What does your work start time mean to you?

[Nik]

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: BoomerD
For most of my working career, 7 am start meant I had my equipment checked out, (inspected, fluid levels checked and added if needed, and warmed up and ready to go.) Most of the time, that meant being on the job by 6:30. I've always had the attitude that if you're not at least 15 minutes early...you're late.
For many years, I had to catch a boat to get to my barge. If I missed that boat, it'd be an hour before the crew boats got back to the dock...and my crew would have to stand around waiting for me...that'll get you fired in the construction trades.

For construction/manufacturing stuff that makes sense. For computer/IT work strict start/end times usually don't make sense.

I work in computer/IT. We have 2 12-hour shifts per day that pass down critical information to each other between shifts. I see the incoming shift, I give them a heads-up on what's going on in my 24/7/365 lab. I go home for 12 hours, come back in the morning, see the same exact people who give me an update on what's going on, and I take over.

Start/stop time is very important where I work because the results of our job directly impact the company's interaction with clientelle (even though I do not interact directly with them).


Edit: To me, a 9am start time means you're at your desk, awake, focused, ready to work. 9:01am means you're late.

 

[DainBramaged]

It means that by 6:45, I'm ready for the day and waiting for my name to be called on the role-call list. If I'm late, and didn't tell anyone, I can expect a pretty harsh ass-chewing. If I do it twice, or three times, I can expect severe consequences.

 

[AreaCode707]

9am start means I'm at my desk, hitting power on the laptop.

Fortunately my boss doesn't care what time I start as long (or if I'm onsite) as I'm available for users during working hours and accomplishing all my projects in an appropriate timeframe.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
Nobody keeps track of when I show up or leave. 95% of the time I show up sometime between 7:30 and 9 AM, but nobody cares if it's 10.

That freedom is great, it would be difficult to adjust back to a job with a rigid schedule.

Viper GTS

Pretty much this, for me. It's great but it has led me to become a little bit too lazy (I sometimes have trouble disciplining myself to come in by 9 and it'll sometimes stretch to 9:30 or 9:45 a bit too often).

I'm just lucky that my job (proofreading/editorial) is pretty much solo and I don't usually need to consult with others during my day. I still do, sometimes, but no one relies on me in a time-critical function.

 

[FDF12389]

9am start time means I'm at my desk but I still gotta get coffee, get settled, check email, etc

 

[theknight571]

At my current job it would mean that I'm at my desk ready to work.

At my previous job it would have been a suggestion... as long as you got your work done in a timely manner my boss didn't really care when I worked.

I admit, when I first started this new job, I had a problem with it (I had 14 years of flexibility). I had to drop my son off at school 45 minutes before the doors opened. I've grown to live with it, and now I have arranged with one of his friends parents that I can drop him there in the winter and in bad weather.

Now it's not so bad... I got used to it. I'm sometimes just walking in the door at the scheduled start time, but most of the time I'm sitting here... reading the news or if I'm feeling ambitious I'll be working.

 

[BoberFett]

I'm not very strict on times in my department. As long as the programmers get their job done I give them flexibility. I don't track time down to the minute for myself, and I'm not going to do it to them since they sometimes work unpaid overtime. I've had to come down on my network admin though who doubles as the internal help desk. When he comes in at 10am with people complaining that their system has been down all morning, it makes the department look bad and it means I have to stop surfing AT and do the work myself. Can't have that.

 

[Exterous]

We have employees, customers and contractors all over the world and some times we are needed for business crititcal issues but as long as at least one person shows up at the assigned time there some flexibility on arrival times.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Where I am, so long as you get in at a reasonable time and don't miss meetings, it doesn't matter.

 

[Possessed Freak]

My start time is 7:30 am... people note if I miss. Others in my department have a later start time... people don't note if they are late because I am in the office. I have had this discussion with the 4 bosses I have had in 5 years at this job.

 

[Casawi]

Where I work, I have no idea what everybody does, it seems like we (they really) don't get rolling until about 10am. We have complete flex time I guess, as long as no one is idle waiting for you then there is no start work time. Everyone is on their own pretty much.
I personally start work at 8am during summer, no one is here in that early... I get a bunch of work done, and I try to bounce early and go do stuff.
Now that I think of it... it is very very tough to have everyone I work with in the building at the same time for a half day even. I remember it took us 3 tries to get everybody to go to lunch for end of year thing, and the VP was missing still that day...lol

 

[DrPizza]

My "official" start time is 8:00. My "official" time when I can go home is 3:15. It's rare that I arrive any later than 7:15am. It's equally rare to leave before 4pm. Yesterday, I was still "supposed" to be there from 8 til 3:15. I arrived at 7:10am, and left a little after 10pm.

 

[pontifex]

9 am means i'm at my desk. i think i should be able to read and reply to email or work on stuff that the email is about since that is part of my job. my employer thinks i should be in my desk and on the phone and working at 9 am (call center), meaning I have to be there before 9 am to be logged in, etc, which i do not get compensated for. I'm here 10 minutes earlier at least every day.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
My "official" start time is 8:00. My "official" time when I can go home is 3:15. It's rare that I arrive any later than 7:15am. It's equally rare to leave before 4pm. Yesterday, I was still "supposed" to be there from 8 til 3:15. I arrived at 7:10am, and left a little after 10pm.

Hope you get overtime...

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Why shouldn't you get paid for checking out your equipment and warming it up? It damn sure sounds like part of the job.

That's been argued over for years. The union generally just calls it a "usual and customary practice" and we don't USUALLY get paid for it. Some companies do though...
When you make $35+/hr, why squabble over something so small?

Originally posted by: SacrosanctFiend

You should get paid for it. It's illegal not to be paid for it, now. IIRC, he worked construction a while ago when the laws weren't so labor friendly.

I've only been out of the biz for about 5-1/2 years...not like things have changed very much in that time...and if work practices are covered by a union agreement, these practices are completely legal...although, for MANY years, we didn't get a coffee break unless the craft we worked with got one. Finally, the state stepped in (after receiving a bunch of complaints from whiny babies...) and we now are required to take 2-10 minute coffee breaks in addition to our lunch. :roll:
Never mattered much to me one way or another.
I suppose if the state got enough complaints about "warm up time," they'd step in and make us wait until we were on the clock to get the equipment ready.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: PlasmaBomb

Originally posted by: DrPizza
My "official" start time is 8:00. My "official" time when I can go home is 3:15. It's rare that I arrive any later than 7:15am. It's equally rare to leave before 4pm. Yesterday, I was still "supposed" to be there from 8 til 3:15. I arrived at 7:10am, and left a little after 10pm.

Hope you get overtime...

No, not really. Today was a final exam (state exam) for my students, so I had a final review session for my students. And, I paid for pizza to be delivered to the class for dinner. The students who showed up did noticeably better than the students who didn't, so it was worth it. 7 more days and 2 more (scheduled) hours, and it's summer vacation time!

And, during the summer, I have only 7 or 8 days of workshops that I'm attending.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: Train
where's "It's 9 AM and I am just getting out of the shower" option?

my office is pretty lax, and Im not a morning person. I usually show up around 9:45

this x2

my "start" time is 8 am... now that I'm in a position where I don't have to be at work to relieve a shift, 8 am is generally when I'm throwing on my coat and leaving the house.

my boss doesn't care (hell, even if he did, he's 3000 miles away and doesn't come in till 12 pm my time), and I always stay late anyways so it's not like I'm skirting work.

 

[Fingolfin269]

My start time designates what time I need to arrive to be at my desk 20-30 minutes early.

 

[Mr. Lennon]

9-5...ewww

 

[Elias824]

well my hours at my work are pretty random, the only day im every around at the right time is thursday when I have to drive down to a different office. No one manages my time, pretty much at all, ive spend days working my butt off or day just sitting on the forum or on youtube. My work is silly

 

[hiromizu]

i don't do real work until 2 hours later anyway

 

[nerp]

I have a weekly deadline. This is how it goes:

Monday - get in around 8:30, be cranking by 9, making calls, hitting the beat, going to assignments. Day can end at 5ish or as late as 11 p.m. depending on workload and possible meetings at night.

Tuesday, same, but I have to start filing copy by 1 p.m.

Wednesday, in the office by 5 a.m. to finish the last of my stories. Last story must be filed by 11 a.m. Editor is done and out the door by noon to oversee final proofreading and prepress stuff. I'm on her heels out the door, go home, take an epic nap. I wake up around 3 or 4 p.m. and don't go back to the office.

Thursday, drift in around 10 or 11. Work till about 2 or 3. Go home.

Friday, depending on my hours (I often hit 40 before Friday) I either head in around noon to put in an hour or two or I just don't bother showing up.

So it's feast or famine. The key is meeting my deadline and being productive.

 

[XZeroII]

Show up whenever and leave whenever. Just get the job done and leave no unhappy customers.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
My start time designates what time I need to arrive to be at my desk 20-30 minutes early.

that sounds like it sucks.

I couldn't imagine having to be in 20-30 minutes early... f that.

 

[Chaotic42]

What kind of hippie job starts at 9am?

My boss doesn't care, mostly because I seldom take lunch and usually work until my job is done.