To refuse to stay late?

[Carlie97]

My core hours are 9am to 5pm. Other staff work til 6pm and most the same hours as me. My transport home leaves at 5.30pm and there isn't anything else til 9.00pm.

Those at work haven't forseen that one day this week there will be no one to stay until we close at 5.30pm and this happens regularly when other staff are on holiday or off sick. I've asked around the office and no one else will stay til 5.30pm even though they traipse in much later than their official start time. It's shit. AIBU to leave at 5pm anyway, tell the managers this and let them sort it? They don't give a shit and theres a rela hierarchy of 'theyre too important to deal with this stuff'. It's not my job either.

If they’ve batted it back to you, you bat it straight back. “Ok, well let me know if you find someone to stay, otherwise I’ll have to close at 5.”

Ah yes, ' demonstrate you can influence without power'.

Will you be the last one out at 5? Are you responsible for ensuring someone locks up?

If your responsibility ask round again closer to the time then inform them that you'll lock up when you leave. Even if you did find someone they might get sick or have an emergency, seems badly organised.

I don’t see why this is your responsibility to even email them about if you finish at 5?

How is it that this is only a problem suddenly (ie it doesn’t happen usually and is only happening on one random day this week?) and how do you know this is going to be happening (when no one else does?)?

Why are you asking me ? Is what I would say. You know I go home at 5.
That is the crux of it. Why are they batting it back to you. Are you some sort of deputy manager ?

Have management directed you to stay later? Is there anything in your job description that makes you responsible for ensuring the office is open?

If not I would leave on time and if called in for a bollocking act surprised saying something along the lines of "I asked for direction but didn't get any." In the future I would not ever raise the fact the office wasn't going to be staffed.

How much are you getting paid OP, I suspect not enough to care to this extent.

You just say that a solution is not obvious, and you’re going to have to leave it with them now.

Not enough, but as a junior manager, the managers above and directors push an awful lot on the small team of junior managers and while our workloads are unmanageable, they dont care and push even more on.

There's a real sense of hierarchy and if we question anything they make a real point of its a joint responsibility and at our grade (junior management and salary around £35k) these things are expected of us, even though it's not in our job descriptions. Also, there are other staff who aren't managers but are paid a fair whack who slack off massively and get away with all sorts. They're never held to account. I think I need a new start somewhere else but I keep getting rejected before the interview stage.

Then the answer is simple

" The only solution I have is to close up at 5pm, unless someone else is available to close up later".

They're oblivious as to what is going on in the office a lot of the time or simply do not care. They absolutely make it a mission to make something not their business so someone else will deal it. If I do raise something I get rolled eyes and sarcastic comments and just poor attitude. I line manage a team and I can say 100% that I'd support them if something was stressing them to find a solution.

Ah ! So that is why they are asking you. You are a small team of junior managers. Can you come up with a system or rotation that works for everyone to cover those times when people are off sick or on leave ?
Your staff are being difficult.
Sometimes not everything will be precisely set out in a job description.
They expect you as managers to manage the staff rotation for locking up.
You have asked nicely and nobody is budging.
If nobody budges then you have to think of a system that is fair. And includes everyone bar your senior managers. Everyone. Including the junior managers.
Taxi may be your only option. And factor the half hour for yourself as time off in lieu.
But everyone should take their turn.
You will need to explain this new policy to everyone. And get it cleared with your manager first. Tell him or her what you intend to do. But you all need to put your heads together.

Well YANBU to not want to stay til 5.30pm, but what kind of public transport doesn't go between 5.30pm and 9pm? That would put me so much on edge, knowing I had to get that one train (or bus) at 5.30pm or I would have a 3 and a half hour wait? And what if that one is cancelled?

In every job I have been in I have had cause to stay longer than my contracted hours sometimes. (Like, 30 to 50 minutes...) I would feel very uneasy knowing that the 5.30pm train/bus is my only option to get home, or I would have to wait til 9pm!

.

Leave at 5pm. Managers are paid to manage this not you.

I agree with this. You being junior manager puts a different light on this issue. It’s your job to manage the situation below you.

OP is a manager.

If you’re a junior manager it probably is your responsibility.
Factor cover in when authorising holidays, have more than the bare minimum on general working pattern to account for usual sickness levels and offer out overtime maybe paid at an enhanced rate in a pinch.

Take a cab home this week and expense it?

Agree with others that being management yourself puts a very different light on things.

these things are expected of us, even though it's not in our job descriptions.

Managing your team isn't in your job description? Or is it that you need a manager at your your level to be in the office? If so, as managers, I don't think it's unreasonable for the managers above you to expect you all to cooperate to the extent you ensure there is coverage if the office is supposed to be manned until 5:30 - even if it's not explicitly in your job description.

I'd say nothing and leave at 1700. Unless it's your job specifically to sort out rotas of people covering until later, why are you bothered?

I take back what I said. At £35k you are probably being paid enough to care, unless it’s a specialised role. It’s unfortunate that your transportation is so infrequent, but as a junior manager I don’t think it’s a stretch to expect the odd half hour in staff shortages that should be able to be taken back as TOIL.
Being a junior or indeed middle manager sometimes does suck. That’s why you get paid more than your team and why it’s right to support them even if you feel you aren’t being supported. I would focus on trying to find an alternative transport solution that operates between 5.30-9pm.

Well, given OP is a manager, I rather suspect it is her job to be bothered.

It must be someone’s job to approve holidays and manage staff, if it really isn’t yours then you should have no problem saying you’re leaving at 5 and will lock up if nobody is there. If this has been messed up because none of the junior managers thought about this, then you are responsible and for one day will have to just suck it up.

Management can authorize a taxi home for you in exchange for staying the extra 30 minutes. If your reasonable and customary transport is not available because the business wants you to shift your schedule, they need to provide the solution.

You can also refuse any compromise, but a free ride home is fair if you can make it work otherwise.

@Carlie97 surely its up to the manager to make sure there is cover when peoole are off. You need to leave no later than 5.30 and you finish at 5pm. Not yiur job, thats why managers are paid more.

OP is a manager 😬

If it happens regularly and it is a business requirement it needs escalated to whoever has the responsibility to change peoples contracts and make it a formal requirement of the roles to cover in exceptional circumstances and people are paid appropriately.