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Leaving work on time
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I always get to work on time and get in for at least 8:50AM or earlier however others in my office seem to leave around 5:30 -6:00 personally i do not see why you should work late everyday when you could do there work tomorrow if its not urgent.
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This the working day is long enough why stop later when you don't get paid.
My bets are that a lot of them just surf the web for the last 30 mins and just stay to give a good impression to their boss.
It depends what type of work it is. Many jobs are based around milestones, and quite often the business doesn't have enough resource to complete the projects with everyone working the prescribed hours. In order to qualify for annual bonuses, you might have to work overtime consistently to get them. Bonuses are, in effect, cheap pay.
The games industry is still rife with this sort of thing. Not just from management, but from the actual development staff. A lot of tutting, hard stares and snide comments if you left at a normal time, even if you were on/ahead of schedule and there's no milestone looming.
The thing is, I tended to get into the office at 8:30 most mornings, and if there was no need, I would leave at 5:30 or 6. The people doing all the moaning were always pointing out how they stayed until 7 or 8 at night. Well, that's great, but they typically started at 11am, mucked around for an hour until lunch and after 5:30, would typically fart around doing sod all.
If you're as productive as required during normal working hours, then get yourself home at a decent time. The chances are that you're more productive than those who make a fuss about how many hours overtime they do, to get the job done.
Having worked all over Europe, I must say that this is a British thing. In Switzerland, Holland, Luxembourg, Sweden, and Germany, I used to leave and arrive according to workload. If I was snowed under, I used to work all hours, indeed after 1 particular release weekend that went badly, I went home at 2 in the morning and got called out again at 5. For the next week, I averaged about 18 hours a day. More usually, there wasn't so much to do and I used to turn up at 10 - 11 and leave between 4 -5. It is all about give and take. Rather than spend hours doing nothing, it is more productive to get in late and leave early when underworked which makes you totally up for overworking when it is needed.
Since getting back to the UK, I have been told off for petty crap, leaving at 5 when my contract says 5:30, even though I get in at 8:30 and don't take a lunch break. My last boss even told me that she didn't believe in clock watching so I shouldn't leave on the dot of 5, so I suggested that I could leave earlier if we aren't clock watching, but apparently the clock watching is allowed to critisize leaving early!!
I need to get back out to Europe. The reason why bosses over here have said that leaving early is a problem is because other colleagues get pissed off with you being able to get away with leaving when they don't. Isn't it just so British? Rather than thinking "I will knock off early too", they think "He is allowed more than me!!", and whinge to the boss. Screw them, that is my opinion. I now refuse to work late, even when it is needed.
37 hours a week, thats what I get paid for.
I think you've got to judge it based on the type of work.
If you're looking for promotions/payrises/bonuses and your boss (or colleagues) have influence over that then you need to play the game and work late
If you're not bothered and don't plan to make a career out of what you're doing, then work the hours you're paid for and leave when you should
It's pretty rubbish really, but that's how it seems to be these days. :mad:
In the current jobs climate it's all about being seen to do more.
The best advice is to stay late but just surf the net, catch up on personal admin, etc.
Granted I'd almost always be in early and have lunch at my desk...
That's completely logical, but bosses, HR depts and business generally, aren't.
Trust me, when it comes to choosing between a group of similar employees for promotion - or redundancy - working late, starting early, sickness and absence, being contactable at weekends and on holiday will ALL count for or against you.
The legality of it is dubious at best, but that doesn't stop it happening.
Same here - I'm always in early usually work through my lunch but always leave on time
This the working day is long enough why stop later when you don't get paid.
I think when it comes to promotions and redundancies, companies will not look at hours worked per se, but overall impact on the company - productivity and unique-ness of skills.
Of course, no company can sack you for working to rule, but unless you are more productive than everyone else (even if they work 50% more than paid hours), then you aren't going to be on a rising salary scale. My company (many years ago) had someone who was aloof and not really prepared to stand up to the bar. They simply gave him no pay-rise every year. Much as he complained, there was nothing he could do about it. He resigned eventually, fullfilling the company's intention.
I've worked for 20 years and never had it either.
I will however always put in the extra effort and havent had a lunch break since I started here 6 years ago.
I started work last week at 6.45am and left here at 7.30pm due to a disaster, unpaid of course I am not 'on call' and yet I get several weekend and evening calls a week and spent an hour and a half on holiday in a tent in Dorset explaining how to fix some complex electronics over the phone from memory again unpaid.
I have come in at 4am to assist staff who have an emergency on their hands, again unpaid, but then today its so far peaceful so I have time to write some 'dumb' on here - swings and roundabouts really isnt it.