Calling it a day....but at what time?

[ooox]

Just trying to gauge what others do here.

I often find myself finishing meetings/site visits and debating whether I should go back to the office or just call it a day. I live about 30 minutes journey from my office, my working hours are 8.30-5pm. If my journey back to the office will mean I get there at 4.00pm I usually just call it a day and head home.

If it's a Friday, well, thats another story...

 

[zdas04]

My office is 70 ft from my bed. Before I got a Blackberry I would check for e-mail every couple of hours between quitting time and bed time (I do a lot of international work and many of my clients are working while I'm sleeping). Now with the Blackberry I quit when I quit (usually between 5-6) and then go to the office right before bed to check doors and put phones and mice on chargers. I start at 5:00 am. I work a lot of hours, but get paid for most of them and really like what I do.

You must not own the business if you work 8:30-5:00. I try to bill more hours than that (and you can't bill the time it takes to update daily work records).

David

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Are you paid by someone else to work until 5:00? If so, and you continually skimp because the work day is "almost" over, you're stealing. I'm in the office by 6:30, take a 15 minute lunch (when I post here between bites), and leave by 3:30, charging 8.75 hours/day.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[ACtrafficengr]

nine, I know what you mean. I work 7:30 to 4, and I have a semi-regular meeting that starts at 2:00 and is 15 minutes from my house. When it gets out at 3, it doesn't make sense to get back to work at 3:45 and leave 15 minutes later.

Do you charge accruals, or make up the hour later in the week? Even if you're salaried, it seems like you should at least make sure it evens out in the end.

"...students of traffic are beginning to realize the false economy of mechanically controlled traffic, and hand work by trained officers will again prevail." - Wm. Phelps Eno, ca. 1928

"I'm searching for the questions, so my answers will make sense." - Stephen Brust

 

[TheTick]

Opportunities to leave early are usually outnumbered by days when I need to stay late by at least 2x. This is compounded by a boss with no romantic or familial interests compelling him to get home on Fridays (or any other day)!

 

[jmw]

If you regularly contribute more than your contractual hours and are normally office bound, then if the occasion permits why not take advantage?

I used to and I can tell you the net winner was always my employer, even to the extent that I lost quite a few accrued holidays that I couldn't carry over from one year to the next but I can tell you, the odd occasion when I had such opportunities for an early end I grabbed at.

I know when I was working all week at the office and weekends out in Portugal on a trail site, and after a good few such weekends when I asked about time in lieu I was told "it goes with the territory".
Fine.
Me knocking off early from a site visit "goes with the territory".

However, I would never take sickies, never had my full holiday entitlement and was always "in credit" as it were. But, employers are like banks: you can spend your whole life in credit but go one day go in the red and you get a letter from the manager.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[vc66]

Admittedly, I hate my present day job; however, it's not right of anyone to not work the hours that they're paid to work.

The way I see it is--I don't get paid overtime for staying until 11:45PM the night before a big meeting that needs prototypes, so if I want to leave 15 to 20 minutes early every now and then, I shouldn't be reamed for it.

V

 

[JLSeagull]

Options differ for different situations. If you visit a plant and depart one hour before the end of your standard hour, and it is a one hour drive to the office, and you live next to the plant; consider one hour vacation and live with yourself.

Time sheet fraud is a crime, a reason for dismissal and prosecution.

 

[NomLaser]

My typical week at the office is around 35-45hrs with an additional 10-20hrs working through a VPN in the evenings or on weekends. I rarely enter below 45hrs in a week and am usually in the 50-60hr range. So occasionally leaving early isn't a big deal.

 

[EddyC]

JLSeagull,

Some of my employers did quite a bit of "Timesheet Fraud". They made me juggle what I charged on various projects to make themselves look good to upper management/clients/banks. It was kind of like the US national debt, borrowing from future projects to make the current ones look good.

 

[ooox]

Don't get me wrong here, I would generally catch up on e-mails when I get back early. I would always work the minimum hours in my contract, so can't see anything wrong with avoiding the rush hour traffic.

My boss once told me that he expected me to demonstrate some 'professional flexibility' ever now and then when workloads increased so I guess it can swing both ways.

 

[jmw]

Dangerous assumption:

My boss once told me that he expected me to demonstrate some 'professional flexibility' ever now and then when workloads increased so I guess it can swing both ways.

It is never managements intention that "flexibility" should mean convenience to the employee.
The best you can hope is that management are not aware of when "flexibility" is in your favour.
Flexibility really means that management expect that if you need to cancel your holiday and work 24/7 on a project that you will do so. It doesn't mean that if you need half a day to go to a funeral that they will be sympathetic (even if it is your own).

The guiding principle here is "what they don't know, can't hurt them."



JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[patprimmer]

JMW

I have often had the reverse situation where management was quite happy for me to give and take as they knew I gave more than I took and I always gave when they needed it.

One boss said, if a sales rep cant get a few hours of for personal business, he is to dumb to be representing us, however if his golf handicap gets toward low single figures, I want to know how much time he is spending practicing.

When staff work considerable overtime in one hit, all employers I ever had considered time in lieu as appropriate. Sometimes it was formalised, sometimes it was on a nudge udge wink wink basis.

I never ever disappeared on a Friday afternoon without first clearing it with my boss, even where it was an informal time in lieu arrangement.

Whenever a boss questioned me about flexibility on hours I always responded "so you want me to work the official hours, OK". They always withdrew from the confrontation as they knew it meant no more free overtime.

Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376 for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm

for site rules

 

[FrenchCAD]

Since I usually perform 45/50 hours a week and am paid for only 40, I don't bother much asking me this kind of question and leave earlier if needed

Cyril Guichard
Defense Program Manager
Belgium

 

[jmw]

Uh huh, but when lay-off time comes, the guys who arrive at the appointed start time and leave at the appointed end time even if they don't accomplish much for the time spent, seem to get preference over those whose attitude is more about getting the work done rather than the hours spent, or which hours they are, and who may take a fag break or two, or appear not to have an obsessive regard for management rule books nor the required subservient attitude who, more productive or not, find they get to clear their desks.

Of course, for some of us, that is a fair enough trade off.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[ajack1]

I think it all depends if you are paid and claim overtime.

If not I would not expect an employee of mine to travel past their house drive for 30 minutes pop their head in and say I am off, however if you had to drive past the office on the way home I would expect that hours work. Sometimes it works for you sometimes against that seems sensible to me.

If you claim overtime then you should work every minute you are paid for and claim any extra time.

Basically neither the employer nor employee should “win” on every occasion.

 

[corus]

A boss of mine would often say that he was going to a meeting off site and instead of coming back to the office he'd be working from home. The argument being it was more efficient use of his time, and these days you could argue it offset his carbon footprint by not driving as much. I'd follow his example. His garden is immaculate by the way.

corus

 

[Ron]

It's 8:50 pm EDT....I will be getting back to an analysis project in a few minutes. I have similar hours to David (zdas04)...I get up early, I work whenever I need to work to serve my clients, and I've never been constrained by a "40-hour" work week. I like what I do. I have many repeat clients. If I need to work 70 hours, I do it. If I want to stop and do something else at 3:00 in the afternoon, I do it.

 

[apsix]

That's all very well Ron, but don't you work for yourself?

Those of us employees on a very basic salary without paid overtime are unlikely to have the same attitude.

I'm with the 'give and take' brigade, just make sure you average at least your required hours.

 

[Ron]

apsix...yes, I now work for myself; however, for over 20 years I worked for two engineering firms. I had the same attitude there that I have in my business....I earned the ability to have a very flexible schedule, even when I had a "boss". Granted, some firms are too insecure to allow that. I understand that. If the firm is too inflexible, maybe it's just not a good place to work.