>Why do you ask? > >Ray Mostly because I've recently started a new job and the issue has come up.
I've been in several situations over the course of my career: My first real job (large insurance company) was essentially 9-5 but with flex time. An eight-hour day but one that could start anywhere from 6 to 11 (depending on meetings). But the "business day" was 9-5. The cafeteria was well stocked and subsidized and so popular - lunch was considered part of the workday: the company ate it (no pun intended). The basic idea was that employees didn't take long for lunch and tended to talk about work during lunch anyway. Also there were many times when extra hours were needed (deploys, production issues, crunch time, etc) so it all came out in the wash. I then went to a small web development firm for a while. This one had a strict 9-5 policy - no flex time. However I still took a lunch (which was uncommon at the time) but after a short time was told "if you're going to take a lunch then you need to stay till six". That didn't sit well (having been spoiled at my previous positon and considering all of the other limitations), but I lived with it. A short time later I was recruited back to my old job. The company had been merged with a much larger insurance company but at our location our "old" rules were still effect. The new company didn't have an official policy allowing local site managers to decide for themselves. The basic policy (eight-hour day including a reasonable lunch break, but with regular extra-time requirements) was the same even after I switched sites. I got into a comfortable groove of working from 10-10:30 to 6-6:30, give or take. For what it's worth I almost always fetch lunch (soup or a sandwich) from the cafeteria and eat at my desk. A mostly "working" lunch. For the new job I tried to buckle down and get in by 10 at the latest. I would eat lunch at my desk (and I'm a non-smoker) and leave around 5:30 or so. It's been about a month and I've had a meeting. I was told that the offical "on-site" requirements are 9-3. I was then told that they were loose and that 10 might be fine - they had other people coming in that late - but that those people stayed until "6:30 or 7 at least" (these are all Indian contract workers for what it's worth). I asked when he wanted me in and he kept talking about the flexibity but how others were working more. I couldn't get a really straight answer... it really felt like the "flair" conversation from Office Space. In the end I got the strong impression that I was a) expected to put in 8 full hours of work non-including breaks, lunch, etc and b) that if I came in late I was expected to put in even more time (some sort of "flex-time tax" I guess). I'm a night owl - I have trouble focusing before noon and get my best work done in the evenings/night. Most of the people in the new job are EARLY people - I'm not sure when they come in but most everybody around me is gone by 3pm. But I'm trying - I've been getting in before nine every day but I leave a little after five (again, I tend to work through lunch). But I feel like they're still looking at me sideways. Maybe I'm spoiled (okay, probably I'm spoiled) but the whole situation is vaguely unsettling. It seems like at some point in my life the 9-5 workday has morphed into a forgone expectation of 9-6 (or 8-5 if you like) as the absolute bare minimum. Just wondering what other people's experiences are. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Create Web Applications With ColdFusion MX7 & Flex 2. Build powerful, scalable RIAs. Free Trial http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=RVJS Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:236518 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
