Soldato
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NVM
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Work issue, lunch breaks, would you be annoyed?
- Thread starter Scam
- Start date
no other pools in reach ? colleague swims in an outdoor unheated lido at lunch time - 10min cycle there and back, pretty much empty most of the year, but he has 'acclimatized'
... but yes - processional swimming at peak time nose to tail, takes all the enjoyment away.
... but yes - processional swimming at peak time nose to tail, takes all the enjoyment away.
Soldato
I take snappin and a drink, then at 13:00 I sit in a field to eat it whilst chatting with a couple of horses and some cows. Never had a problem.
I don't even work in IT and the fact I'm the go-to person to support the execs is a matter of discussion anyway (we need our service desk to step up and help, to be honest) - namely because I do travel for external meetings/projects a bit and hence am not in the office 8.5x5 anyway!Tell them your new exec hand holding surgery has now been rescheduled to the hours of 09:00 to 14:00.
Normal support ticket triage / SLA's apply.
No, but congrats on your reading skills.
I tried going at 6pm and it was so busy it was impossible. Hideous
9.30-6pm is my core hours but we're all very flexible depending on what's going on. Give and take. Then again, we're treated like adults with a lot of nice benefits so...
Indeed
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Is there any chance you would be allowed to change working times to be able to give you that breathing space? If they not going to let you go for a swim the only options are before work or change of job roll if you feel so strong about swimming. Maybe they not looking after your health so write an email explaining that?
What sort of working environment is it?
What sort of working environment is it?
Sorry I missed the earlier response.
Either way, just man up and get out of bed earlier. Your employer is being entirely reasonable.
Soldato
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NVM
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Soldato
Swim to work?
It isn't clear that he's in breach of his obligations. If you are in a position to fire people then I'd suggest you have a conversation with HR before doing so as it doesn't always work as you seem to indicate. Generally there are other steps before "breach of contract = fired" and that's nothing to do with being a lefty liberal.
Not in my experience, most places I've worked at allow for an hour for lunch, whether a whole hour is usually taken is another matter.
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I haven't got a clue about kids I don't have any. Businesses have a duty of care when it comes to health unless I missed the change somewhere?
Soldato
I don't really understand what is the difference between:
"Where's Scam?", "Oh he's at lunch because it's 12.05pm and he'll be back at 1pm"
And
"Where's Scam?", "Oh he's at lunch because it's 3.05pm and he'll be back at 4pm".
He's still unavailable, and there's nothing to say that work should be done at specific times here. After all, if he alternates between 1-2pm and 12-1pm on different days, bosses still have a 50% chance of not catching him. But then they'd just go "Oh, fair enough I'll come back"?
If the sentence was followed by "But you can try his phone/find him in the canteen if it's critical" I understand better. In which case the issue isn't with the timing but the fact he's unreachable while swimming.
Seems like no big deal to me and was dealt with maturely in the end. If you have contracted core hours or stipulated lunch breaks fine, but if you don't... Then you don't have to stick to them. At my work we all arrange our own time. Obviously we all do enough hours and don't bail on things we must attend. If I were taking lunch at any time I'd likely check if there were colleagues around to cover for me in a pinch. Which comes back to the comments about service desk and job role...
"Where's Scam?", "Oh he's at lunch because it's 12.05pm and he'll be back at 1pm"
And
"Where's Scam?", "Oh he's at lunch because it's 3.05pm and he'll be back at 4pm".
He's still unavailable, and there's nothing to say that work should be done at specific times here. After all, if he alternates between 1-2pm and 12-1pm on different days, bosses still have a 50% chance of not catching him. But then they'd just go "Oh, fair enough I'll come back"?
If the sentence was followed by "But you can try his phone/find him in the canteen if it's critical" I understand better. In which case the issue isn't with the timing but the fact he's unreachable while swimming.
Seems like no big deal to me and was dealt with maturely in the end. If you have contracted core hours or stipulated lunch breaks fine, but if you don't... Then you don't have to stick to them. At my work we all arrange our own time. Obviously we all do enough hours and don't bail on things we must attend. If I were taking lunch at any time I'd likely check if there were colleagues around to cover for me in a pinch. Which comes back to the comments about service desk and job role...
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OP, do they have core hours? it will be in your contract take a look at it and let us know your core hours.
Soldato
I haven't read the whole thread because, well OP wants to have an extended lunch break and go for a swim when he feels like it...
However, with regards to the point I've quoted, it's surely got to be sensible for everyone to have lunch at the same time? If everyone just saunters off when they feel like it then the office is just going to turn into a herd of cats.
Man of Honour
I used to go for my snappin at 4pm for 30 mins and then finish work at 5pm.
After around 2 years my Manager bought a Policy to me saying that I had to have my snappin between 12 and 2pm.
I now go at 13:55 and they haven't moaned.
After around 2 years my Manager bought a Policy to me saying that I had to have my snappin between 12 and 2pm.
I now go at 13:55 and they haven't moaned.
I'm not some loving lefty liberal either, but work doesn't need to be some living hell where people are treated like ****, the quality of your work is far more valuable than clocking in at 8:59am every day and taking exactly 30 minutes of lunch. I actually give people extra breaks at work sometimes because, shock horror, they'll work better and be more productive.
Soldato
Agreed, as above post about core time, one place where I worked (that had flexi time), the core hours were 10-12 and 2-4, which leaves a 12-2 window to take a 30 minute lunch break.
Yup, virtually EVERYwhere I've worked had a 30 minute unpaid lunch break, private and public sector, and usually 15 minutes worth of paid breaks for toilet and making drinks. Obviously this doesn't apply to smokers as they have higher status, taking 6 x 5 minute paid fag breaks on top of their 15 minutes.
Yup. Could you have lunch then swim after work, later on in the evening if needs be?
LOL
Because being at lunch around "lunchtime" is expected behaviour in itself so people are less likely to try to get hold of someone then (and are not necessarily expecting to be able to if they try) and as they themselves are likely to want lunch around that time too they're less likely to even want to get hold of someone else then.
Added to that the afternoon in particular is going to be busier if you've also got a US office, if they look at their clock and think oh it's 3:30 over in London lets try and get hold of Scam... then they get told "he's at lunch" it is going to come across as a bit odd.
Unless there is some need to ensure some level of coverage during lunch then it is probably more useful (to the company) for him to take lunch when everyone else does as both the UK office staff are less likely to want to contact him then and he's doing so before the US office even gets into work (or even gets out of bed in the case of the west coast).