Rush hour - why is 9AM still the done thing in 2019?

[Bluecube]

I'd wager that for plenty of them it is fairly arbitrary and they could just as easily do their jobs starting anywhere from between say 7 - 11.

Not really. The UK market opens at 8, funds have to be reconciled and priced by 9 and throughout the morning into afternoon. The vast majority of financial workers need to be at work between 8 and 9. Whether they need to be in an office is another matter altogether but finance companies are completely backwards when it comes to personnel management. There’s no profit in it for them so people are treated as disposable.

 

[regulus]

I drive to work at 2.30am and leave at 11am, perfect.

sheesh, that's some hours dude. What do you do?

 

[Uther]

sheesh, that's some hours dude. What do you do?

Maintenance, only 3 days a week though, semi retired!

 

[LeeUK]

Not everyone sits at a desk on a 9 to 5 job and not everyone can telework. If you work in manufacturing how can you make something by working from home?

 

[adam cool dude]

This is why I like construction. In by 7 gone by 3 or 4. Miss all the traffic and the only people on the roads at 6am are all gunning to work not dawdling around.

Aye. Went from a 5 day a week job to a 3&2's shift pattern. Only work 7 out of 14. Twelve hour shifts were a bit daunting at first but you soon get used to them. 6am start is only 15 minutes from home and can easily sustain an average 60mph. 6pm finish and with a lot of stores that are not 24/7 closing at 8 you can always get supplies when needed. I could never see me going back to 9-5. It is such an archaic way of working.

 

[adam cool dude]

Not everyone sits at a desk on a 9 to 5 job and not everyone can telework. If you work in manufacturing how can you make something by working from home?

Instead of having 3 days producing product you cut it down to two 12 hour shift. Quite easy really. Instantly saving a third a year on fuel bills alone.

 

[Randomface74]

It's not just that though, a lot of parents take time off to coincide with school holidays, ergo less traffic.

good point, feminism convincing women to work is also part of the problem.

 

[kinetic747]

I choose 6.30-2.30 to avoid traffic. I had to do 9-5 for my induction and it added over an hour to my commute. In general, traffic is far better in school holidays so some parents driving half a mile for the school run doesn't help.

 

[ianh]

When I was working as an instructor in Kent the company allowed some extent of "flexi-time" so as long as you hit your allocated weekly hours (37) and you were in work for "core Hours" of 10am-3pm you could start and finish at whatever time you wanted as long as the building was open (no bank holidays) which sounds great in theory! Only it wasn't in practice because everyone then worked such odd hours that trying to schedule internal meetings, teleconference's to UK and/or foreign clients etc became a nightmare as you were left with just those 5hrs of "core time" to get everyone together for face-time or if you needed a quick answer to a technical question at 3.05pm you then had to wait until you came in next day (at potentially 10am) for the answer, or if you wanted to show the students an operation on the manufacturing floor you hand to work around the flexi-start time of the build crews etc.

It works well in some places but for my job, it's a massive pain.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Not everyone sits at a desk on a 9 to 5 job and not everyone can telework. If you work in manufacturing how can you make something by working from home?

It shows how times haven't really changed on here.
You might be able to find a thread on here from around 2004 where I got angry that everybody thought that only office jobs existed while there were still lots of people working in factories etc.
It was as though the majority of posters didn't even know that kind of work existed.

Instead of having 3 days producing product you cut it down to two 12 hour shift. Quite easy really. Instantly saving a third a year on fuel bills alone.

To be honest I don't know how many assembly plants work only 3 days a week so that they could cut it down to 2 days because in a fantasy world that makes sense.
The factories I've worked on have been 6 days a week and as soon as you leave your shift another shift takes over.
That's like asking a hospital ward that is open 24/7 to cut down to 4 days instead.
When I worked at Creda/Hotpoint we talked about 4 days working quite often and even though management wanted it also, the maths wouldn't work out.

 

[adam cool dude]

It shows how times haven't really changed on here.
You might be able to find a thread on here from around 2004 where I got angry that everybody thought that only office jobs existed while there were still lots of people working in factories etc.
It was as though the majority of posters didn't even know that kind of work existed.



To be honest I don't know how many assembly plants work only 3 days a week so that they could cut it down to 2 days because in a fantasy world that makes sense.
The factories I've worked on have been 6 days a week and as soon as you leave your shift another shift takes over.
That's like asking a hospital ward that is open 24/7 to cut down to 4 days instead.
When I worked at Creda/Hotpoint we talked about 4 days working quite often and even though management wanted it also, the maths wouldn't work out.

It was over simplified to get a point across. We went from three shifts of 8 hours to work two shifts across 24 hours. The amount you save from cutting out so much middle management was crazy. Hundreds of thousands a year.

 

[ianh]

It was over simplified to get a point across. We went from three shifts of 8 hours to work two shifts across 24 hours. The amount you save from cutting out so much middle management was crazy. Hundreds of thousands a year.

At the expense of the workers being worn out more quickly over years of work, or losing 4hrs of "home with wife/kids" time, being tired after 12 hrs work then having to drive home increasing the risk of an accident etc. With every benefit there will also be negatives as it's not a direct "X is better than Y" situation.

I've worked most shift patterns from "flexi-time" to 3x 8hr shifts, 2x 9.5hrs shifts, 2x 12hr and even 24hrs shifts (24hrs awake doing work) whilst in the military and there is no "magic solution" for every company or worker.

 

[Nasher]

Instead of having 3 days producing product you cut it down to two 12 hour shift. Quite easy really. Instantly saving a third a year on fuel bills alone.

In one of my previous jobs they cut the working days down to 4 a week. It saves loads on travel costs etc. But since they kept the same hours per week it meant very long days and people were basically asleep by the end.

It's been tested and the highest productivity is seen from normal hours and 3 days a week. But in the UK businesses are still obsessed with 5 days and 9-5.

 

[adam cool dude]

At the expense of the workers being worn out more quickly over years of work, or losing 4hrs of "home with wife/kids" time, being tired after 12 hrs work then having to drive home increasing the risk of an accident etc. With every benefit there will also be negatives as it's not a direct "X is better than Y" situation.

I've worked most shift patterns from "flexi-time" to 3x 8hr shifts, 2x 9.5hrs shifts, 2x 12hr and even 24hrs shifts (24hrs awake doing work) whilst in the military and there is no "magic solution" for every company or worker.

You gain time because you spend less time commuting to work and have more whole days off. You work the exact same 40 hours a week?

Now I book two days holiday and have one week off. I work a 3 and 2 shift pattern so in one week I work 3 days and 4 the next. I have so much more time at home I can actually take lazy days if I want. I have done more DIY in the house over the past 3 years than in the past 6 previous.

I agree at first the 12 hour day can be daunting but you get extra breaks to supplement this and it feels totally normal now. In the summer time I quite often get home at 6pm and will eat, walk the dog, cut the grass etc. In bed by ten and still get a decent 6-7 Hours kip.

 

[ianh]

You gain time because you spend less time commuting to work and have more whole days off. You work the exact same 40 hours a week?

Now I book two days holiday and have one week off. I work a 3 and 2 shift pattern so in one week I work 3 days and 4 the next. I have so much more time at home I can actually take lazy days if I want. I have done more DIY in the house over the past 3 years than in the past 6 previous.

I agree at first the 12 hour day can be daunting but you get extra breaks to supplement this and it feels totally normal now. In the summer time I quite often get home at 6pm and will eat, walk the dog, cut the grass etc. In bed by ten and still get a decent 6-7 Hours kip.

Again, for every advantage you have in a 12hr shift system there's a disadvantage for someone else, like for example the family man with young kids who now gets back from work later at night and doesn't see his young kids for 4 days because they're in bed, whilst he would an 8hr day shift. Yes he'd have 1 full day extra (while they're at school) but is that worth missing on 4 days of helping with homework, playing with them etc?

As I said there is no perfect system for everyone, for everything you like someone else will hate it and I';m just giving examples of that.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

and this is why the 8 hour system has proved for most people to be the best option.

 

[adam cool dude]

Again, for every advantage you have in a 12hr shift system there's a disadvantage for someone else, like for example the family man with young kids who now gets back from work later at night and doesn't see his young kids for 4 days because they're in bed, whilst he would an 8hr day shift. Yes he'd have 1 full day extra (while they're at school) but is that worth missing on 4 days of helping with homework, playing with them etc?

As I said there is no perfect system for everyone, for everything you like someone else will hate it and I';m just giving examples of that.

I am back home at 6-6:15pm every day and help my daughter with her piano and school work every day. I spend time with my new born son etc. We all eat dinner together every day. The day is not really different. Just that you go to work earlier but get more days off. That's all. My daughter starts half term now. In those two weeks off she gets 7 days with me instead of 4.

 

[b00merang69]

Bed by 10pm no way for me I am a nightowl.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

Was there a reason for that - if not then did you try to challenge them on it?

Challenge them about what? Do the job and the hours you're contracted or theres the exit? Lol.

It shows how times haven't really changed on here.
You might be able to find a thread on here from around 2004 where I got angry that everybody thought that only office jobs existed while there were still lots of people working in factories etc.
It was as though the majority of posters didn't even know that kind of work existed.

So much this. Most people simply have no choice in their hours of work and I'm not sure why that is so hard for some people to grasp, most commuters are not middle management types or office workers on flexi time.

 

[dowie]

Challenge them about what? Do the job and the hours you're contracted or theres the exit? Lol.

Were you a temp or otherwise easily disposable or something?