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

Not all jobs are time sensitive (mine isn’t). In my office you can start at any time between 8.30 and 10 and finish correspondingly between 4.30 and 6. We’re not all paid for the hours sat on our bums but on specific tasks or projects being completely on time, on budget and to a high standard.

Some people are also dealing with colleagues in other countries so may factor in that, for example, New York doesn’t start working till around 2pm GMT.

37 hours a week here. Flexible working, so we can more or less choose when to do them (within reason). I start at 8 and finish at 4, with half our break, 3:30 finish on Fridays. 9-6 would kill me off.

Shortest working week I've had is (officially, but lets be honest it's always more in reality) is 37.5 so 9-5:30pm. These days with WFH and flexible working people tend to do their working day around their commitments though, so it doesn't always look like the standard 9-5:30pm but the hours are the same.

I've worked many office roles and also non-office roles 9-6pm too. An hour for lunch.

Often, the lunch 'hour' is rarely an hour and most people work an extra 30mins-1hr+ (or many hrs more if in the middle of a deal) per day anyway so it ends up much more regardless of the official working hours.

DH does 8-5 with an hours lunch break. He’d much rather skip the break and leave at 4 but they won’t let him.

They can’t let him do that legally.

I've worked for 30 years in many different organisations; private, non-profit, governmental, etc.

Most office jobs were always 35 hpw, and manual jobs were 40 hpw. In office jobs if you did overtime it was mostly unpaid, or you might get time off in lieu if you're lucky. Manual workers would get overtime pay.

There has been a creep in office hours, I've had positions where it was 36.25 and 37 hpw. Overtime is still unpaid, but there is more access to fexi time and working from home. It seems fair enough to me.

You could be working at my place!

I work compressed though so my day is 9h 15. Usually start at 7am and finish around 5. Any additional flexi I've made just accumulates. Sometimes i take a 3 hour dinner break. Sometimes just 30 mins.

@AmIHumanOrAmIAYeti to be honest, they always used to until the change of management. Maybe the old ones didn’t know!
I do agree that legally you should be allowed a break but I don’t see why you can’t have it later if it’s your decision.

I worked 34.75 hours for an insurance company between 1979 and 1986. Prior to that I worked 37.5 hours for civil service - that was considered long hours.

Both with flexi time which meant you could work extra hours and get days off in lieu. Never worked unpaid hours and overtime was paid at 1.5 normal hourly rate. Good sick pay as well - 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay.

I find it depressing how working conditions have deteriorated over the years

I’d be more interested in total hours per week

I’ve worked 9-6 before but we finished early on Fridays

if it’s 8 hour days (less an hour lunch) that’s a 40hr week, as pp’s have said 37/37.5 is more typical

37.5 hours is really common in offices, 40 hours is more common in retail and hospitality if full time. Lunch and breaks are on top as not paid usually

Well they weren’t years ago, they would have been good, but companies set their own hours.

It’s a bit longer than average.

Standard where I am is 8.45-5 M&F and 8.45-5.15 Tue-Thur with 1hr lunch (37).

I do 9-5.30 for 3 days and 9-4 for 2 days with 30 min lunch through choice though as suits my childcare.

All my office based jobs have been 9:30 start (three of them). DH's current one is 9:30 start too. Not unusual at all.

Thank you all. The company is supposed to have uncapped holidays which require approval, but it looks like they are making it up with the long working week.

Even 9-3 in an office would have me climbing the walls. I can’t believe I did 9-5 for so many years when younger. Hated it. So glad I retrained in something I enjoyed and bought my own business. Don’t mind odd or quirky hours at all now my kids are independent.

Company seems to be setup on the American model with 40 hours week and uncapped holidays.

When i started my career 9-5 was standard. I have reluctantly been pushed to take 9 - 5.30 which seems to now be what most companies offer, but only on the basis i work part time to shorten some days.

I will not accept any job at a company which only offers 9-6pm.

Its just a way of reducing pay per hour, its not compatible with a balanced family life. A child should not be in a nursery for 10 hours a day which is what would end up being required with those working hours.

The majority of UK offices I’ve worked in have been core hours of 9-6 but lots of people starting earlier and finishing later so an average day tends to be 10-11 hours. Not many lunch breaks happening either!

I am contracted a 37.5hr week. To me that is 9 - 5 with 30mins for lunch. I used to work 8 - 4:30. My partner was working 8 - 6 in his last job with a mandatory hour for lunch. That was a LONG week and was the reason he left in the end. The salary looked good until you worked out the working hours...

8-6 here but that’s pretty standard for recruitment, in reality you work as long as it takes - in common with most sales roles. In the 90s an 8pm finish was standard as we were expecting to be calling candidates on their home numbers in the evening - one area where tech has made standard hours shorter.

Company seems to be setup on the American model with 40 hours week and uncapped holidays.

Run a mile. I've come across this sort of policy and in reality uncapped holiday means a culture where people take less, not more. I generally wouldn't work for an American company. How to enrich shareholders 101, they don't give a fuck about staff its profit, profit, profit. All hail mammon.

I like the German system where the working week officially ends around 3 pm on a Friday - though in reality most peeps start winding down after lunch and some are gone by 2 pm, if not earlier…

I’ve previously worked 0800-1700 and 0800-1800 on trading floors but in ‘normal’ areas my hours have usually been 0900-1700. A friend is looking for a new role and has found there are quite a few companies now asking for 0900-1800, and 4 days a week in the office, but that’s a subject for another day.

Why do so many people treat their employer as though they’re a charity, and donate their time for free? If you’re paid to do 37 hours a week then that’s what you do. If you routinely end up doing more or not taking your full lunch break then you are donating them your time for free.

I’m sure you can find a better cause for that, no?