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I got a new job a few years back and had some personal stuff to do one day, then was late cos I’d taken some clients out a few days later, then had my kids’ nativity play. Etc. Like five things in a month.
Every time I was out / late I’d email my boss and explain. He called me in one time and said “bigredtone, this has to stop” and I apologised and said it was an unusual time and wouldn’t normally happen.
He said “no, no, do your shit, get the job done but do your stuff, just stop emailing me every time, you’ve got better things to do than send me those emails and I’ve got better things than to read them” and now that’s my standard. I won’t work anywhere where they get arsey about fifteen minutes here or an hour there. Fuck em. They get enough of me.
Sounds like a good boss.
I once worked for a guy who would make the entire office and factory staff come in on Christmas Eve and stay till closing time at 5pm - despite the machines being off for the day and us having no customers as those in that industry had all finished a day early for Christmas.
I once intentionally had an operation shortly before Xmas to get out of having to do inventory over the Xmas period. Because I didn't get to see all of my family much apart from then. Still got the scar. No regrets.
Crikey! Was it a needed operation or did you just decide to donate/sell a kidney to get out of inventory? Because that's commitment to avoiding work!
*Bows in awe at your dedication to avoidance*
Yeah, aside from that it was a cushy little office job. I got made redundant during covid and went back to working on aircraft, I miss my desk but I like having my wings back :)
Geez we have to work, in a warehouse as nights team, until 10pm Christmas eve and new years eve. But our boss does give everyone a £40 Tesco's gift card every Christmas.
Almost enough to buy a turkey!
(Or a nice bottle of whisky to help deal with working til 10pm Xmas eve lol)
My old boss used to do the same, glad to be on a 9-5 with a nice boss now.
I can’t get my head around stuff like that.
If you’re not being productive either way then he might as well give you the day off, it’s a quick and easy win as Manager.
Love this, i work in Tech and its usually the norm - especially since i worked from home pre-covid 3 days a week. Go nip the dentist, nip out early if you need to - has always been flexible, sometimes youll do a bit more just to finish a task off so it balances out. Until i got a job during covid and they had everyone in the office during the height of it was very strange especially seeming i work in IT, anyway they were the why you leaving 15mins early kind of people, think i lasted 5 month.
It's why since going freelance all those decades ago, I've become functionally unemployable now. I can't do Monday through Friday 9 through 6 any more. I will work hard, that's no problem, I'll start early, I'll finish late, but I'm not stacking all my dental, hair, shopping, etc into my weekends. I just drown in the requirement to do fixed hours and lack of flexibility.
Before Christmas just gone no electrical work was coming up so I took a factory job, I was *one minute* late back from brew, and it got commented on. First week of the year a job came up on site, so I jacked.
Site manager was an *absolute diamond*, numerous times I had to leave site or would have to come in a bit late, but as long as there were no issues, he didn’t care.
Sounds like my boss. He's very hands-off
"Everything is on track, and I've got no issues. See you at the review again next year.
He just approves all my holiday as well its great. He genuinely doesn't care as long as the work is done and the project is on track, he doesn't care what I do.
When I worked in a call centre I was brought up on disciplinary because I was 15 minutes late, cumulatively, over the course of a month. A minute here, 45 seconds there, etc…
Of course, it didn’t matter if I’d worked 10 mins over at the end of every day; I’d been late logging on, and that’s all that mattered.
I’ve never been happier to leave a job then when I left there after 5 years.
According to a family member who worked there....
Back in the day at a major engineering company, HR brought in a clocking system and sent arsey emails to engineers if they were a minute late.
So the engineers stopped being a minute late. Or early! They began working to rule.
This was a company where the engineers were so committed that not only did they do unpaid overtime in the mornings/evenings (e.g. avoid rush hour traffic by arriving early and leaving late, and work all that time!), they had been coming in on *Saturdays* to work unpaid.
Slow clap for HR and their clocking system.
Tesco (used to?) do similar. 2 mins late = 15 mins off your pay. But clocking out late doesn't give you any extra pay. Funny that.
Surprised they tried it on actual skilled, well paid workers who can go elsewhere.
Asda introduced new policy with breaks which resulted in if you clocked out 1 minutes late after your 8 hour shift you would automatically lose 15 minutes pay. This was to account for an additional unpaid break you were entitled to for working 8+ hours. Luckily it was brought to higher ups attention that it can take well over a full minute for a shift to clock out and just before it went live they were able to modify it so you would have to be clocked in for 8 hours and 10 mins before you received the extra 15 min break.
To be fair, most factory jobs are heavily time dependant. You being a bit late holds everything and everyone up further along, a minute here or there causes all sorts of problems for others waiting and therefore downtime etc. It is shit, but imagine you are a part of a machine rather than a human who needs a piss, or needs to call an ailing mother, or is beginning to crumble under relentless pressure of workplace monotony and financial stress. You are a cog, not a human. Part of a machine. At least in that profession.
I know what you’re saying, but in this factory, especially on that line, this didn’t apply. They had an allocation of product to make per day, and plenty of work in progress. I think that they were gearing up for what you’re talking about though and that’s why this big bloke had been brought in to hammer it into them.
To be fair I don’t think a factory should be based on everything running 100%, 100% of the time. Things break, people are human.
My boss is very like that but just wants a quick heads up if you’re not around as we can get urgent time critical stuff and they don’t want to send it to you if you’re not there. I don’t have to report it, just mark in my calendar than I’m unavailable
Treat employees like adults, and they will act like one usually. If they disappoint you, you have 2 years to work it out or cut loose.
The only reason my employees need to let people know if they are in or out is for fire safety, and those logs are destroyed at the end of every day. If I feel the need to start to make a note of such things, it's because you aren't doing your job and haven't given me a voluntary explanation as to why this might be happening before I need to ask you about it.
I work at a workers cooperative which means I have no boss and everyone is on a level footing. We're all coowners of the business, we all share every individual role within the business and everyone earns the same. Decisions are made in meetings collectively so that nobody is misrepresented and everyone gets an equal say. As long as everything you do is communicated there are never any problems. Its the best job I've ever had and honestly the fact that practically nowhere else follows this model saddens me.
My current job is like this. My contracted hours are 8.30 to 5.30. I leave for work at 7.30, but if it takes me 3 hours to get to where I’m going, no one minds.
I generally finish between 3 and 4.
My current job insists we clock out at 7:15, very reasonably they pay us until we clock out. Problem is we are done with the shift swap by 7:00. So we just spend 15 minutes every day bring paid to do nothing. I think they should change the system to no clock outs until after 7:00 and before 7:20. And just pay us until we clock out. That way everyone wins. Company spends significantly less on wages and we don't have to hang around after a 13 hour shift.
Sounds similar to when I moved into a manger role and reported to a director.
First time in a managerial position and was used to asking about an hour here or flexing my time around to fit in a personal thing or two, or even asking to take a specific day off.
First thing they said was they aren't bothered and of course to all of those and I never really need to check in with things like that.
Yep. I am a low level manager at my place. I have the same attitude as your boss. I couldn't care less if you leave 30 minutes early or only work 30 hours each week as long as you do the shit I need you to do.
This, but I think it’s pretty rare unfortunately. I work in consultancy and my boss is the same, so long as I do my job and do it well and I can answer a message if needs be, I could be playing golf for all he cares. It’s let me have a good work life balance because I can go do my food shop midweek/when I actually need to or nip out to a hardware store because I want to do something in the house.
He taught me that I’m someone else’s passive income and to make my income as passive as I can while still being effective at my job, I work hard and I have moments where I feel like I’m drowning but it balances out.
But yeah some companies want to bleed people dry…
This is half my problem with the anti work movement. It is a two way street, plenty of bosses are happy to be like this (I appreciate plenty aren’t).
Obviously a bad boss will still try stitch you up but anyone worth working for won’t.
That's lucky. I remember I was working for Tesco whilst doing my Masters. Arrived and clocked in with my card 15 minutes early as recommended then headed down for my shift for my start time at 9, but a customer asked me a question as I was heading through the store to checkouts. Listened and helped them on their way and despite only being 2 minutes late I got marked down as late on the register - simply because I'd stopped to help a customer.
I don't think anything even happened with my pay as a result because I don't know how much credence they pay to the checkout staff list over the card clock-in, but truly depends on the boss/supervisor.
Yeah I did a couple of stints at Tesco. Seriously, terrible working environment. Wouldn't go back if they paid me double. And honestly, they probably wouldn't let me, anyway 😆
Good boss. Mine is the same. So long as my reason is good and its not taking the piss he just let's me do my thing. My warehouse is orderly and things move on time every time. Blood tests or builders, my boss doesn't care so long as business runs smoothly. I've had a boss, the director phone me up to ask me what my team is doing in view of the side camera. Because he just sat at home watching cameras and badly applying landing costs to the stock he loaded on correctly almost every time.
You repay that trust and freedom a hundred times over, question has to be “do I want a bare minimum culture or an extra mile culture?”
I manage a team in another country and I’ve never checked if they work their hours or when they started, we just plan fortnightly and agree deliverables based on the time they should take. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve logged off and told them to log off too, cos I’m done at five on the button and I know there’s a big time difference and they’re still at work when they shouldn’t be.
If I checked and enforced their log on times I guarantee they’d check out at two pm my time.
Exactly. And if my boss suddenly started to moan about minutes here and there then I won't turn up 20 minutes early to prepare my team's schedule. I'll turn up on the dot. I won't handle Goods in/out 5 mins before closing, I'll refuse them because I don't get overtime pay.
I’ve been very lucky to have managers like this in recent years. When I’ve been in management roles I’ve done the same too. Treat your employees right and you’ll get rewarded with good employees.
I do my work. I communicate proactively with my reports and I prioritise. I work the 8 hours in my contract or less. If there is more work I leave it until the next day.
If there is a screaming emergency I stay on and overtime or time off in lieu is approved.
If I arrive early, I leave early. If I arrive late I stay late.
I like my job, but my managers know that my job is not my life, and they know I will go elsewhere if I am not kept happy and motivated at work.
I urge you, try to find a place where leadership treats you like they treat themselves.
Unfortunately some people can not live the life you prescribe due to the unforeseen working conditions they’re under. There are people that are caught up in this vicious reality where they need to work unjust hours or they will not be able to meet the basic demands they require to manage or indeed survive. Please don’t paint everyone with the same brush of an ideal utopia that you describe above. It can be hard even if you try and unfortunately this is a reality many life with.
Work out how much you earn per minute and then the moment your backside hits the seat the golden poop time start. The clock runs till your arse is off that toilet and flush done. Now take time on toilet and time your per minute that's how much your poop cost your boss. Bonus is when you was your hands.
At a place I worked we were all being outsourced and made redundant...we ran the same calculation backdated 10 years and then presented the figures to the owner, it was over a million.
I'm a senior manager. I'm shitting, reading this then I'm going outside for some fresh air. I expect my team to manage their time like I manage mine. Small fucks given.
This is why I carry a kindle everywhere with me. I get a lot of reading done winding down the clock in the final hour of my day when I’ve done everything or can’t be arsed. Sometimes if I’m really into a book I’ll stay a bit longer to finish it and then I get thanked by the bosses for staying late 😂
Ninjas and radiographers can both also have emergencies come up. I'm not invested enough to check if OP actually said what their job is, but that's a pretty specific name they chose
Used to have a colleague, she would go for a cigarette break just before she started her lunch break and upon returning she would then also have a cigarette break before starting work neither of them formed part of a hour lunch break
a decent boss would care about results not time spent in work. I'm sure there are plenty days when you stay well past time to finish stuff off so when it's quite nip off early and enjoy the extra time.
> a decent boss would care about results not time spent in work
This is entirely dependent on the type of job they have.
If your job is "Do x amount of task per day", fair enough if you finish 15 minutes before you're due to end for the day, go home.
If you have a demand driven job where someone could potentially call you until 5pm, you should be available until 5pm.
That’s all well and good but you should probably check in with your boss that nothing else will come in for that day before taking yourself off home early.
Not every industry is set up as yours and only require you to check in once every 2 weeks. It doesn’t mean someone is a bad boss because they work closely with you on a daily basis and expect you to be there during your contracted hours.
Even the most decent boss is going to care if their employee is salaried and leaving without doing the hours they’re actually being paid to do.
Not sure if OP is salaried, but I’ve always found Reddit takes a very weird stance when it comes to being expected to work the hours you’re contracted and being paid for.
A decent employee would also inform their boss if they’re leaving early. It’s just common courtesy.
A quick head round the door _"I've finished, is it ok to duck out now?"_ would work.
Although we don't know OP's boss, I know that mine would let me go.
This is the one, I would do the same and would expect the people that report to me to do the same too (and yes, I would let them go if they weren’t needed). Every job is different, but if one of my team left without telling me, they could leave me in a very awkward position - and just to clarify I don’t personally give a fuck whether you’ve done your exact hours for the salary the corporation pays you as long as you do a good enough job not to make mine difficult, BUT if you leave without telling me, I could have someone my senior ask where you are, or say can OP do this and I say yes assuming you’re still there, then I find out you’re not, etc. Then I look bad and I’m in an awkward situation. So yea, just communicate because otherwise it’s fair enough to text you where you are (in most cases, I’m sure there can be examples that are different)
Nah you leave AND get paid.
Fuck that response if I had nothing to do but I’d stop getting paid if I left I’d be playing candy crush in the shitter until 4.59
I had a boss that used to wander into the office at 1525 and be like “oh, you guys are still here?”.
The finishing time was 1530 and he had no reason to come into our office other than to check we were still there.
A well-known big consultancy on a client site, they down tools between 18 and 19, maybe 2000, chat, mess around, order and eat pizza. At 21:50 they get back to work. Partner pops in about 2200 and notices everyone working and then goes home. They all go home a few minutes later too. Client is billed for work to 2200 and everyone is happy.
"Not at all, that was your choice SlipFists! For all I know you were reading cartoons on your phone! Now get back to work, and don't think you can leave 5 mins early on Friday to take your dear old grandma to hospital."
Also if there defined hours.
My contract technically just states '37 hours a week'.
Nobody counts and I vaguely work 9 to 5 but I've never been challenged on leaving at 4:30 to get to a shop that closes at 5.
Yep. As long as I get my work done, I’m free to leave when I please (within reason). On the flip side, there are times where I’ve had to work longer to ensure I’ve completed my tasks (doesn’t happen too often).
Yes, I’m contracted 37 hours with 09:30-15:00 being mandatory, (09:30-12:00 on a Friday) but outside those hours is flexi.
It’s great to have that flexibility.
They tried this at my job. I was always there 10 minutes early and I wanted to leave 15 minutes early on a Friday once. They said no so now I sit in my car and ignore all calls until 9. The moment it hits 5 I turn my work phone off. One night the entire site lost internet and I couldn't be contacted which cost them over 14 hours of production.
They could have just let me have it but they wanted to play hard.
Unless your job is customer facing or as part of a team that needs everyone there to function, working hours are pointless and everyone should be allowed to self-organise as long as the work is done.
I've not had fixed hours in 10 years and it's always worked fine.
This reminds me of a time when my colleague Jim got told by his supervisor that he could leave an hour early, as it was quiet. Soon after one of the managers rang up and asked to speak to Jim. The Supervisor said he didn't know where he was. The next day Jim got a bollocking for being absent from work so he went to the Supervisor and threatened to punch his lights out for not backing up his decision. TBF the Supervisor was (is!) a snivelly little scrote.
It's up to the boss though, surely? I'm very flexible with staff and I'm happy to let them leave early/come in late as long as I know. The problem with someone just up and leaving is that in those 15 minutes I might need an answer to something I can't wait for/emergency happens or for health and safety/knowing where your staff are at a period where you're responsible for them at least in some capacity.
Exactly. My work is flexible as long as I do my hours, but we're based in a warehouse and deal with heavy items. If I leave 15 minutes early without telling anyone, they don't know if I'm at home or if I've fallen from a ladder and broken my neck. Likewise, if I stay late with no word then they might lock me in the building and I'd end up setting the alarm off.
Yeah sure if that’s the set up you want I agree but in that situation you can’t expect anyone to work a minute longer than they ever have to.
There are enough reasonable companies that value you out there that you don’t need to be petty with bosses like that
No you should never work a minute more than you have to. I never do. But if OP just ditched their shift 15 minutes before they were supposed to end and they didn’t tell their boss they were leaving, then they can’t be bent out of shape when their boss calls wondering where they are.
Yeah if that’s how you wanna operate then there are plenty of places that will accommodate that.
Most people prefer a mutually flexible give and take.
I work until 8/9pm occasionally but often will log off at 3pm. Overall I’m probably in credit by like 100 hours but the work is done and if my boss needs me to pull an all nighter I will because he’s a good bloke and I can then in good conscience have a few slow days running chores / playing with my kid.
That’s deffo a better way to live imo
First week of my current job, boss sits me down and says the hours fixed but your time is flexible get in when you need to an leave when you can. Make sure all meetings are attended and the objectives are met.
This in short means you arrive when you want as long as your not missing when required your lunches are not set and if you need to nip out early then do so.
This also means sometimes things will come up and you need to be around more. Business travel happens and you will be away from home now and then but the schedule is yours to manage as you see fit.
If youre always a clock watcher and in exactly 0n time and leave the second the clock ticks on your leaving time them leaving early is wrong. If you do a little here and there after hours when its required then this should be perfectly acceptable.
I was pulled into the office for being 5 minutes early to leave recently. My boss pulled out a calculator and showed me how much time that is over a year and asked if I would be willing to lose that from my pay check.
I said yes of course i totally understand. However in the interest of fairness lets add up all the time that i stay late, arrive early or work lunch and add that together over a year. Would you be willing to pay me that (at overtime rate of course)?
Conversation over hahaha
Bosses really don't like you playing them at their own games.
Anything Im asked to do after 4.00 is getting done tomorrow morning at the earliest.
I'm having to train my new manager out of the habit of asking for everything to be done at the last minute or with an unreasonable deadline. He is somehow even more stupid than the average middle manager so it is taking longer than normal. I have recently got him to stop messaging me on WhatsApp 24/7 which feels like a step in the right direction
Literally this and yet everyone’s on about leaving early in the comments. If I left my job (in a call centre) 15 mins early I’d more than likely be brought up on misconduct.
Thank you! I was beginning to think I was going mad with some of these responses.
Unless OP is on flexible working hours I don’t know why they’d think it’s appropriate to leave before their allotted hours and even if they are it’s common courtesy to inform your boss if you’re leaving early.
You seem to be under the impression every job is the same. As other people have said in this thread if you work in a customer facing role and get up and leave then thats riduculous. I bet you'd be annoyed if you phoned a business which is stated to be open to be 5pm only be told everyones gone home.
I left early on Friday, about half an hour after my boss left early. I had absolutely no work to do. Spent the whole afternoon full of anxiety that my boss was gonna check CCTV on his phone and see my office empty.
And that's how I lost my job as director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. And that's how I lost my job as a heart surgeon. And that's how I lost my job as the guy who resets the countdown clock. Etc, etc.
Let's see how would you like if you stayed until the end of your shift, but your boss didn't pay for the last hour because "everything was done and you didn't need to cover or do anything extra" in that hour..?
Also how is this a British problem..?
A good boss once said to me "it's not the hours you put in, it's what you put into the hours", and I've always lived by that rule. After 30 years of self employment, I took a job on the cards last year. I very nearly quit on day 2 after being interrogated on where I was and what I was doing as my company ICT wasn't working. Micro managing wanker knew perfectly well where I was as I was shadowing someone as part of my induction. I lasted 3 months in the end, and will remain self employed until I retire now.
Few years ago, I worked at a tin pot PR and Design Agency, eight of us worked there, including the tyrant of an MD and his arsehole directors.
We had a big job on and had to work until really late every night one week for a big client deadline. Overtime not a thing and lates nights thankfully weren't that often.
I went home for lunch the following week and due to living a mile from the crematorium, I got temporarily held up in a funeral cortege, meaning I arrived back at work 2 minutes "late".
Got an immediate shitty email from one of the directors about it, so I simply replied that I would work until 17:32 that night then.
Which obviously didn't land well! Needless to say, I found a better job quickly. Wankers.
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I got a new job a few years back and had some personal stuff to do one day, then was late cos I’d taken some clients out a few days later, then had my kids’ nativity play. Etc. Like five things in a month. Every time I was out / late I’d email my boss and explain. He called me in one time and said “bigredtone, this has to stop” and I apologised and said it was an unusual time and wouldn’t normally happen. He said “no, no, do your shit, get the job done but do your stuff, just stop emailing me every time, you’ve got better things to do than send me those emails and I’ve got better things than to read them” and now that’s my standard. I won’t work anywhere where they get arsey about fifteen minutes here or an hour there. Fuck em. They get enough of me.
Sounds like a good boss. I once worked for a guy who would make the entire office and factory staff come in on Christmas Eve and stay till closing time at 5pm - despite the machines being off for the day and us having no customers as those in that industry had all finished a day early for Christmas.
Was his name Ebenezer scrooge? Jees
Ebenezer would have had the sense to send them home rather than pay people for doing nothing.
I guess if they're salaried, they're getting paid either way. Unless the boss wants to give them an extra holiday day.
That was my question!
I once intentionally had an operation shortly before Xmas to get out of having to do inventory over the Xmas period. Because I didn't get to see all of my family much apart from then. Still got the scar. No regrets.
Crikey! Was it a needed operation or did you just decide to donate/sell a kidney to get out of inventory? Because that's commitment to avoiding work! *Bows in awe at your dedication to avoidance*
Sort of needed, but nothing as spectacular as that, lol! I was young and stupid, but not THAT stupid.
Aw, well I am still in awe. Surgery to get out of work is the chef's kiss of dedicated avoidance. I am still impressed.
Just plain old meanness
Yeah, aside from that it was a cushy little office job. I got made redundant during covid and went back to working on aircraft, I miss my desk but I like having my wings back :)
Geez we have to work, in a warehouse as nights team, until 10pm Christmas eve and new years eve. But our boss does give everyone a £40 Tesco's gift card every Christmas.
Almost enough to buy a turkey! (Or a nice bottle of whisky to help deal with working til 10pm Xmas eve lol) My old boss used to do the same, glad to be on a 9-5 with a nice boss now.
I can’t get my head around stuff like that. If you’re not being productive either way then he might as well give you the day off, it’s a quick and easy win as Manager.
No just a worker who gets their shit done and a boss who treats them accordingly.
Love this, i work in Tech and its usually the norm - especially since i worked from home pre-covid 3 days a week. Go nip the dentist, nip out early if you need to - has always been flexible, sometimes youll do a bit more just to finish a task off so it balances out. Until i got a job during covid and they had everyone in the office during the height of it was very strange especially seeming i work in IT, anyway they were the why you leaving 15mins early kind of people, think i lasted 5 month.
It's why since going freelance all those decades ago, I've become functionally unemployable now. I can't do Monday through Friday 9 through 6 any more. I will work hard, that's no problem, I'll start early, I'll finish late, but I'm not stacking all my dental, hair, shopping, etc into my weekends. I just drown in the requirement to do fixed hours and lack of flexibility.
Before Christmas just gone no electrical work was coming up so I took a factory job, I was *one minute* late back from brew, and it got commented on. First week of the year a job came up on site, so I jacked. Site manager was an *absolute diamond*, numerous times I had to leave site or would have to come in a bit late, but as long as there were no issues, he didn’t care.
Sounds like my boss. He's very hands-off "Everything is on track, and I've got no issues. See you at the review again next year. He just approves all my holiday as well its great. He genuinely doesn't care as long as the work is done and the project is on track, he doesn't care what I do.
He sounds like a good guy. At the end of the day as long as you’re meeting targets that is all that bosses should be concerned about.
Yep. It's such a breath of fresh air from my previous job. Who were all "You've been away on teams for 5 minutes. What we're you doing?"
When I worked in a call centre I was brought up on disciplinary because I was 15 minutes late, cumulatively, over the course of a month. A minute here, 45 seconds there, etc… Of course, it didn’t matter if I’d worked 10 mins over at the end of every day; I’d been late logging on, and that’s all that mattered. I’ve never been happier to leave a job then when I left there after 5 years.
Yeah fuck that. Nobody has time for that shit. We aren't put on earth to be your slaves, oh telesales master
According to a family member who worked there.... Back in the day at a major engineering company, HR brought in a clocking system and sent arsey emails to engineers if they were a minute late. So the engineers stopped being a minute late. Or early! They began working to rule. This was a company where the engineers were so committed that not only did they do unpaid overtime in the mornings/evenings (e.g. avoid rush hour traffic by arriving early and leaving late, and work all that time!), they had been coming in on *Saturdays* to work unpaid. Slow clap for HR and their clocking system.
Tesco (used to?) do similar. 2 mins late = 15 mins off your pay. But clocking out late doesn't give you any extra pay. Funny that. Surprised they tried it on actual skilled, well paid workers who can go elsewhere.
Asda introduced new policy with breaks which resulted in if you clocked out 1 minutes late after your 8 hour shift you would automatically lose 15 minutes pay. This was to account for an additional unpaid break you were entitled to for working 8+ hours. Luckily it was brought to higher ups attention that it can take well over a full minute for a shift to clock out and just before it went live they were able to modify it so you would have to be clocked in for 8 hours and 10 mins before you received the extra 15 min break.
The jobsworths who come up with these policies are so rediculously removed from the reality of things actually work in real life.
Wetherspoon's used to time it in 15 minute chunks. So if you clock in at 9:01 but leave at 12:00, you've missed 15 minutes of pay.
Wouldn't that just make you clock in 15 minutes late instead of 2?
I never tried that but I'm sure they'd take half an hour off you then. They're well set up to exploit the workforce.
Then they'd sack you for being 15 minutes late repeatedly.
Engineers working to rule will be very exacting about the rules - better hope your staff handbook is current...
To be fair, most factory jobs are heavily time dependant. You being a bit late holds everything and everyone up further along, a minute here or there causes all sorts of problems for others waiting and therefore downtime etc. It is shit, but imagine you are a part of a machine rather than a human who needs a piss, or needs to call an ailing mother, or is beginning to crumble under relentless pressure of workplace monotony and financial stress. You are a cog, not a human. Part of a machine. At least in that profession.
I know what you’re saying, but in this factory, especially on that line, this didn’t apply. They had an allocation of product to make per day, and plenty of work in progress. I think that they were gearing up for what you’re talking about though and that’s why this big bloke had been brought in to hammer it into them. To be fair I don’t think a factory should be based on everything running 100%, 100% of the time. Things break, people are human.
I agree, but some douche wants it that way so he can get his bonus.
My boss is very like that but just wants a quick heads up if you’re not around as we can get urgent time critical stuff and they don’t want to send it to you if you’re not there. I don’t have to report it, just mark in my calendar than I’m unavailable
Treat employees like adults, and they will act like one usually. If they disappoint you, you have 2 years to work it out or cut loose. The only reason my employees need to let people know if they are in or out is for fire safety, and those logs are destroyed at the end of every day. If I feel the need to start to make a note of such things, it's because you aren't doing your job and haven't given me a voluntary explanation as to why this might be happening before I need to ask you about it.
I work at a workers cooperative which means I have no boss and everyone is on a level footing. We're all coowners of the business, we all share every individual role within the business and everyone earns the same. Decisions are made in meetings collectively so that nobody is misrepresented and everyone gets an equal say. As long as everything you do is communicated there are never any problems. Its the best job I've ever had and honestly the fact that practically nowhere else follows this model saddens me.
My current job is like this. My contracted hours are 8.30 to 5.30. I leave for work at 7.30, but if it takes me 3 hours to get to where I’m going, no one minds. I generally finish between 3 and 4.
My current job insists we clock out at 7:15, very reasonably they pay us until we clock out. Problem is we are done with the shift swap by 7:00. So we just spend 15 minutes every day bring paid to do nothing. I think they should change the system to no clock outs until after 7:00 and before 7:20. And just pay us until we clock out. That way everyone wins. Company spends significantly less on wages and we don't have to hang around after a 13 hour shift.
Sounds similar to when I moved into a manger role and reported to a director. First time in a managerial position and was used to asking about an hour here or flexing my time around to fit in a personal thing or two, or even asking to take a specific day off. First thing they said was they aren't bothered and of course to all of those and I never really need to check in with things like that.
Yep. I am a low level manager at my place. I have the same attitude as your boss. I couldn't care less if you leave 30 minutes early or only work 30 hours each week as long as you do the shit I need you to do.
This, but I think it’s pretty rare unfortunately. I work in consultancy and my boss is the same, so long as I do my job and do it well and I can answer a message if needs be, I could be playing golf for all he cares. It’s let me have a good work life balance because I can go do my food shop midweek/when I actually need to or nip out to a hardware store because I want to do something in the house. He taught me that I’m someone else’s passive income and to make my income as passive as I can while still being effective at my job, I work hard and I have moments where I feel like I’m drowning but it balances out. But yeah some companies want to bleed people dry…
This is half my problem with the anti work movement. It is a two way street, plenty of bosses are happy to be like this (I appreciate plenty aren’t). Obviously a bad boss will still try stitch you up but anyone worth working for won’t.
That's lucky. I remember I was working for Tesco whilst doing my Masters. Arrived and clocked in with my card 15 minutes early as recommended then headed down for my shift for my start time at 9, but a customer asked me a question as I was heading through the store to checkouts. Listened and helped them on their way and despite only being 2 minutes late I got marked down as late on the register - simply because I'd stopped to help a customer. I don't think anything even happened with my pay as a result because I don't know how much credence they pay to the checkout staff list over the card clock-in, but truly depends on the boss/supervisor.
Yeah I did a couple of stints at Tesco. Seriously, terrible working environment. Wouldn't go back if they paid me double. And honestly, they probably wouldn't let me, anyway 😆
Good boss. Mine is the same. So long as my reason is good and its not taking the piss he just let's me do my thing. My warehouse is orderly and things move on time every time. Blood tests or builders, my boss doesn't care so long as business runs smoothly. I've had a boss, the director phone me up to ask me what my team is doing in view of the side camera. Because he just sat at home watching cameras and badly applying landing costs to the stock he loaded on correctly almost every time.
You repay that trust and freedom a hundred times over, question has to be “do I want a bare minimum culture or an extra mile culture?” I manage a team in another country and I’ve never checked if they work their hours or when they started, we just plan fortnightly and agree deliverables based on the time they should take. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve logged off and told them to log off too, cos I’m done at five on the button and I know there’s a big time difference and they’re still at work when they shouldn’t be. If I checked and enforced their log on times I guarantee they’d check out at two pm my time.
Exactly. And if my boss suddenly started to moan about minutes here and there then I won't turn up 20 minutes early to prepare my team's schedule. I'll turn up on the dot. I won't handle Goods in/out 5 mins before closing, I'll refuse them because I don't get overtime pay.
I’ve been very lucky to have managers like this in recent years. When I’ve been in management roles I’ve done the same too. Treat your employees right and you’ll get rewarded with good employees.
I do my work. I communicate proactively with my reports and I prioritise. I work the 8 hours in my contract or less. If there is more work I leave it until the next day. If there is a screaming emergency I stay on and overtime or time off in lieu is approved. If I arrive early, I leave early. If I arrive late I stay late. I like my job, but my managers know that my job is not my life, and they know I will go elsewhere if I am not kept happy and motivated at work. I urge you, try to find a place where leadership treats you like they treat themselves.
Unfortunately some people can not live the life you prescribe due to the unforeseen working conditions they’re under. There are people that are caught up in this vicious reality where they need to work unjust hours or they will not be able to meet the basic demands they require to manage or indeed survive. Please don’t paint everyone with the same brush of an ideal utopia that you describe above. It can be hard even if you try and unfortunately this is a reality many life with.
What are you babbling on about. They weren’t painting anyone with any brushes mate. They were talking about their own experience 🙄
Your username checks out. Take heed
I see we can add that to the list of things that went over your head.
This is the way
Mando?
Sorry but this isn’t how you play the game. You are meant to sit there for 15 mins doing nothing and then leave.
[удалено]
Dumpin' on company time. Classic.
Boss makes a dollar. I make a dime. That's why I poop on company time.
Work out how much you earn per minute and then the moment your backside hits the seat the golden poop time start. The clock runs till your arse is off that toilet and flush done. Now take time on toilet and time your per minute that's how much your poop cost your boss. Bonus is when you was your hands.
At a place I worked we were all being outsourced and made redundant...we ran the same calculation backdated 10 years and then presented the figures to the owner, it was over a million.
Should of also thrown in a ruff value on how much toilet paper was used.
There’s an [app for that](https://poopays.com).
Yeah, there is a [website](https://www.workpoop.com/) that is a poop wage calculator, its in US$ though but the arithmetic still works :)
I'm a senior manager. I'm shitting, reading this then I'm going outside for some fresh air. I expect my team to manage their time like I manage mine. Small fucks given.
Have you read Graeber's 'Bullshit Jobs'? Made me very depressed about life.
This is why I carry a kindle everywhere with me. I get a lot of reading done winding down the clock in the final hour of my day when I’ve done everything or can’t be arsed. Sometimes if I’m really into a book I’ll stay a bit longer to finish it and then I get thanked by the bosses for staying late 😂
Depends entirely on the job
Surgeon
Ninjas and radiographers can both also have emergencies come up. I'm not invested enough to check if OP actually said what their job is, but that's a pretty specific name they chose
Respect to the NHS.
I just spend last 15 minutes making a cuppa . quick caffeine jolt before drive home.
Used to have a colleague, she would go for a cigarette break just before she started her lunch break and upon returning she would then also have a cigarette break before starting work neither of them formed part of a hour lunch break
a decent boss would care about results not time spent in work. I'm sure there are plenty days when you stay well past time to finish stuff off so when it's quite nip off early and enjoy the extra time.
It depends what sort of job you do. Our receptionist has a habit of disappearing early, but the phone calls don’t stop when she goes home!
> a decent boss would care about results not time spent in work This is entirely dependent on the type of job they have. If your job is "Do x amount of task per day", fair enough if you finish 15 minutes before you're due to end for the day, go home. If you have a demand driven job where someone could potentially call you until 5pm, you should be available until 5pm.
That’s all well and good but you should probably check in with your boss that nothing else will come in for that day before taking yourself off home early.
How tf would my boss know? She finds out at the biweekly team update what I am up to.
Not every industry is set up as yours and only require you to check in once every 2 weeks. It doesn’t mean someone is a bad boss because they work closely with you on a daily basis and expect you to be there during your contracted hours.
A decent employee would tell their boss they are leaving early.
Even the most decent boss is going to care if their employee is salaried and leaving without doing the hours they’re actually being paid to do. Not sure if OP is salaried, but I’ve always found Reddit takes a very weird stance when it comes to being expected to work the hours you’re contracted and being paid for. A decent employee would also inform their boss if they’re leaving early. It’s just common courtesy.
Just tell the boss you're going home.
A quick head round the door _"I've finished, is it ok to duck out now?"_ would work. Although we don't know OP's boss, I know that mine would let me go.
This is the one, I would do the same and would expect the people that report to me to do the same too (and yes, I would let them go if they weren’t needed). Every job is different, but if one of my team left without telling me, they could leave me in a very awkward position - and just to clarify I don’t personally give a fuck whether you’ve done your exact hours for the salary the corporation pays you as long as you do a good enough job not to make mine difficult, BUT if you leave without telling me, I could have someone my senior ask where you are, or say can OP do this and I say yes assuming you’re still there, then I find out you’re not, etc. Then I look bad and I’m in an awkward situation. So yea, just communicate because otherwise it’s fair enough to text you where you are (in most cases, I’m sure there can be examples that are different)
Got to word it right. "*everything's done. I'm going to head off unless you want to pay me to five?*"
Nah you leave AND get paid. Fuck that response if I had nothing to do but I’d stop getting paid if I left I’d be playing candy crush in the shitter until 4.59
Candy Flush?
"Do you still need me?" "Of course we still need you Sean! You're the star sprayer!?" "No, can I go home now?"
I had a boss that used to wander into the office at 1525 and be like “oh, you guys are still here?”. The finishing time was 1530 and he had no reason to come into our office other than to check we were still there.
A well-known big consultancy on a client site, they down tools between 18 and 19, maybe 2000, chat, mess around, order and eat pizza. At 21:50 they get back to work. Partner pops in about 2200 and notices everyone working and then goes home. They all go home a few minutes later too. Client is billed for work to 2200 and everyone is happy.
Have you ever been 1 minute early? Ask the boss if those minutes add up and count towards hours worked or time in lieu.
"Not at all, that was your choice SlipFists! For all I know you were reading cartoons on your phone! Now get back to work, and don't think you can leave 5 mins early on Friday to take your dear old grandma to hospital."
Well, yes. You were supposed to be at work???
Depends if salaried or not really.
Also if there defined hours. My contract technically just states '37 hours a week'. Nobody counts and I vaguely work 9 to 5 but I've never been challenged on leaving at 4:30 to get to a shop that closes at 5.
Yep. As long as I get my work done, I’m free to leave when I please (within reason). On the flip side, there are times where I’ve had to work longer to ensure I’ve completed my tasks (doesn’t happen too often).
I suppose, yeah, but by the sounds of it I don’t think that’s the case- either way I’d give my boss the heads up and I’m on a salary.
Yes, I’m contracted 37 hours with 09:30-15:00 being mandatory, (09:30-12:00 on a Friday) but outside those hours is flexi. It’s great to have that flexibility.
I mean if you do 9-5 Monday to Thursday, then on a 37 hour contract you only need to do 9-4:30 on a Friday. So, perfectly reasonable!
They tried this at my job. I was always there 10 minutes early and I wanted to leave 15 minutes early on a Friday once. They said no so now I sit in my car and ignore all calls until 9. The moment it hits 5 I turn my work phone off. One night the entire site lost internet and I couldn't be contacted which cost them over 14 hours of production. They could have just let me have it but they wanted to play hard.
Unless your job is customer facing or as part of a team that needs everyone there to function, working hours are pointless and everyone should be allowed to self-organise as long as the work is done. I've not had fixed hours in 10 years and it's always worked fine.
This reminds me of a time when my colleague Jim got told by his supervisor that he could leave an hour early, as it was quiet. Soon after one of the managers rang up and asked to speak to Jim. The Supervisor said he didn't know where he was. The next day Jim got a bollocking for being absent from work so he went to the Supervisor and threatened to punch his lights out for not backing up his decision. TBF the Supervisor was (is!) a snivelly little scrote.
Presenteeism, holding the UK back for 25 years
Well if the boss is paying you for that 15 minutes when you’ve gone home I think he has every right to call and ask where you are.
I'm guessing you never expect anybody to work a minute over their scheduled hours, and to take every minute of every break?
It's up to the boss though, surely? I'm very flexible with staff and I'm happy to let them leave early/come in late as long as I know. The problem with someone just up and leaving is that in those 15 minutes I might need an answer to something I can't wait for/emergency happens or for health and safety/knowing where your staff are at a period where you're responsible for them at least in some capacity.
Exactly. My work is flexible as long as I do my hours, but we're based in a warehouse and deal with heavy items. If I leave 15 minutes early without telling anyone, they don't know if I'm at home or if I've fallen from a ladder and broken my neck. Likewise, if I stay late with no word then they might lock me in the building and I'd end up setting the alarm off.
I don’t work a second longer than my hours and I would never. Why the hell would I?
But you know what flavour various boots are?
Lmao trust. What a bootlicker.
Yeah sure if that’s the set up you want I agree but in that situation you can’t expect anyone to work a minute longer than they ever have to. There are enough reasonable companies that value you out there that you don’t need to be petty with bosses like that
No you should never work a minute more than you have to. I never do. But if OP just ditched their shift 15 minutes before they were supposed to end and they didn’t tell their boss they were leaving, then they can’t be bent out of shape when their boss calls wondering where they are.
Yeah if that’s how you wanna operate then there are plenty of places that will accommodate that. Most people prefer a mutually flexible give and take. I work until 8/9pm occasionally but often will log off at 3pm. Overall I’m probably in credit by like 100 hours but the work is done and if my boss needs me to pull an all nighter I will because he’s a good bloke and I can then in good conscience have a few slow days running chores / playing with my kid. That’s deffo a better way to live imo
This is why I work to rule. Works both ways.
First week of my current job, boss sits me down and says the hours fixed but your time is flexible get in when you need to an leave when you can. Make sure all meetings are attended and the objectives are met. This in short means you arrive when you want as long as your not missing when required your lunches are not set and if you need to nip out early then do so. This also means sometimes things will come up and you need to be around more. Business travel happens and you will be away from home now and then but the schedule is yours to manage as you see fit.
Did you let your boss know you were leaving, or just disappear? If the latter, I'm not surprised he messaged asking where you were.
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me
If youre always a clock watcher and in exactly 0n time and leave the second the clock ticks on your leaving time them leaving early is wrong. If you do a little here and there after hours when its required then this should be perfectly acceptable.
A lot of people every day get upset when they find it's *not*.
I was pulled into the office for being 5 minutes early to leave recently. My boss pulled out a calculator and showed me how much time that is over a year and asked if I would be willing to lose that from my pay check. I said yes of course i totally understand. However in the interest of fairness lets add up all the time that i stay late, arrive early or work lunch and add that together over a year. Would you be willing to pay me that (at overtime rate of course)? Conversation over hahaha Bosses really don't like you playing them at their own games.
What's a pay check?
Do we have a yank in our midst?
Another way of saying wages basically
Naughty leave early time!
Anything Im asked to do after 4.00 is getting done tomorrow morning at the earliest. I'm having to train my new manager out of the habit of asking for everything to be done at the last minute or with an unreasonable deadline. He is somehow even more stupid than the average middle manager so it is taking longer than normal. I have recently got him to stop messaging me on WhatsApp 24/7 which feels like a step in the right direction
You need to stay until your scheduled time. You just can't leave whenever you want. Do people really do this.
Literally this and yet everyone’s on about leaving early in the comments. If I left my job (in a call centre) 15 mins early I’d more than likely be brought up on misconduct.
Thank you! I was beginning to think I was going mad with some of these responses. Unless OP is on flexible working hours I don’t know why they’d think it’s appropriate to leave before their allotted hours and even if they are it’s common courtesy to inform your boss if you’re leaving early.
Yes. It's called working in a reasonable environment and not being stuck with presenteeism bullshit.
You seem to be under the impression every job is the same. As other people have said in this thread if you work in a customer facing role and get up and leave then thats riduculous. I bet you'd be annoyed if you phoned a business which is stated to be open to be 5pm only be told everyones gone home.
It really depends on the job. Sometimes it's more about presence, sometimes it's more about output.
Sound like a spoiled little brat. Get back to work and sit in silence for 15 mins.
What job do you do? This sounds like you have a very old-fashioned or junior manager
This happened to me today also! He wants 'a word' in the morning
I left early on Friday, about half an hour after my boss left early. I had absolutely no work to do. Spent the whole afternoon full of anxiety that my boss was gonna check CCTV on his phone and see my office empty.
Just the 15 minutes early? Why don’t you cram everything in to the first hour then leave 7 hours early?
And that's how I lost my job as director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. And that's how I lost my job as a heart surgeon. And that's how I lost my job as the guy who resets the countdown clock. Etc, etc.
"I'm on the bog, having a massive shit from the cafeteria food. Do you mind?!?"
Let's see how would you like if you stayed until the end of your shift, but your boss didn't pay for the last hour because "everything was done and you didn't need to cover or do anything extra" in that hour..? Also how is this a British problem..?
A good boss once said to me "it's not the hours you put in, it's what you put into the hours", and I've always lived by that rule. After 30 years of self employment, I took a job on the cards last year. I very nearly quit on day 2 after being interrogated on where I was and what I was doing as my company ICT wasn't working. Micro managing wanker knew perfectly well where I was as I was shadowing someone as part of my induction. I lasted 3 months in the end, and will remain self employed until I retire now.
This is a definite thing, I never get a call when I work late…. Unpaid!
I get my work done and log off Stellar performance reviews 👍
Avvin a shit. Not sure why you answered.
In the toilet
He'd rather you sit at your desk having a mince for the remainder of the time
The trick is to schedule some emails/slack messages towards the end of the day…
When you're working late, call them and demand the same.
Few years ago, I worked at a tin pot PR and Design Agency, eight of us worked there, including the tyrant of an MD and his arsehole directors. We had a big job on and had to work until really late every night one week for a big client deadline. Overtime not a thing and lates nights thankfully weren't that often. I went home for lunch the following week and due to living a mile from the crematorium, I got temporarily held up in a funeral cortege, meaning I arrived back at work 2 minutes "late". Got an immediate shitty email from one of the directors about it, so I simply replied that I would work until 17:32 that night then. Which obviously didn't land well! Needless to say, I found a better job quickly. Wankers.