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?

If you need to be online at 8.30 and present in the office to be available then they should pay for the 15 minutes before.

if someone opens at 9, they pay you to be there before because that’s common sense

This for me too - surprised anyone thinks otherwise really.

To be fair, that’s a bad example. If you had a hospital appointment at 8 you’d turn up at 8, find half a dozen other people also with appointments at 8 because that’s when clinic starts and the NHS likes to get everyone there ready, but the doctor would turn up at 8:15 because they couldn’t find anywhere to park. You’d eventually be seen at 9:40… ;)

The issue here is that the employer is telling them they need to be there at 8:15. So, that becomes the time work starts. If you were paid minimum wage then telling people to be at work at 8:15 but only paying them from 8:30 would be illegal. Why is it different if you’re paid more?

Yes but you wouldn’t get there to do maybe a swab of or get into your gown before 8

everyone is missing the point, esp line managers it seems, that it is the office equipment set up situation that the company have ordained that takes 15 mins because she has to find a desk etc etc - clearly its work time - she isn’t bringing the equipment to work with her! In her bag! She is there at the started time and they have a process that takes 15 mins so unreasonable to ask, schedule it in!

I don't work for free anymore. I've done 45 years for nhs and various other companies and I no longer put up withis kind of bullshit.

If your start time is 8.30 - you should be at your desk ready to work at 8.30. The same at the end of the day. If you finish at 4.30, you should be working at 4.30.
It sounds to me that you and / or your colleagues are taking the proverbial.
I can imagine how resentful the workers in your office are when you bowl in at 8.30 then faff about.
Frankly I would give you a warning.

If I start work at 8.30, I arrive at 8.30. If you want me to get in earlier to set up, pay me from then. I realise a lot of people disagree with this, but if I work 8.30-4.30, for example, I get to work at 8.30 and I leave at 4.30. Of all the places I have ever worked (around 10 jobs, a mix of companies and fields), only one of them wanted me to come in earlier than my start time. I don't think it's coincidence it was also the worst managed, worst general vibe of anywhere I worked!

I have to hot desk. So I have to find a free desk, find my chair. It also takes about 10 minutes to load up and open the 10 different apps. At least one needs to update. I’m not doing all that in my own time. Plus I would be below minimum wage!
I can’t just switch on and work.

Give a warning ??? Have you read the 9 pages ?
The op has to come in find a desk, then lug her equipment into the desk set it all up and wait for an age for laptop to start up - Management do not provide the tools necessary for them ty start at 8:30 therefore are asking for them to come in early to set up which is part of their work and therefore should be paid to come in for work
By way your warning would not work in my company, as explained above our start time is as soon as we walk in the door as clock in machines are right by the door, we then have to walk up a few flights of stairs and across an office to get to our desks .

If your company has introduced hot desking then it's on that company to deal with the consequences, ane nd one of those is that it takes longer to set up for the working day. That's on them. That's their decision to work like that not yours so they can't reasonably expect you to go in early as a consequence of that.

Nonsense.
You start work when you should start.
End of story.
If you don't like it? Find another job.

nah thats how micro managers and bad business work. if you read the 9 pages you will see that your thinking is in the minority
finding another job is fine but it also costs companies alot of money to replace staff. lack of staff puts extra work on your existing staff while your recruiting and can also cause current staff burnout and illness.
our production staff are paid from time if clock in. they then have to garb up put on shoes wash hands and wall to thr factory floor before they can start work

Setting up equipment is part of your work day. If your employer wants you to set up work equipment so you can work, they need to pay you for that time. If you're in doubt, give ACAS a ring and they'll give you the legal position

You haven't understood the thread if you are asking how the other workers in the office feel about the OP 'bowling in at 8.30 and faffing about'

The whole team is annoyed that they have been told to start at 8.15 but they are not being paid from 8.15.

They are not able to start working until they have found an empty desk, found a chair to go with it, walked over to the central shelves to find a keyboard, mouse and extra screens, plus presumably all the plugs and wires which go with everything and bring all that back to the desk, plug all that in to the laptop they have to take to and from work, then they boot up their computer, then they start work.

Setting up your equipment from scratch every single shift shouldn't be something you are doing for free for a company that is insisting on hot desking and cleared desks each shift.

I agree, you start work when you should start. What you seem to have missed is that the OPs company has instructed them to start work at 08:15, but is only paying them from 08:30. If an employer instructs someone to be at work at a given time, they need to be paying from that time. If you are on minimum wage the law is clear on this, and even if you’re not paid minimum wage the principle is clear.

Where did I say I did this? If you RTT you'd see that the team does way over our working hours but the SMT want ever more. If 8.15 becomes the new norm, they'll soon push it to 8.00 and so on.

WE ARE at desks ready to work (no one is taking liberties with coffee making) but SMT have created an environment where it now takes extra time to physically set up desks each day and they expect us to do this on our own time.

Sadly not as easy at that and no one would have any issue with your set up.

Keyboard/mouse has to be packed away each night, along with tech manuals etc, so it all takes time to set up.

Tbh, it's very rare that people aren't getting all this done before 8.30, so it's galling when one of my team got picked up for ONCE not being ready. Esp bearing in mind it's a very hardworking staff member who's picked up lots of extra work recently to cover sick leave.

So... supposing, a little further down the line, the manager decrees that an 'ice-breaker' meeting (amd forced 'jollity') is a great start to the day. Bring your whole self to work and all that. So everybody needs to be in for 8, so they have time for a pre-work rendezvous, before finding a desk, assembling all their equipment and getting their files in order at 8:15.

Then it's believed that the working day goes much better if everybody knows all the latest workplace updates and plans for the day. The Town Hall meeting takes place at 7:45 every day, so it's essential to be there ready for it, before the ice-breaker, before the desk setup, before starting work.

Ah, but you can't work properly all day without nice clean toilets, can you? You all need to come in for 7:00 in your scruffs to get the cleaning materials, give all the toilets, sinks and floors a really good deep clean, then change into your smart workwear, so that everybody can be ready for the TH meeting, before the ice-breaker, before the desk setup, before starting the working day.

Once your time is considered worthless, and ripe for claiming for unpaid work to suit the bosses, it's the easiest thing in the world to push and push for more. It's for the good of the company, you see, and everybody benefits, as not having to pay cleaners safeguards and ensures the viability of the business......

Bearing in mind that, in plenty of companies, setting up IT equipment and phones would be firmly considered a task for the IT department - so the office staff in sales/accounts/HR/customer helpline etc. would not be expected (or even allowed) to do that at all, even in paid work time - any more than a coach company would expect their drivers to MoT and repair the vehicles themselves.

If it's a member of your team then really it was your job to stick up for them here.

What makes you think I didn't?

I've really thought alot about your query and I've gone from thinking you're being unreasonable to you're right! Your bosses decided to hot desk and have seen it's impact on start times. If you start work 15 minutes before, then it's unpaid and unfair. You need to talk to others in your team. If you all agree to arrive in the office at 8.30 then set up, it's okay. Otherwise management will see you as the problem, if you're the only one starting at 8.30. I have hot desked once before and it took ages to find a free desk and set up. Hot desking setting up, definitely isn't the same as turning on your computer at 8.30am.