When does a work break officially start?

[RachaelT]

Hey, just hoping to gain a bit of insight into what people expect.

Does the clock on a break at work start when you leave your post (desk, checkout, booth…etc)… or when you arrive at the staff area?

I’ve always been taught it’s for former but seem to have many colleagues who believe the latter (both younger and older) and so they are working less hours the for same number of hours a day. 5 minutes on each side of a break over 5 days a week soon adds up!

I have thought of this about toilet breaks, is it when you leave your desk (unfair) or when you start "pushing" so to speak?
I've contacted HR, but they are piss-poor and ratger iptight about it all.
Let's hope this new Government can get to the bottom of it all, and flush out some answers.

😂

It's when you leave your desk/till etc. Your break starts when you stop working.

Are organisations still brought in to this antiquated way of thinking? And are employees still accepting it?

I wouldn't work for an organisation where time is monitored this way. Take breaks when you need them for the amount of time that you need.

Is this an issue your company has raised or is this just coming from you? At my workplace no one is timing their lunch break so strictly. Are you overthinking it maybe?

Blimey, where do you work that it’s this regimented? Sounds archaic to be counting minutes.

Wow this has literally never been an issue in any job I’ve ever had (education doesn’t count really because breaks are set times for obvious reason and there isn’t scope to change these!), no one in my current job has ever timed how long I was away from my desk or in the toilets or making a drink for. It just doesn’t come up at all.
The expectation is just that you’re working - if you need to take a longer break to step away from something for a bit for some clarity or to reset then that’s all fine.

Kind of depends on how far you need to go for your break surely. If you're in a large workplace and some of you are close to the break area and others are 5-10 minutes away it seems unfair to count the walking time whereas if it's a more level playing field then a standard time works. That said I've never had to clock breaks

It's when you leave your work station

Worked in one place where the staff room was a distance away and it took the 15 minutes to get there, and boil the kettle and get back again. Let alone actually drink the coffee

It depends on the industry I think. In an office I can see why they don't have to be monitored. On something such as a shop floor where areas have to be manned then I can see it 1)needs to be monitored and 2)that it starts when you walk away from your area. If you haven't had experience of such a place then incredulous replies such as it's archaic or regimented or antiquated are to be expected, whereas in some industries it is completely par for the course due to the nature of the job. Like accountants or lawyers having to note every 15 minutes what they are doing to account for their billing time. Or searching staff bags, shoes or pockets on the way out after their shift. This would outrage some people. All workplaces are different.

I work in retail. Breaks start the second you leave the till and finish when you are back at it. If you are at the front of the store, miles from the tea room, it's tough luck compared with the shelf stackers at the back of the store.
And yes, customers make sure our breaks are timed exactly, as they are always complaining. If you don't get away on time, you get a short break.

If the job you do is dictated by the minutes you work, then a break would obviously start when you stop working.

This is right but it shouldn't be the case. Where i work there is a 15 minute break each morning. Reaching the staff area depending on where you are in the building, could take 2/3 minutes there and then the same back hence, we lose around 5/6 min of our break. I thinking it's unfair.

If you clock watch people in this way, productivity will fall, so you'll gain nothing.

But if you have something like a call centre job where 80% calls need to be answered within 20 seconds of the customer picking up the phone in order to meet client SLAs, prevent fines, meet contractual reqs etc then all staff need to be where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there. Shift start and end times, annual leave, breaks, training are scheduled very precisely to ensure the right number of people are answering the phones based on peak call times. It doesn't suit everyone, but it is the way that that type of role is structured,

Mine starts when I click "ready" on my computer whether that's starting, finishing, break, lunches etc

If it's a five minute walk to a staff area then I'd say their time should start when they get there or they'll barely have a break.

It doesn't suit anyone but some people have to put up with it.

Just curiosity

It’s not but when you graft an hour a week longer than a colleague for the same pay it’s a bit annoying that’s +4 days more a year some work for the same pay as others, not exactly fair is it?

Yep, every call centre
You get used to it, I know exact times for everything and I'm never late! It's timed to the second

Ha! Then you'd get lazy arses who'd be having a 20 minute break every bloody hour, or is that just some of the people I work with?

At my place your break starts when you reach the staff area. It's five floors up so you have to either wait for the lift or drag yourself up countless stairs.

Why are you doing this? If other colleagues are starting their break from when they reach the staff room it's clearly acceptable where you work so why not do the same? Then you won't be grafting an hour a week more.

Totally depends on where you work. When I worked in a call centre, your break started the second you logged off and finished when you logged in. In my retail job its less strict, I usually go by the time I get to the staff room