pretty standard in a lot of media companies i've worked at the last few years

I currently do either 8-4 or 9-5 (I've got flex hours to help with childcare)

Places vary and despite the contracted hours, many people start before and work beyond them.

It’s always been normal where I have worked to start somewhere between 7am and 9am and to finish from 3pm onwards. Admittedly the 7am to 3pm was only in the civil service and it’s always been 8am until at least 4pm or later since.

Edited to add that the civil service was also full flexi hours so I really the contracted hours were meaningless.

Is there a 1 hour unpaid lunch break? If so that's 40 hrs over 5 days. Pretty normal I'd say but all places differ.

Our working day is 7.4 hours - and you can do those hours any time between 7-7.

Standard is people do something like 9-5.30 (so a little bit over their actual hours).

9.30-5.30 is civilised though- the worst thing that’s come of the pandemic seems to be this big push to start the working day at 8!

Yes, I think it's a long day in an office. For me personally I could do that in a more manual job, I've done them shifts in childcare and social care with no issue. In an office I would be mentally drained. It would be interesting to see the stats on productivity in the final hour compared to the morning.

40 hours a week is surely fairly normal (assuming an hour for lunch)

I've started at either 9.30am or 10am in all but two of the office jobs I've had.

Try farming. 37 hours is done within about two days!

It's not the nicest pattern, but not unusually long. I've never known an office to have a 9.30 start time unless there's Flexi or adjustments for parents to start later (and finish later, or get paid less)
37 or 37.5 hors a week contract has been standard for all the jobs I've done (since 2000) and usually with an hour's compulsory lunch, so the equivalent of 9-5.30, or 9-6 but with a an earlier Friday finish.
I have seen 40hr contacts though tend to avoid them!

Farming is long and hard hours all year round but it’s also much more seasonal.

Back in the old days (80s) our office was only open 9-5 (start time 8.45 ends 17.15) and the factory 8-4.30 and all staff worked a 37.50 hour week, took an hour unpaid for lunch and if needed did paid overtime.

During the 90s we moved to a 40 hour working week, between 8 and 6pm.

Since Covid the working week is still 40 hours but with more flexibility and hybrid working, if you want to take an hour for lunch then you need to do 8-5 or 9-6.
We have a mandatory 30 min lunch break deducted now and the most common hours are 8.30-5.00 or 9-5.30. I have to save that very little gets done before 9 or after 5. There is no paid overtime.

When we were having issues with recruitment and retention, I suggested to the management team that they may want to consider quality of work over quantity and having a 7 or 7.50 hour working day. That was dismissed as they would not be willing to pay a higher hourly rate and knew that the staff would not take a pay cut.

Strangely, we still have a recruitment and retention issue.

In an office? Which is what the OP is asking about?

Not in a UK office, it seems from this thread (and I would agree with). I’ve never done it.