40 replies to this topic

[The_Neverending_Loop]

Out of curiosity I wanted to know what was everyones experience with coming in late to work? Do your employers care as long as you work 7 or 8 hours?  If so how tolerant are they?  is there 0 minute tolerance, 5 minute, 15 minute etc...

 

 

[frob]

We have flexible time with core hours. Arrive before 10:01. Leave after 4:00. Other than that, do your work.

Almost no meetings are scheduled before 10:00. Few meetings extend past 4:00.

We're all grown-ups. We know what a full work day means.

[iMalc]

We set our own hours. I know of one guy that often used to start his 8 hours from 12pm, and another that starts at 6:30am (they aren't on the same team of course).
I typically start just after 8, but also work from home once a week. I often get more done from home than I do at work anyway.

[TheChubu]

A programmer is never late, he arrives precisely when he means to?

[MrDaaark]

A programmer is never late, he arrives precisely when he means to?

That could be a pick up line.

[Katie]

None of the above -- we don't have a concept of 'arriving late'. We have a concept of 'the other people in your team think you're taking the piss'.

 

Although if you arrive after 2pm, the restaurant is shut....

[BCullis]

Flex-time is great.  So long as you're in from 10am-2pm, which are only core hours for the sake of scheduling meetings and conference calls, you can set your own start/end times.

In practice, most folks here work 8-5 out of convenience and habit.  Hard to collaborate well if your team is all over the place in coverage.

[way2lazy2care]

Flex-time is great.  So long as you're in from 10am-2pm, which are only core hours for the sake of scheduling meetings and conference calls, you can set your own start/end times.

In practice, most folks here work 8-5 out of convenience and habit.  Hard to collaborate well if your team is all over the place in coverage.

What about lunch?

 

We don't have flex time, but we don't crack down hard on being late (within reason) as far as I'm aware. I will say that working with international teams, flex time tends to break down; you can't expect Europe to stay till midnight so the west coast can get in later or vice versa. I used to be a big proponent of flex time, but 10AM-2PM seems a little much especially taking into account that that is probably where all the meetings fall.

[Hodgman]

Most of the companies I've worked from have used the 'choose your start/end times within a certain window' system. E.g. 8-4/9-5/10-6... If you turn up later you're just supposed to work later.

Personally, I don't believe there's a strong enough connection between work output and hours worked in our industry to warrant fixed hours, such as exact 40 hour weeks. At my current job, we go to the office when we're ready and leave when we're done for the day...

At one recent job they were always late with payroll (no pay for 2 months is no fun) and the general atmosphere and morale was pretty shitty. In that job I was routinely turning up an hour late because I was genuinely depressed, but still getting all my work done to schedule nonetheless. After a while I noticed that my paycheques had shrunk - they decided to reduce my salary for lateness (despite great performance reviews) without even telling me! After that I decided that neither party was going to be able to get along like grown ups so I soon resigned.

[HonestDuane]

We have flexible time with core hours. Arrive before 10:01. Leave after 4:00. Other than that, do your work.

Almost no meetings are scheduled before 10:00. Few meetings extend past 4:00.

We're all grown-ups. We know what a full work day means.

 

That is basically the same system I see everywhere here in the Seattle/Redmond/Bellevue area.  Most people do not even get in until around daily scrum/standup (depending on the team, 9am-11am, usually around 10am) and most people consider it a blasphemous sin to schedule a meeting after 4pm.

[L. Spiro]

I am apparently the only person here who can’t be even a minute late.

If you are a minute late you have to fill out a paper and have your manager (in my case the main CEO) stamp it and it will then be filed for your performance review later.

 

If you are late too often your salary can decrease.

 

However if you are late due to train delays, you can get a small paper from the train station that says they had a delay and the company will forgive such a case.  Your reason for being late is an important factor and they will forgive any other reasonable excuses, such as being raped, mugged, or killed along the way, or for sitting in your car to finish listening to Bohemian Rhapsody.  They understand that you can’t just walk away from a jam like that.

 

 

 

That being said, I have been late a total of once in my time there and it had no effect on my performance review.

And while they may sound overly strict, they are actually quite reasonable.  You are only required to meet 2 conditions: Be there from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM and work at least 7 hours plus 1 hour for lunch.

I am in no danger of ever being late because I choose, by myself, without company pressure, to go to work from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

Firstly, I like working alone in a quiet office where I am the only one there.

Secondly, I like getting home before the sun sets.  It is simply healthier and it makes the day seem so much shorter.

Others choose to work from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM.  It’s your choice.  So with that much flexibility, being strict on the 11:00 AM deadline is reasonable.

 

 

L. Spiro

[phantom]

We have a 'core hours' flexi-time system - basically you need to be in between 10 and 4 and make up the remaining hours around that which generally leads to 9 to 5:30 days for many (I weight my hours towards the start of the week so by Friday I'm looking at a 9:30 until 4pm day, which is nice...).

Given the reasonably late start time of 10am and the company running a bus for people, being late should really be pretty hard although if you are late in a few times then nothing is said, but making a habit of it is frowned upon.

[Dwarf King]

I can work from home and it doesn't matter when I start or end as long as I fix/update the stuff when needed. I guess I am lucky to have such a nice employer. 

[cardinal]

My office has flex hours (although it's not actually in my contract). We're expected to be there from 10-4 (40 hours a week), although realistically we work much more than that so unless it's chronic no one cares if you're late.

[Luckless]

In general my employer is fairly flexible. Strolling in whenever you feel like it doesn't go over well, but letting your team lead or project manager know ahead of time usually means they're just fine with hours adjustment. If you don't make a habit of coming in late unannounced then it generally gets ignored. So if the power flicks off and my alarm clock resets itself in the night, and I end up getting to the office half an hour late some day, it isn't really going to be an issue. If I'm doing that three or four times in a few weeks, then I'm sure someone is going to sit me down for a nice little chat.

[frob]

I am apparently the only person here who can’t be even a minute late.

If you are a minute late you have to fill out a paper and have your manager (in my case the main CEO) stamp it and it will then be filed for your performance review later.

 

If you are late too often your salary can decrease.

 

It is a cultural thing.  I've known a few other people in Japan who have reported similar stories.

 

 

 

Personally, I don't believe there's a strong enough connection between work output and hours worked in our industry to warrant fixed hours, such as exact 40 hour weeks. At my current job, we go to the office when we're ready and leave when we're done for the day...

I've had the people who required "exactly 40 hour weeks", which typically meant a 45-50 hour week.  I quit.

 

The managers I've had for the past 7 years or so have agreed with the fact that we are all adults.  We know what a full work day is.  We can tell when our creativity has run out for the day.  Sometimes people will put in a 9 or 10 hour day, other times they may be done at 6 or 7 hours.  All that matters is that it mostly balances out in the end and that they get their job done.  We have had the rare individual who will abuse it, and routinely put in 6 hour days, but they are rare and are quickly dealt with.

[Ravyne]

Core hours here, 10am-4pm. Occasionally meetings will be scheduled slightly before, or running until slightly after.

 

The bus schedule is such that I usually arrive shortly (10-15 minutes) after 10am, and that's not been a big deal -- I spend about an hour and a half on the bus-ride in unfortunately, so I'm not too keen on starting my day earlier every day of the week, but I do get an early start when I have 10am or earlier meetings.

 

In general it doesn't seem to be a problem unless you have severe or frequent unannounced tardiness beyond a 15 minute grace period. You're expected to work a proper 10 hours regardless of when you start, and to get your allotted work done. Then again, I'm not a typical programmer, because, well, I write documentation for programmers so I'm mostly in my own silo, and the programming I do is mostly an individual task. Management is also quite flexible with swapping hours around if its not abused and isn't interfering with completing your tasks, so I'll sometimes take time off during the week, and make it up on the weekend, or make up for days that I was ill, rather than burning a sick day (presuming I'm on a track to run out before end of year.)

[JonathanJ1990]

I'm working a contract position right now so usually they don't care but this week officially signified the beginning of  our "crunch period"  so while normally they wouldn't care when i come in now it's important to have everyone their and working at the same time to accomplish as much as possible.    However i guess my "scheduled' hours  at my past two jobs have been  10 - 7 generally. though as you guys mentioned more often than not they care about what i have put into those hours not so much me sitting in the seat those exact times.

Edited by JonathanJ1990, 09 February 2013 - 02:41 PM.

[alnite]

Some people in my company come as early as 6, but that's mostly due to their situations (where they live, kids and schools, etc).

 

I usually come at 10, or perhaps as late as 10:45.  I also clock out way later.  I would like to come early, but unfortunately, my sleeping schedule prevented me from doing so. 

[ranakor]

Meetings aside, i had as flexible schedule as i wanted in my previous company, and that's what made me work 80-120H a week, the choice to do em as i wanted.