No Stupid Questions

I saw a law office once in the early 2000s that was 9-5. And the entire office shut down for an hour, while they all had lunch together in the conference room. The phones all went to voicemail and everything. I was working on replacing a few of their computers that day. They made me stop and join them. Seemed like a great place to work.

Most high-skill jobs (e.g. software dev, engineering, research, higher education) are usually flexible with time. No one really cares when you come or go as long as you get the work done. People (read, good-for-nothing management people) are trying to make some of these more time-bound, but it's usually counter-productive. Turns out when you want creativity from someone, you need to give them some freedom.

7? to goddamn 5? I'm not in at 7, and out way before 5, and if the boss don't like it, then that's not a me problem. 10 hours each day as in a 50 hour work week? That would be illegal in the EU, where you can't work more than 48hours on average per week over a period of 4 months https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/human-resources/working-hours-holiday-leave/working-hours/indexamp_en.htm

I worked at one company that was 7am-5pm for corporate office work. The company grew from a small retail parts company decades ago, but never changed the mindset. So even the office work was treated like shift work. Office workers wouldn't even check email before 7am. Many times just hanging out in the cafeteria until 7 on the dot when they had to be at their desks. Further as soon as 5pm hit exactly, all the office workers would drop what they were doing and walk out to the parking lot with all of the other blue collar shift workers.

This resulted in things like Purchase Orders getting delayed by a day because it arrived at the approver at 5:01pm and the approver was gone. There was nearly no weekend office work, which caused its own problems.

It was such a strange place to work.

My current company is going to soon start expecting us to be in 7-5.

Before I start spazzing dignity and self respect.

Can you provide more context on how this was presented to you. Also your career stage? Junior?

As mid level, they can't really try too much of this or I will just reduce my productivity to bare minimum and change jobs. I dont negotiate with terrorists ;)

If you aren't getting a paid lunch and two 15-minute breaks during your 8-hour shift, your employer is stealing from you.

I'm technically 9-5, though I can choose 7 to 3 or 8 to 4 if I want. I usually work 7-4 and take extra breaks throughout the day (or a really long lunch). Granted, I work for a non-profit which has a LOT less bullshit to deal with. I also have the option to work 7-5 or 8-6 if I want to only work 4 days a week. Flex time is an amazing fringe benefit.

Outside of salaried jobs, I haven't seen anywhere mandate 7-5 schedules for hourly employees (unless it's a 4 day work week). Companies do not like paying overtime, so most I've dealt with will send you home the moment you hit 40 hours.

I'm salaried so I don't have a lunch break. I work from home so I basically set my own hours as long as I can be contacted from about 10am to 3pm and go to any meetings I have scheduled.

Salaried employment exists, and there are more jobs out there than they want you to think. The employer-employee relationship is a constant negotiation, and you're always free to walk away.

We don't know how much time we have on earth, and you're selling some of it in exchange for money.

They are going to keep pushing to get more of your life from you, and you need to push back to keep as much as possible.

Don't think that exists anymore.

I have never been 9-5 with paid lunch and I’ve been in corporate world since 1998. 8-5 with an unpaid hour.

Many of my jobs in software have been a sort of 10 to 6 schedule. Most of them have been pretty flexible about that so long as you attended all the required meetings and got your work done.

I have a 9-5 job as a software engineer. Though really I can stop working whenever I'm done with my assigned work. I usually stop around 3 or 3:30.

Was literally going to ask this same question last week. Past three employers are expecting 8-5 m-f but only pay 40 hours.

I've just been coming in at 6 before the boss to look like a hardworking then leave at 2 so I only work what I'm paid.

I'm on 9 to 4:30 with half an hour lunch. Or I could do anything from 6 - 1:30 to 9:30 - 5.
And yes, I get paid for a full time job.
Unions are awesome.

Sure, just depends on the business. Self-employed and small business are often much more flexible. I pretty much work 9:30 to 4:30.

I'm fully remote, with no clock to punch, but with co-workers all over the world. I try to focus most of my hours between 9 and 5, but don't sweat it too much because a few times a month I need to be on a call at 5 in the morning or 10 at night.

There is simply no good time to schedule meetings with someone 12 hours away.

The only places I’ve worked that were that strict were positions providing 24h coverage and you had to be there to do turnover between shifts (I’ve don’t both 8h and 12h). Thankfully those jobs have been a minority of my career.

Mostly I’ve had broad flexibility where the company would declare “core hours” from say 10-3 and allow employees to flex 3 hours in either direction (anywhere from 7-3 to 10-6).

7-5 is bullshit.

I work in tech. Most people I work with pick their own hours but are in office during core hours (10-4), some (like me) will do a pretty strict 9-5, I've seen some do 6-6 (eew). There's def a type of people who do more hours to try and get ahead or impress, but I don't think it's worth it.

I think if I ever worked somewhere with strict arrival or departure requirements I would leave. I'm an adult and work will get done, too much external control will strangle that.

I have a salaried work from home job with no defined working hours. As long as the work gets done within SLAs the hours me and my team work are irrelevant.

9-5 is definitely no longer standard, although traffic does get noticeably worse here after 8am.

That being said, what is their justification for 7-5? Unless you're taking a 2 hour unpaid lunch, that's mandatory overtime, which most companies aren't super fond of paying.

I didn't even know paid lunch breaks were/are even a thing. Most jobs I've been in had 30 min unpaid lunch.

I work 9 to 6 with 1 hour unpaid lunch at my current job. I don't really do anything during my lunch besides sit in the office wasting time for an hour. Home is 30 min drive away, so I can't go home. No parks nearby to walk around. Makes it feel like I am working a 9 hour shift getting paid 8 since I am sitting in the office for 9 hours...

Covid happened and gave me work from home.

The order to return to office happened and I said no.

In the back and forth, I defined my official schedule as 9 to 5.

Now, typically I work late a night or 2 a week so I start work a couple hours late/stop work a couple hours early a night or 2 a week.

9-5 and I work from home. Salaried, and in a department of one (me), so I do occasionally have to log in on a day off for a few minutes if something has a hard deadline.

Not US, but Canada. I don't work a desk job, but but drive around doing work out of a van full of tools, with ladders on top.

Most days I can do 6-2, 7-3, 8-4, 9-5, how ever I want.. After 8 hrs I get over time. After 12 hrs is double time.

Lunch is paid.

Usually I set an alarm, either get up, or snooze a bit, and find myself on the job site sometime between 7 and 8 put in 8 hrs of work that day, and go home unless we get busy and something comes up, and the over time is there if I want it. I take it more often than not. It pays off come Christmas time as a pay bonus

Seattle electrician here. My schedule is 6-230 with a 30 minute unpaid lunch.

My dad technically works 9 to 5 in the tech field for the government. It's just that it's 9-5 in a different time zone than the one he lives in (it's a remote job). IDK about his lunch though... 🤔 I assume it's paid only because he is salaried, not paid hourly.

Can't say for the US, but in NL, Europe, 9-6 with an hour mandatory break is the default for programming work. We hear the adults complain about 9-5 as students, we go to work, turns out its 8-5 or 9-6. Fuck.

Uneducated works tends to be 8.5 hours per day, instead of 9; only because half an hour breaks are the norm, there.

Anyone discuss traffic?

For my area, traffic is a nightmare starting at 4pm thru 7.

Few get off at 5pm, but most head out the door at 3.

I work a 9ish-to-5ish in a science field, salaried. Nobody really cares when I arrive or when I leave, as long as the work gets done. Sometimes science stuff goes off the rails and I have to arrive early or stay late, but I keep track of my hours and arrive a little early or leave a little early on other days to compensate.

I mean, it took four years of college and more than six of a PhD to get to this point, which stunk. But now I can monitor my chemicals stirring in a flask for a few minutes while hanging out on my phone, which is nice.