Being asked to get to work before start time

[TooBored1]

I'm being asked to get to work earlier than my start time, to set up for the day. Is this legal?

I'm salaried, with set working hours, eg 8.30 to 4.30 with 30 mins for lunch. I work physically in an office.

We hot desk and, at our managers insistance, have to take our laptops home every night.

Our line manager is expecting us to arrive at 8.15 every day, to set up desk, turn laptop on etc before 8.30. This isn't about taking off coats/putting lunch in fridge/ making coffee, literally about physically setting up for work

And ditto re going home. We should pack up our desk in our own time.

Does anyone else's boss make them do this?

This may be beside the point, but why does your manager insist that you take your laptops home every night?

If I’m paid from 9am I’m clocking in at 9am. If you want me to faff around with the laptop at 8:50 then you can pay for it.

This is the the phone lines are always jammed and noone can get an appt. Come in, put phones onto busy mode and get themselves ready, coffee etc.

I agree with most.
If you are contracted to be working at 8,30, then you should be working at 8.30.
I'm going to presume that the Manager has introduced the 15min buffer zone has (s)he has had people taking the mick, and arriving at the building at 8.30, then taking their coat off, chatting to a couple of people, faffing about rather than just opening their lap top, then going to make a brew, and so forth.

So, if everyone in the Team worked in the spirit of it, there would be no need for a buffer zone, but, as some people clearly don't get the concept of actually working at their working time, this has now had to be spelled out.

Presumably no secure space as they are hot desking?

I start at 8:30 but paid from 8:15 to set up desk and laptop.

Thanks. It's so so much the booting up, it's having to get keyboard/ mouse etc from hot desk box, plug in, adjust random desk/chair to suit etc etc

I frequently work over my hours (no overtime or TOIL) so it feels a bit petty tbh.

Thanks. Because we hot desk, everything has to be cleared off your desk, so mouse, keyboard, pens, folders etc.
All gets put in a box, that goes on central shelving, so it does take a little big of time.

So their way of laying to office out is what causes the issue

I frequently work over my hours (as does most of the team) without overtime, so it feels a little petty from management.

Why do you not have a mouse or keyboard to take home with you? Seems daft you have to take part of your IT home but not all of it.

It seems petty because it is petty, and I would not be doing any additional hours for them from now on. It's fine to start work at 8.30 by setting up your laptop, but unless you are needed on calls or meetings from 8.30 then you don't need to be there 15 minutes beforehand. Are people coming in at 8.30, then setting up their laptops, taking off their coats, chatting, getting coffees etc and not starting till about 9?

What does your Union say? Are you in one indeed? If not you all need to join one and get it recognised before they think of other things you can do unpaid.

I'm thinking more of a comms line opens at 8.30 so the worker needs to be at their desk and available. Customers shouldn't have to be on hold/awaiting an advisor because they have only just clocked in at 8.30

All very true. But if using company equipment, set up of their equipment is on their time. So, if someone has to be on line at 8.30am then they should be paid to get in at 8.25am if it takes 5mins to start up company computer, log on to company system etc. If it takes 10mins they should get paid from 8.20am. Same for shutdown. If expecting the person online until 4.30pm, then they either need to pay them until 4.35pm to disconnect from company system, shut down etc. If not, then they would need to accept someone can push their chair back and simply walk away at 4.30pm, leaving computer logged in, open on desk, and that would be an unacceptable security nightmare. So, they either factor time to set up, pack down anything involving company equipment and systems within the 8 hours, or they pay them extra each side to do this.

Just to clarify, packing up isn't putting lunch box in bag, it's dismantling a work set up - IE disconnecting keyboard mouse etc, sanitising desk, putting everything away in a cupboard

Why isnt every desk set up with a keyboard mouse etc ? Ours are like that - we have docking stations etc and you only have to plug in your laptop. This should be standard on every desk and no one allowed take

So they want a half hour of YOUR time, every day, for free, to do tasks that are actually ‘work?’

Nope, I’ve never worked anywhere that demands that. Just that you’re at your desk at your start time.
And employers, politicians etc wonder why people don’t want their shitty jobs.

Ah yes, I keep my mouse and keyboard in my laptop bag as well as my pens, handcream etc. I hadn't thought about chairs and maybe having to walk some distance to put it all away as I work in a very small place. It does seem a bit petty.

Stop doing overtime if you are not being paid for it for a start.

I think what's annoyed me (and the rest of the team) is that we all work over our hours 2 or 3 days a week. No overtime or TOIL. Then they pull people up for Occasionally being 2 minutes 'late'.

The way they've set the office out, forces everyone to hot desk, so it does take 5-10 minutes to plug standard kit in and get screens etc set up.

I think this is illegal. Working time includes logging in, setting up, changing into uniform or protective gear if you can’t travel in it.

Get it in writing then check.

And yes, I used to work somewhere that expected unpaid overtime but if you arrived at 10.01 (flexi) you were in trouble. YANBU.

But the OP says specifically this is not to ensure people were still faffing about with coats and coffee at 0830, they will now have to do that before 0815 to be at their work station by 0815. But they only get paid from 0830. Factory workers might have to be at their machine ready to start work at 0830 but they don't have to be there 15 minutes beforehand to start the machines up. Because isn't starting the machines up actually part of their work, and is counted as such?
I remember when NUM miners agitated, and won, the right to be paid when they clocked on at arrival at the pit. The travelling time down to the bottom of the shaft in the open sided lifts, and the walk to the coal face at the bottom was previously not counted as part of their working shift. And it could be anything up to an hour before they could swing their pickaxes.
Sounds like some bright spark of a junior manager has dreamed this up as a way of getting an extra 1-1/4 hours work a week from each staffer without having to pay for it. He gets the kudos but workers get shafted. Hey, every little helps!
.

I'm not disputing that at all. Maybe contracts need to be worded differently? It's not a one size fits all category depending on the job. Or it's made categorically clear you are expected to be functioning online at 8.30 before taking the job?

well there's a simple solution - work your hours.

It seems a bit patronising/petty to specify 8:15 for an 8:30 start. I'd just rock up at 8:25 as usual, log in and then get mouse, chair etc set up - it's a laptop so you can just switch it on, surely, and then get the rest of the desk set up?

Had this with a previous boss, pulled up for being 5 mins late, eve though worked nearly 2 hours extra day before- no more, i did my exact times and no way did i any extra for her at all

I think it depends on the type of role you have. I'm a manager and would never expect this of my team - I expect them to manage their own time appropriately and if the work isn't being done or someone is taking the piss then I will step in but overall I want my team to have a realistic work life balance and I aim to be flexible with them. BUT, we also have the type of jobs that can accommodate this whereas I've worked in other roles where my computer would have to be ready for calls coming through as soon as lines opened so I needed to be at my desk ready to go for that. If that's the type of role you have then no your manager is not being unreasonable, but she shouldn't have to say it out loud.

Well done. Your boss threw away all your goodwill in a moment of pettiness and weight-slinging.
Hardly great management, is it?