Work Hours - WWYD

Thats awful. I would certainly not be happy about it. I'd want to come in at 10am or get extra money. Tell the section manager you won't be able to attend as you finish at 5pm

I work for myself which I love - I got completely fed up with working for other companies as most of them always tried to pull things like this and I just wont put up with it.

This is not acceptable is outside your contracted hours, which our 9 - 5. If he wants a meeting it should be held within company hours. It is about give and take if you are required to work later we do but not evey night?

Best advise and they are brilliant and are really helpful have used them alott other the years. Contact Acast they are free and confidential advice, about employment issues. I have the telephone number at home, will look it up and let you know. Its a free phone number

I'd mention that your contracted hours are 9 - 5 and that any change your finish time (ie the meetings until 6) should be reflected in your salary / start time.

Grossly unfair.

Thanks for your replies.

I am more than happy to stay late when needs must and would happily attend a meeting at 5pm once a week but every day i feel is a bit extreame.

Noone else seems to have a problem with it but the meeting attendies are all men (except me) over 30, single and basically work is their lives. I have a house to clean, dinner to cook, gym to go to and i like to relax. Plus my commute is a hour and the others all live in london and can get home in 10 minutes.

I feel as if i cant say anything really as it seems i am the only one that is not happy!

Assuming you don't actually have a contract requiring you to work/be available to work these hours, and or your contract does not include a 'variation term' (A variation term is one that allows an employer to change a term and condition without prior agreement from the employee) ...you need to raise a formal grievance - and now! Definately if you have worked there over a year - though give it more thought if you have not.

Change in hours

• reduce the number of hours worked, so that the employee earns less (effectively a pay cut); or
• increase the number of hours worked; and/or
• change the hours worked, without changing the total number of hours worked, for example, moving the employee from night shift to day shift (or adjusting start/finish times).

No No No!!! No!!

I don't understand how people can be like that. I mean, I know it's good to like your job but not for it to be the centre point of your life! Not having a go at anyone - don't take offence - I just don't understand it myself!!

I think a one a week meeting is reasonable to have to stay but not every night.

Very tricky situation though (having read the second post). Good luck with it!!!

Https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/e_changes_to_employment_contracts.pdf

Milna - thanks

I dont think i can kick up a storm over this though.

I work in the kind of environment where if you want to progress you kind of need to go with the flow.

I think i am going to have to grin and bear it and see how it goes. I am by no means happy

I can see exactly where you are coming from, and although technically you should say something, in reality it is difficult and won't go down too well. I often have 8am or 5pm meetings and there's not much you can do about it. Do you reackon they will all go on until 6? if it's more like 5.30 it should be ok.

Think it is a grin and bear (bear or bare?!) it and hope the time of the meeting changes some time soon.

Sarah-Kay i was hoping you would pop along as you are in the same line of business.

your right i think i am going to have to grin and bear it.

I think the majority of meetings will last the full our because the people in the meetings are 'wafflers'!!!!

If its 5.30 its not a problem as i get home at a more reasonable time.

Can you go in later, say 9.30, every day so you do the same hours? Lots of London jobs have a later start time due to commuting anyway.

I think this is very unreasonable, and sounds like he is busy during his day and then is slotting his staff in at the end of the day. He's paid senior salary to do long hours yet you aren't. Having said that it's a tricky situation, as he's new and you want to show you are keen without bending to his every demand.

Sorry to object to others advice but I would not raise a formal grievance, you have to work with this new guy and that is not going to get you off to a good start. I would try sounding out other people, perhaps they feel they have to do this extra hour and not complain. Try and get a "all in agreement group" together to tackle this issue, your stronger on mass. Bosses are doing this more and more nowadays, and if you bend to this - its likely other things will follow. Is there a reason people seem to be accepting this extra hour, perhaps there have been redundancies in your office and people are fearful for their jobs? If you can't get agreement that this is unreasonable, perhaps a few people could attend one day, feeding back to the others another day etc, it could be a compromise?

Sometimes I have done extra hours in the day, but thats usually because its been my choice and I have wanted to do something 110%, but that has been my choice. But no I wouldn't want to do an extra hr everyday.

Hope that helps x

I have to say I also find this pretty unreasonable. In my previous job, where I was working in a law firm, late stays were par for the course. However, I knew that before I started working in there. Now that I'm in the public service, everyone finishes around 5-5.30pm. If they imposed a daily 5pm meeting here, there'd be uproar.

Is there anyway you can sit down with the new boss, and tell him that the 5pm meetings are causing you some concern? You could say that there's only one or two trains you can get, and if you leave at 5.30 you're left high and dry at the train station? Or that you have a commitment to pick up your child (if you have one) or someone elses? Or that you teach a class that starts at 7? I know it's a bit cheeky doing the white lies, but he'd be more likely to take you seriously rather than "I'd prefer to leave at 5". Say that it's not the extra hour in itself that worries you, and you'd have no problem coming in at 8-8.30 if he wanted to do it first thing in the morning. I guarantee he won't and neither will the other 30-something singletons. If he won't move on it at all, tell him that for the first month you'll have to leave at 5.30 so that you have time to make alternative arrangements. And follow through on that to the letter, at least it will mean that some of the wafflers might speed things up if you're looking at your watch!

In my previous life this was not uncommon and I know what you mean by if you want to get on you have to go with the flow BUT weekly meetings are fine but every day? Do you know what the meetings are for? Are they for training or catch ups? I mean if they are "team" meetings what the hell can happen in a day that needs that much catching up on from the whole team? It is poor managerial skills to be quite honest with you and it obviously isn't a "but that's how we do things round here" issue if they are only just introducing it!

I know I had a clause in my contract that said "9am to 5pm or until satisfactory completion within reason" (except the within reason was often 7 to 10). I cannot see how a team meeting every day falls into that exception unless it is business critcial. I used to hold my team meetings once a week with everyone (even when there was department changes and redundancies etc going on) and then used to have one to ones with the team leaders as and when!

Speak to someone in HR - you may be (or you may feel that you are) the only person complaining but if it is a formal complaint then should there be any reprisals from it the person concerned will have to prove that it isn't sour grapes if they get told to can their daily meeting ideas.

Hope you sort it!

I think you might just have to suck it up. I work on the reporting team for an investment company and our work is very cyclical. Our core hours are 9 to 5 but the expectation is that at busy times you stay until the work is done. That's how it's been at every city firm I have worked at. I really wouldn't want to be rocking the boat at the moment, jobs are few and far between. That said, it sounds like an hour long daily meeting will soon die a death once everyone gets fed up of it.

count duck = my firm is a city insurance firm and often people stay late (including me if i need to)

there have been redundancies at my place and me moving onto this new team is instead of being made redundant - it is a good opertunity and i dont want to stir things up. I think i am just going to have to get on with it and hope they dont last the full hour every day!

I just wish the manager had thought about it a bit more and scheduled the meeting for a more reasonable time!!

Alot less hitching for me now!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, you may find some of them are cancelled once the new structure beds in. I hate meetings for meetings sake and often cancel my team meeting if we had one recently which covered a lot and theres nothing new to report or discuss. Have you seen/is there an agenda for the meetings? if it is daily stuff that needs to be done like peer review or something they may not cancel them so easily.

nail on head - its peer review!!

needs to be done every day when we get back from the box

there is no getting out of it!! I just wish it was at a more apropriate time!!!

Thought it would be. You should come over to my side, much more interesting and I do our peer review, erm, monthly!

I have no more advice then, it's just pants!

sounds like bliss,,,,,, i am already not enjoying the meetings and they dont start until Monday!

pants it is!!!

Are you sure they won't be paying you or the extra hour?, if I were you I would speak to your supervisor or manager and explain that you live further away, have other commitments and it's not fair that they expect you to stay each night for a meeting,I'm sure if it came down to it you would be happy to stay once a week for a meeting...definately talk to them.