To want to work 9 til 5pm

[Bumblebeesssss]

Recently started a job 9 til 6. Isn’t this too long day for UK standards?

Previous jobs were 9:30pm to 5:30pm.

Am I been lazy? I

I do think that we will be more productive with better work life balance. Working 40 hours per week with at least 2 commute doesn’t allow time for other activities and recharging.

Being in the office 40 hours doesn’t mean we are efficient all the hours

I hate comments like these. Situations like these are usually a lack of options, not a choice. I’m a home carer as it’s literally the only job I could get that worked around my children. I start at 7.30am and finish at 8.45pm. In between my rounds I’m ferrying children to various clubs/schools/childminders. It’s HARD and all I can do is continue to apply for something better (currently having a short break where I’ve made my children dinner and I’m about to go out and start the bed and medication calls).

And I hate it when people make comments all about them, and not the person it was actually aimed at.

Productivity is nothing to do with hours worked.

Its successive crap management and crap investment.

https://www.productivity.ac.uk/news/what-explains-the-uks-productivity-problem/

Hours creep is evil.

9-5
8-4

Were normal hours when l started working. With an hour for lunch.

Yes, because you haven’t done that at all…

I do feel is an American influence and becoming more common in the UK

I’m 7.30am-6pm. Yours is not too long at all

How can many hours are you contracted to work? Is it suppose to include breaks day one hour for lunch , do forty hours weekly?

What do you do ?

I turned down a potentially brilliant role because it required a 1 hour commute and 9-6 working hours, zero flexibility and an expectation that you start at 8.
Instead I went for a one 15 mins away, 8-4 and very generous holiday allowance but little progression opportunities.
I would be heartbroken to have to miss so much with my young DS. Missing Xmas shows and footie matches etc.
It's hard though because I know I'll cap out in my current role and I'll probably never get that other opportunity again, but it was the right decision at the time

How have I done that? You said you hate comments like mine. I responded.

I run my own business - I earn more than I did when I worked full-time 9.30-6.

I wfh for a charity. 9-5 with one hour paid lunch. I appreciate how lucky I am.

Most of my jobs in the UK in the 80s and 90s were 40 hour weeks, though most only had 30 minutes for lunch so it was only 8 1/2hrs from start to finish. For one lunch was an hour but was paid (because we often had to work through).

I didn't get a 35 hr week until I moved to the States. 1 hr lunch and a huge culture of presenteeism made the actual day longer, though it was a bit slow and unfocused compared to the UK.

This surprises me. I have always worked a 40hr week since leaving college. Never known any different.
Assume you get paid for the 40 hrs?

my staff work 08.30-17.00 mon to Friday with 30 min lunch break.

Sadly it’s not the employers problem if it takes an hour each way commuting etc.

I see it more and more every day that folk want to work less for more money (not saying that’s you btw)

wish I only did 40hrs a week to be honest.

if you don’t like the hours/contract in your current job, find another to suit.

Hope you figure it out

Civil service. 37.5 hours a week. 7h 24m per day with a 30 minute lunch.

Does seem to be normal now from when I was job hunting
8-6 with 30 min lunch I kept seeing

I took a 9-5 with 30 min lunch and 2 x 15 min breaks, all paid

Why dont you just tag me next time?

#guiltyyyyy 🤣

I’ve been working 30 years and until my current job had only had 37.5 hour roles. I’d assumed this was the norm and was quite taken aback when I went to sign the contract for this job and found out it was 40 hours - nothing had been mentioned until that point. I’d just been made redundant so felt I didn’t have a choice, but I’ve really noticed the reduction in “free” time. Turns out for many other reasons that it’s not the job for me and luckily I’ve just accepted a new position with 37h per week. I’m really looking forward to getting that time back!

I’ve been working for 40 years and only one job had a 40 hour week. All my other jobs have been 35 hours on paper at least. As a practicing social worker I worked 50 hours a week routinely, but haven’t don’t that for a while now. I won’t apply for jobs that are more than 35 hours now - I’ve done my years of long hours.

Depends on the job, Also some jobs have longer hours on paper, but in reality have a lot of breaks (I had one where I was allowed to read/do whatever until a customer came in or called as long as I'd completed the paperwork for the day, so in reality I worked half the hours I was paid for. I left because it was so boring! Equally some people have jobs where they are literally allowed to sleep, as long as they get up if a patient needs them. Some jobs have a lot of unpaid overtime, as in you have to do stuff when you get home.

I hate that so many jobs seem to be 40 hours now. I hated it when they went up to 37.5 too. The vast majority of office jobs I had were 9 - 5, one was 8.30 - 5, which we all complained about to each other! This is going back to the '90s though. All had an hour's lunch.

I can't think which country it was now (possibly Iceland), but they trialled a 4-day week and found it increased productivity, although I think they still worked about 35 hours.

9-6 too long? I wished for those hours. I was in Early Years and worked 7am to 6.30pm, five days a week. I was exhausted by Friday and when my children were small, I never got to pick them up myself or see them before they went to bed as we invariably had at least one parent turn up late to pick up, meaning we couldn’t clean until they’d gone and rarely left before seven.

No retail

My husband is starting a new job soon and he thinks the hours are 8.30 to 6. I was surprised as it’s 5 days a week and I wouldn’t have thought he’d have to work such long days. I thought he’d find he was on shifts either 8.30-4.30, 9-5, 9.30-5.30 or 10-6. From these comments it seems I’m probably wrong and 8.30-6 will be his hours. It does seem a bit long to me and not conducive to a happy workforce.