Work start time 9-5 POV

[MAK93]

If you are contracted to work 9-5, do you get to work for 9? Or do you get there for day 8.50 to get to your desk, then pc on & log in etc for 9?

Just interested if there is a right or wrong way when contracted 9-5 🤷🏻‍♀️

Depends on the job, is it client facing? When I've been in jobs I love I'd not look at the clock at all. I know that doesn't answer your question but if I didn't have to be client facing if I didn't love my job I'd log on at 9!

I walk onto the premises for 9...for me not being "logged on" doesn't mean I'm not at work as such. I could walk into the building and stop at reception to ask about something or go to a printer to retrieve some documents etc.

When I used to have a job with fixed start/end times, I was always at my desk ready to start work for 9am. If you just walk in at 9am then put your stuff away, get a drink, get set up then you're not starting work till after 9am.

If you have calls and meetings starting at 9 then you would need to get in a bit earlier. Depends on the job.

I'm contracted 9-5. I usually work 8-6 🤷‍♀️.

Office job, with occasionally meetings etc, but not client based. Incompetent manager suggesting you should be at work in plenty of time to be ready to start work for 9 & it just got me thinking the whole 9-5 thing.

Like @qualitygirl said though you could get to work for 9, then be talking to reception regarding a call they’d taken or any number of other occurrences, it seems so vague when you really think about it 🙃

Just got me thinking & thought mumsnet was the place to post haha!

My first ‘job’ on my return to the workplace after being a SAHM was in the payroll office of a large national retailer (sadly no longer but produced beautiful wallpaper and furnishings ) the culture was pretty toxic with very low salaries, high staff turnover within the business and no respect for the ‘traditions’ and feel of the company from back when it was family owned. We used to sail as close to the wind as possible, signed in at 9am and waited ready to run at 5pm exactly. Woe betide you were ill or had family problems, no sick pay for 3 waiting days and thereafter SSP, you had to actually show managers the death certificate to claim bereavement leave. So yeah, we weren’t doing a minute longer than we had to!

New lovely job, really relaxed tech small company, I work when I want to, as long as I attend a few fixed meetings a week and get the stuff I’m responsible for done then there’s no questions asked, I work more hours than I’m contracted for but work at home on flexi hours. I love my job and the team, love the flexibility and don’t mind working an extra few hours because I know if I was ill, had kid issues or anything else I would be paid as usual. Today I took the kids shopping for school shoes mid-workday! It’s all about respect and dignity going both ways.

I usually get to work bang on 9am but I start working right away. I also have a long commute so leave plenty of time so some days I am early, some late.

My manager comes in at 9 but then sits and eats her breakfast and make a cup of tea etc so doesn't actually start work until 9.45...

You are expected to start work at 9.00, so yes you should be there 10-15 minutes early to set up for the day.

9.00am starts do not mean coming through the door at 9.00, getting a drink, waiting a few minutes for your PC to start up and then beginning work at 9.10.

You’d be surprised at how many new starters I’ve had to explain this to.

In work doing work by your contracted start time. If that's asking the receptionist something or getting something off the printer or whatever that's fine, you're still working, but you shouldn't be walking in the door at 9, putting lunch in the fridge, making a drink etc.

I've been lucky where I've worked though in that although it was 9-5 no one clock watched so you were fine to come in 8am some days then 9.30am others and no one noticed or cared. In my opinion that is a sensible and adult way to do things but not every manager agrees!

I usually am wherever I need to be for work so that I am ready to go at the time I begin. So to fit in with your scenario, I’d arrive at 8:50/8:55 for a 9 start.

Walking in at 9 on the dot, then making coffee, making breakfast and eating it doesn't cut it. Walking in at 9 and being ready start straight away is fine.

@MAK93

Office job, with occasionally meetings etc, but not client based. Incompetent manager suggesting you should be at work in plenty of time to be ready to start work for 9 & it just got me thinking the whole 9-5 thing.

Like @qualitygirl said though you could get to work for 9, then be talking to reception regarding a call they’d taken or any number of other occurrences, it seems so vague when you really think about it 🙃

Just got me thinking & thought mumsnet was the place to post haha!

My previous post was a team of three office workers and one line manager, all scheduled to work 9-5. Myself and the other two office workers where always in at least 15 mins early so ready to start working at 0900. Line manager regularly rolled in between 0920-0945.

One day she called a team meeting and said the teams tardiness had been flagged by higher management and that since she couldn't be in at 0900 to monitor us she needed us to report on each other all instances of lateness. She had a complete lack of self awareness that management where obviously complaining about her.

I was always under the impression that a time given was the time you actually started work. So 9am would mean that you are sat at your desk etc ready for work.
However! At one of the places I now work, a start time means that you are somewhere in the vicinity of the car park at that time - actually being in the building or ready to work is purely optional …

at my desk ready to start work for 9am. If you just walk in at 9am then put your stuff away, get a drink, get set up then you're not starting work till after 9am.

This ^
Taking your coat off / putting your things in the locker / saying good morning to Jane and asking Doreen if she saw the football last night or Bob how his poorly cat is whilst you pop your lunch in the fridge isn't work. If you are paid by the hour, you should be working as your time starts, not sauntering through the door.

My office job had varying hours but I was expected to be logged into my software, phone etc, ready to work emails, take calls etc from the beginning of my shift right to the end. So if I finished at 5, I might be expected to take a call at 4.59, deal with the customer, take any actions required & write it up, if I wasn't available for my entire shift I could have been disciplined, we all could.

I'm at my desk and logged on for my start time.

Doesn’t that work both ways, though, by your argument? Finish at 5, be walking out the door at 1 minute past.

Every job I’ve ever done, I’d be in a good 30 mins or more before official start time, go to the loo, make coffee, have a chat with colleagues, check what I need to do today, check if there’s any voicemail messages, maybe read and respond to some emails before things get busy.

If I’d ever had colleagues who clock-watched to the extent that they would argue about 10 minutes (which I never have), I’d have thought they were lazy.

When I worked 9-5.30 I'd get there for 8.50. Switch computer on and make coffee while it loaded up. Ready to start working at 9am. Shut down computer at 5.30, then put cup in dishwasher, check personal items are in bag and leave at 5.40.

That said, my computer when through a phase of taking 20 mins to load up and I didn't get there any earlier. If a computer system takes ages to get itself together the company should invest in better tech or take the hit on loss of productivity IMO.

check what I need to do today, check if there’s any voicemail messages, maybe read and respond to some emails before things get busy.

This is all work IMO. Refusing to work unpaid hours doesn't make someone lazy. More likely they respect themselves and their own time.

I'm contracted 8-5, still wfh the majority of time at the moment. As soon as 9am hits I have 6-7 hours of intense zoom calls and work late 2-3 times a week so I tend to use my 8-9 hour to settle in, get a cup of tea, set myself up for things. Once a fortnight when I'm in the office I usually arrive 8-8.10 and get settled.

I still work 45-50 hours a week, as long as the work's getting done I don't think it's important to be militant with the hours, and I give that same leniency to my team

I technically start 8:45... however I'm a teacher so I go in at 7/7:30 each morning...

Year I still have directed time after school until 4:15... very annoying..,

But of course I get 13 weeks "holiday" a year.. and only work an extra 2/3 hours a night and every Sunday in term time found paperwork...

In a general 9-5 job your should've logged on and be ready to go by 9am... also don't finish until 5pm so that doesn't mesh go and get your coat and bag ready at 4.30...

(I used to do 9-5 in an office before teaching! Was easy in my office to do fuck all after 4.30 tbh!)

Bloody hell my typos are shocking!!!

Apologies!

Abs I'm not complaining but it would be be nice if on the days I go into school at 7am I could leave at 3.30 (after all the children have gone obviously!) Unless there's a staff meeting m/after school club etc!

This is all work IMO. Refusing to work unpaid hours doesn't make someone lazy. More likely they respect themselves and their own time

I genuinely have never worked with someone with this attitude.

I wonder whether it’s the type of job that makes a difference. Annual salary versus hourly pay rate?