Are UK work hours really long?

[-]

chains_enjoyer@reddit

In kitchens I worked anywhere from 30 to 60 hours a week (although that’s pretty chill by kitchen standards). In the NHS I worked 9-5 Monday-Friday, plus maybe 4-8 hours overtime.

[-]

TheDawiWhisperer@reddit

5pm is fuck this shit o'clock.

Although sometimes it's also 4pm and there are days when I'm asleep on the sofa at 3pm

[-]

On my WFH days I get up at 8am, run a batch file to open up everything I need to indicate in online, but to wait there minutes first whilst the laptop takes ages to took up tor the VPN, then 60 seconds before mapping the drive, etc etc put a 100g weight on a key on the keyboard with a rich text file open... And fuck off back to bed for 2 hours.

My dog likes to sleep to at least 10am so I go back in and cuddle up to her asap.

They don't live long enough, Labradors. And she deserves my time more than my dickhead of a boss.

[-]

Flat_News_2000@reddit

Same lol unless I have a morning meeting. Put my large nail clipper on my spacebar and go back to bed for an hour until my adderall kicks in.

[-]

uniguy31@reddit

Agreed

[-]

Mental_Body_5496@reddit

Living the dream!

[-]

wardyms@reddit

Office jobs are still thought of as 9-5. Although 8-4 is probably more common. I don’t think anyone doing a standard job is working until 7pm without either overtime pay or extreme responsibility.

[-]

MojoMomma76@reddit

Most London jobs don’t start at 8am

[-]

Ramsden_12@reddit

Yeah London jobs are either 9-5.30 or 9-6. Starting at 8 is so early.

[-]

Gullible-Hose4180@reddit

I was taken by surprise when I came to London and a full time job was suddenly 9-6 instead of standard 9-5. Was a shit company though. After joining another financial services giant I was back to 9-5

[-]

Ramsden_12@reddit

I've worked outside of London too - Hertfordshire, York, Brighton, and I've never seen lower than 9 to 5.30. One of those in a village outside of York was even 8.30 to 5.30! I think 9 to 5 is very rare.

[-]

Kian-Tremayne@reddit

Depends. I work for a bank’s technology department. We don’t have set start and end hours, but because we have a lot of colleagues in India we tend to start early to have more overlap with their working hours. I will be in the office at 7:45 on some days and won’t be the first one there.

[-]

BasisOk4268@reddit

I work in advertising and with work life balance in the best shape it’s been in years, my days are often 830-6 lol. I know many colleagues who regularly work until 8 as well.

[-]

hungryhippo53@reddit

I left advertising and web to the Civil Service because of the work-life balance. I was sick of working 8-6 then entertaining clients in the evening as well

[-]

GreatChaosFudge@reddit

I worked in market research for ten years. Regularly had to run focus groups in the evening, twice a week. Finishing at 10pm, once you’d got back to your hotel and written up your notes. Occasional weekend fieldwork too. This was *all* unpaid overtime.

[-]

ADamnGoodShot@reddit

cries in film industry.

[-]

New-Variation-4191@reddit

Cries in architecture, all nighters all too common

[-]

SpunkSacks@reddit

I walked away at 55 after 33 years. Love the job. Despise the hours.

[-]

TarcFalastur@reddit

I've worked several jobs where I was working until 7pm regularky without overtime pay. They were the sort of jobs people would complain about bitterly and I eventually left those jobs because of the conditions, but I still did it. It happens more commonly than people might think.

[-]

CharlemagneKidding@reddit

Junior engineers (civil, mechanical, electrical etc.) all work to 7pm and beyond regularly without overtime pay, sad state of the industry in the UK

[-]

paulmclaughlin@reddit

No they don't

[-]

boringfantasy@reddit

Never heard of this. Why would they do that?

[-]

Hillbert@reddit

I work in an engineering firm, and ours certainly don't.

Occasionally everyone chips in to get something over the line before a deadline, but that's the exception.

[-]

CharlemagneKidding@reddit

Exploited because they are passionate about their work

[-]

esspeebee@reddit

I work until 7 quite regularly, but that's because I usually start at 11.

[-]

Riverside2420@reddit

I work evenings aalllll the time and I work in the charity sector. It seems quite common.

[-]

JakeBees@reddit

An 8 hours work day is pretty standard with a 30 min unpaid lunch. Some employers, especially American companies, seem to have 8.5 hr days with 30 min unpaid lunch .

Some jobs especially in more traditional companies with also have a 30min payed break in there.

Start times are where it really varies. 9-5 is standard but 10-6 and 8-4 are not uncommon

[-]

notemark@reddit

I work in an engineering office and typically it's 08:30-17:00 with a 45 minute lunch.

We can work extra if we wish, overtime isn't paid as we're salaried and reasonable overtime is contracted in but it's usually offered as time in lieu if it's asked of you.

[-]

Brilliant_Growth_196@reddit

I do 9-5, some people in my office do 9:30-5:30. A few more senior people will work until 6 and then some will do a 4 day week and spread the hours of the 5th day across the rest of the week meaning they will work later or start earlier.

[-]

fishybanana12@reddit

Worked in corporate London for 5 years and I and everyone else was doing way over my 40 contracted hours a week. 8-6 was pretty standard, very common to log back on for a few hours in the evening and over the weekend, and unpaid lunch hour could never be taken because you’d either have meetings straight through lunch or it was your only free time all day between meetings to actually do your work. I didn’t even work in an important industry, just FMCG shit. I now work in aus and work 7-3.30 daily with a half hour for lunch which I always take in full. If I do work a bit late because of a problem/ call I make up the time another day no problem.

[-]

azlan121@reddit

I work in live events, where the hours can be brutally long, a standard working day for most technicians is about 12 hours, with 14-16 hour days not being too unusual, and 20+ hour days not being too irregular. The start/finish times can also be pretty much anytime on a given day, doing 14-30 days straight without any days off also happens in the busy seasons

On the flip side, we probably also take a lot more time off than most, I take most of August, half of December, and almost the whole of January off, as well as a smattering of 3/4 day weekends and random days off in the week

It's a mixture of practical considerations, budgets, and the high proportion of us being freelancers who charge day rates rather than salaried/hourly employees.

It's also an industry you get into because you love it, and it's a lifestyle as much as a career

[-]

quartersessions@reddit

Really depends on what sort of job you're in. If you're a Magic Circle law firm, or working for one of the Big Four accountancy firms, you'll absolutely be working a lot of hours - particularly when you're young.

If you're working for Tiddlesshire County Council, you'll be out the door less than a millisecond after 5pm.

[-]

No_Concept4683@reddit

You can add London “high finance” jobs to that list. Not a huge industry but it has outsized cultural recognition (e.g. the Industry TV show). Used to work at an investment bank in London, never once did i leave before 7pm except occasionally on a slower Friday.

[-]

Microchi@reddit

What's mad about this is I work for an investment bank but in Glasgow. The culture just now is if you work past finish( 5 for me) consistently then you are doing something wrong.

[-]

No_Concept4683@reddit

Different line of work probably? I was specifically referring to M&A teams - never heard of anyone working 9/5 in that function, even in smaller regional offices.

[-]

Microchi@reddit

Oh aye m&a is mad.

When I first started in 2014 in ops it was expected of you to do and extra 30 mins at the very least. Now your getting chased out the door.

[-]

peppermint_aero@reddit

Out of curiosity, what time were you expected to arrive?

[-]

No_Concept4683@reddit

Eh, reasonably flexible if you didn’t have a meeting or call in the morning. Between 9.30 and 10.30 the most common. Occasionally people would come in at 11 or later if they’d clocked off at 4-6am (not uncommon)…

[-]

Musashi1596@reddit

Good to know they're freely flouting employment law

[-]

No_Concept4683@reddit

You waive yourself from the 48hr max work week when starting. The pay is also excellent, everyone chooses rather than is forced to work there.

[-]

Musashi1596@reddit

I was more concerned about the lack of an 11 hour break between shifts.

[-]

No_Concept4683@reddit

Think we fell under “unmeasured hours” or 24 hour work exemptions. Certainly never heard anything about a mandated break!

[-]

Musashi1596@reddit

An 11 hour rest period between shift is mandated by the Working Time Regulations act of 1998. There are exceptions for certain fields, which you may well fall under, but that should mainly be public services like the police and fire brigade.

[-]

peppermint_aero@reddit

Interesting, thanks!

[-]

Vireosolitarius@reddit

Years ago when I was a corporate lawyer and working on a deal with a London merchant bank one of their juniors took a half day’s holiday to watch the Champions League final (8pm kick off). He still missed the first half.

[-]

ViacNitu@reddit

Oddly specific

[-]

TheArabella@reddit (OP)

I googled Tiddlesshire just in case it was a real place. The top result was this post

[-]

Superspark76@reddit

He is right about the councils, I worked in management for one and overtime was frowned upon, if you had to work overtime it would have to be explained to your line manager and would then usually be paid or given in lieu (depending on the reason). The council believed more in a work life balance than any other employer I've ever seen

[-]

fgspq@reddit

I started a council job a few months ago. I had a hospital appointment the other day and was just waved off. No third degree, no guilt tripping, it was great.

[-]

Great-Ad-632@reddit

Best move I ever made was from working to the NHS to my local council! They absolutely put staff first, the NHS would rather you drop dead before calling in sick

[-]

fgspq@reddit

Yeah, I left teaching for a safeguarding role. It's night and day in terms of work-life balance

[-]

KiwiNo2638@reddit

Teaching is horrendous. I trained, never qualified as the hours killed me. It isn't 9-3:30 with 13 weeks of holiday. As a student teacher, I was finishing the teaching day, going home, writing lesson plans, marking, writing reviews, writing essays. Going to bed in small hours. Walking up hours before the school day to finish what I hadn't the night before. Occasionally I'd eat.

I'm sure there is a sweet spot as a NQT where all that extra work isn't required, but you still need to write reports, update lesson plans for the inevitable Ofsted inspection, mark work etc. The kind of stuff that you would get time in the working day to do, other tasks get out back. You can't exactly cancel your year 10 chemistry class because you've got lesson planning to do.

[-]

fgspq@reddit

Honestly, I loved it for nearly a decade, despite waves hand everything. Some of my last words to my head of department on why I was leaving were "the curriculum has become a joyless slog through content".

I remember (I was an English teacher) and felt like I was doing something subversive when I did a fun little starter like "roast sir with an inventive simile" in the last few months.

I also hated the creeping AI use, not just by students, but by teachers as well. I was constantly being told to use dog shit resources in the name of "consistency" and would spend most of my lesson time pointing out why it was horseshit.

[-]

KiwiNo2638@reddit

I trained in the 90s, before all the Gove stuff. It was becoming less "teaching learning and exploring" and more "regurgitation"even then. I don't remember any training on alternative provision. The furthest it went on that score was some people learn best through seeing, some through listening, some through doing. Some of the training was useful when it came to having to train staff in other jobs though, so even though I sighed a bullet, it wasn't a waste.

[-]

Logical_Strain_6165@reddit

I've come from the private sector. NHS sick pay is very generous if you are very ill, although if unlucky enough to get multiple small bugs over a 12 month period can seem harsh. I'm out the door at 16.00 and weekend overtime is paid 1.5 hourly.

Its such a big organisation though, so it must change a lot depending where you work. But IT in my trust is a nice job.

[-]

BoopingBurrito@reddit

Medical staff are in such short supply they tend to face extreme pressure to go to work, regardless of how ill they are.

[-]

Mr_Emile_heskey@reddit

Eh depends on your department and how good your leads are. My department very much prioritises patients health and well being but other departments, not so much.

[-]

Independent-Win-6661@reddit

Very flexible isn’t it? I work flexible time and anything I do in evenings or weekends I get lieu time so works really well for me. Also I’m lucky as work in a team that is supportive so never any problem with drs appointments etc as long as you dont take advantage.

[-]

cev2002@reddit

The councils also really don't have the budget for paying you overtime.

[-]

peppermint_aero@reddit

That's the real reason. You are expected to stick to your contract hours because overtime will be paid and they don't want to pay it.

[-]

Diem-Perdidi@reddit

It's not the 'real reason'. Councils still need people to work antisocial or long hours sometimes, but they're focused on service delivery, not some material output that increases the more hours you spend on it. It still 'pays' for those hours, it just pays it back in the same currency, i.e. time. The public sector is just different to the private, and naturally has a different system of incentives.

[-]

Shot_Net3794@reddit

Because the councils often have a very close relationship with the unions which includes other things such as the real living wage, as all reasonably sized companies should be

[-]

bigonebitey99@reddit

I work at a big4 and outside of about 3 months of the year I work 9–5/6

[-]

acripaul@reddit

Yeh, but what were the hours when you were cannon fodder, I mean, a student?

I know of folks that literally had their kid sleeping under their desk at mid night whilst finishing audit files in the office. Whilst also preparing for exams.

[-]

bigonebitey99@reddit

It was 9-6 outside of the 3 months of busy season

[-]

Terrible-Group-9602@reddit

Ah but that council flexitime

[-]

Flashy_Error_7989@reddit

There’s no flexitime- I work for the council in social care and regularly work stupid hours- end up having to work my leave etc

[-]

Terrible-Group-9602@reddit

Of course social care is different and social work, but you'll see them clocking off in parking, planning and environmental.

[-]

DigbyDoesDallas@reddit

And the amount of people who work in a magic circle firm or one of the big four is relatively tiny so chances are you’ll work a 9-5 generally speaking

[-]

Soniq268@reddit

Big 4 is only really intense as an accounting grad when you’re also doing exams, audit is only around half of the business so loads of people aren’t stuck in the auditing busy season madness.

I joined as an experienced hire and rarely work late, whether I’m in the London office or a regional one, the floor is basically empty by 5pm the majority of the time.

[-]

anunkneemouse@reddit

not even magic circle firms - my wife is a solicitor at a small-medium size firm and is regularly working deep in the night.

[-]

DryArugula6108@reddit

6 isn't unusual. 7 I'd expect the person to be quite senior or in one of the more demanding professions.

When I was a PhD student, we were 'encouraged' (expected) to work 9am-10pm, for six if not seven days a week, for a stipend of 13k.

[-]

BumblebeeMission411@reddit

Entirely depends on the job.
Anything related to social services/health care, emergency call jobs etc, office hours can be long. The service could even be 24 hours, so you could work in 6/8/10/12 hour shifts.
Most offices are only open about 9-5, so maximum workday would be 8-6.
City of London, high pressure type jobs, maybe you'd be expected to stay later as well.
But your basic office job is most likely 9-5 or 8-4 Monday-Friday.

[-]

SuuperD@reddit

8-4 construction sites.

[-]

Numerous_Green4962@reddit

If I'm in the office, it's normally 6:30 to 15:00 or 15:30ish if I'm WFH 5:00 to the same sort of time. Either way I'll try to get quarter or half an hour for lunch. Unfortunately, where I work our contracts require us to do as many hours as are required to get the work done without overtime payments, so we keep cutting staff as they know the rest of us have to pick it up or get pilloried by the press.

[-]

Capable_Tip7815@reddit

I do Mon to Thurs 8-4, 30 mins ish lunch. Fri is an early finish most weeks.

[-]

Bret_Riverboat@reddit

I’m contracted to 45 hours in catering but now we’ve moved to a clocking in and out system we are told off if we don’t hit 45 hours and we must take hour long breaks. It feels like we are being squeezed more and more. Back in the day it used to be 6 shifts (3 day, 3 night, one of which was a double). In order to hit 45 i looks like I need to do 5 ten hour shifts with an hour break taken out.

[-]

Golden_Liechi@reddit

*Cries in a public service job involving 12 hour night shifts*

[-]

XCinnamonbun@reddit

Emergency services by any chance? I volunteer with emergency services and whenever I’ve been crazy enough to do a night shift I’m dead for days after. Absolutely no idea how anyone does that on the regular

[-]

spanakopita555@reddit

I've had several jobs.

As a teacher I worked 7.30-6 and sometimes more in the evening, plus at least 4 hours at the weekend.

In one office job I worked 9.30-6, occasionally staying later at peak times.

In my current office job I work 9-5 and basically never have to work late.

[-]

forzafoggia85@reddit

Lucky fuck

[-]

VolcanicBear@reddit

Are you one of those "I love being exploited for free" types?

[-]

forzafoggia85@reddit

I was specifically commenting on current job 9-5 and no staying late. Not sure how that means i love being exploited

[-]

VolcanicBear@reddit

Hahaha seems I'm illiterate, my apologies.

[-]

VolcanicBear@reddit

So you consider someone a lazy fuck for doing their contacted hours?

After I commented I came to the conclusion that it must've been sarcasm I was missing, but I guess not lmfao.

[-]

spanakopita555@reddit

The flipside is that my current job isn't well paid and is incredibly boring.

[-]

parameters@reddit

A lot of teachers at my school (secondary state) are moving to 0.8 or so FTE as 1.0 with statutory minimum PPA is 60 hr/wk during term time once you include working time at home. If the mortgage was lower I would join them.

[-]

Prestigious-Slide-73@reddit

How did you escape teaching? What did you go into? Did you take a pay cut?

[-]

spanakopita555@reddit

I don't want to give full career history so as not to doxx myself, but yes, I took a cut from 36k to 27k moving into another role. It took me a long time (about 5 years) to get back to 36. However, saving my mental and physical health was much more important to me and worth the cost.

[-]

welsh_cthulhu@reddit

No. Hardly anyone in a normal office job in the UK works to 7pm.

[-]

RBisoldandtired@reddit

Some offices will have later shifts but they’ll have started later. 10-6. 12-8 etc.

[-]

Red-Stahli@reddit

What? I’ve never heard of an office worker doing a 12 - 8 shift.

[-]

lankymjc@reddit

One of the offices I worked in (Shazam), my manager did 11-7. She liked to sleep in, and the hours were super flexible.

This meant that she didn't see our team coming in at 8 or 9, so when we left at five every day she bollocked us for "leaving early". Fuck Shazam.

[-]

adi_mrok@reddit

I do 10-6 due to exactly the same reason as your manager

[-]

RBisoldandtired@reddit

Was lucky to have flexi at one job. As long as my hours added up at the end of the week I could, to an extent, work hours that worked for me. As long as I had x amount of early or x amount of late I could choose. This was during Covid so we had free rein to start and work any times between 8am and 6pm. Could do the full day if wanted to build up flexi and start as late as half 1 on a late or finish as early as 12 on an early. As long as our hours added up. Could also build up credit and use them as and when you wanted.

Everyone finished early on a Friday 😂

[-]

adi_mrok@reddit

I do have flexi too!

[-]

lankymjc@reddit

I work in a school and I am jealous.

[-]

TravellingMackem@reddit

I do 7-3 for the same but opposite reasons. And allows me to avoid the traffic at rush hours both going in and out

[-]

peppermint_aero@reddit

Call centre staff would absolutely do that kind of shift.

[-]

Successful_Buy3825@reddit

I've definitely seen it in my old firm - people working on the US desk would slowly filter in from 11am

[-]

UniquePotato@reddit

I used to work 10.00 - 19.00. Was brilliant, rarely had traffic jams and could have a steady morning before setting off.
Used to manage stock allocations for a supermarket chain so the longer we left it, the more of the days sales were captured making a more accurate allocation for the next day

[-]

venuscans@reddit

Half my office does that exact shift. It might blow your mind to learn some of them do a 3 to 11pm shift too!

[-]

Intothechaos@reddit

I have a friend thay does almost exactly that, working with the Americans.

[-]

RBisoldandtired@reddit

Not all offices are doing admin tasks. Some offices provide support to end users/customers/members of the public

[-]

Economy-Judgment-754@reddit

So wrong, half the office Jon's in the country and customer service and every one Ives worked in was open until 8pm.

[-]

YourTwenties@reddit

Sad news for Jons everywhere

[-]

CanWeNapPlease@reddit

My first job (tech) I worked 40 hours, 9-6pm with an hour lunch, 50 min commute each way so I'd get home about 7pm. It sucked as the rest of my team were 37.5 hours for some reason so they finished at 5:30pm. The company's argument was that all new employees would be on 40h which was bull as I knew of plenty that started after me but were only offered 37.5 hours with a nice rounded salary advertised so clearly there was no calculation done to lower their salary.

Had to go a year without even inflation pay rise so I could drop my hours to match them... Even though older employees never had their lower hours affect their salary offers.

I left the company a couple years later as it was clear they just picked and chose who got the better end of the sticks.

[-]

lovesorangesoda636@reddit

Most office jobs are 9-5 with a hour for lunch so similar to what you're working.

Some jobs have a culture where you're expected to stay late because they're just piss poor at planning and refuse to hire an adequate number of staff.

In salaried jobs there's also often something in your contract which says you're expected to do overtime "if required" but that you get the time back later on.

[-]

Obvious_Bat4093@reddit

when i worked in south east asia for a bit , there was alot of office workers doing 8am to 9 pm shifts, feel like we are heading that way here

[-]

Responsible-Type-595@reddit

Depends what you do, civil services is similar from what I’m told by friends, 8-9am start, 4-5pm finish. I personally work in engineering and construction, but I do 8:30-8:45 start and finish at like 5-6:30pm depending what I have on. It’s flexibility, but if I have stuff I need to finish, I’ll work longer.

[-]

Objective_Mousse7216@reddit

Join the UK public sector, no long hours there. Private sector the hours are fucking long.

[-]

SkengmanFy@reddit

I work in the head office for one of the 'Big 5' banks in the UK. They try to push a culture of working til late but theyve been pushing and squeezing their staff for so long that everybody has actually started leaving at 4-5. The days of staying inthe office til 6 or 7 are long gone. They have recently had senior 'leaders' hold employee-wide conference calls to tell us that, despite removing flexible working options and mandating 60-75% of our time being in the office, they expect us to be available between the hours of 8am-6pm Monday-Friday. We're only contracted for 35 hours a week.

TLDR: Management expect people do work those long office hours out of generosity but people dont because theyre already overworked/squeezed.

[-]

Illustrious-Entry129@reddit

Potentially but not for the reason you might think. At my office in the UK you can start any time between 7am-10am, you just work your 8 hours and then you can go home. Some people also choose to take an hour lunch break (not included in hours) so could be staying until 6pm/7pm. Starting at 8 is more unusual in the UK, I start at this time and am normally one of the first in the office. But perks are leaving at 4:30pm!

[-]

alexllew@reddit

I my experience 09:00-17:30 with a 1 h break is the most common work pattern.

[-]

pastie_b@reddit

If i'm in the office i'll usually work 9 hours, if i'm on site I can be working 12-14+ hours as my boss stacks jobs then denies overtime or toil to get free work.

[-]

Fine_Cress_649@reddit

Doctor. I work 8 30-6 with a 45 minute commute on either side

[-]

odkfn@reddit

I hope you get paid well for it!

[-]

Fine_Cress_649@reddit

The pay is ok. It was terrible (for the responsibility and hours) when I was a junior doctor.

[-]

sixwingsandchipsOK@reddit

Lol

[-]

Mental_Body_5496@reddit

No sadly

[-]

MaltDizney@reddit

Ironically the hardest I've worked, and the most overtime I've had to do was when i was working minimum wage. Everything since then has been to time and not a second after. I'm in a job now that offers overtime at a premium rate, but I never do it.

[-]

Intruder313@reddit

UK Civil Servants usually work for 37h/week with Flexi-time so can start/leave at a range of times. Usually.

[-]

Daveddozey@reddit

37.5 hour week outside of lunch is fairly normal, 9-5 with half hour lunch.

I’m on a 35 hour. Some will do 40 hours (so 9-5.30 with half hour)

[-]

Daveddozey@reddit

20 years ago I worked in an office on a 5 day week and tended to do 10-18, although for a while I’d drift in around 11 and leave around 19.

Didn’t last long, I’d come off shift work and decided after a few months to move to 10-20 4 days a week instead.

[-]

Mermaid654@reddit

Ive worked in office work for years. Always worked 7.5 hours a day, somewhere between 8 and 5 depending on the business attitude to when they want me their in the morning.

[-]

Neo-Riamu@reddit

I work in an electrical wholesalers.

My work pattern is:

Monday-Friday 0730-1730

For this i get an additional 2 weeks on top of my 28 days and i get a bonus every year.

Also the working environment is not so bad and it fairly flexible for my needs (child care and medical appointments)

It not the most hours i have worked in a week for a job and it not the shortest but it is very close to home in an industry i like.

[-]

9sim9@reddit

It can be for some jobs in London but not anywhere else. Most jobs are either a 37.5 week or a 40 hour week.

[-]

ptuk@reddit

Really surprised reading this thread. I’ve never worked a job of less than 45 hours a week full time. I’m a web developer now which I know is super rare to work this many hours but in previous jobs it was always a 9-6.

[-]

Electronic-Fennel828@reddit

I work the same hours as you. I work in education but I’m office based, not particularly student facing.

I will occasionally work late if shit had hit the fan with ofsted or supporting with an open evening or whatever, but I get time off in lieu and I’m pretty fastidious about it. My boss knows I’ve got no problem working over and doing what needs to be done. But I’ll be having that time back, or I’ll get paid for it. I don’t mind which.

[-]

Mr_Toad1966@reddit

In London, professional salaried jobs come with the expectation that you’ll have control over your hours without having your arrival and departure times tracked, but you will do whatever it takes to deliver. In my team in a strategy consulting group in a Big4 player, typical non-busy hours are 9-6, but teams might regularly work to 7-8, with times past 0100 when up against big deadlines. When I was in an MBB strat house, working until 7-8 or later was the norm. I see some other lazier front line teams plus support staff working 9-5 in my firm, depending on the type of function. In my team, someone who wasn’t delivering key outputs because they’d decided they wanted fewer hours would be out of a job pretty sharpish. Those expectations apply to everyone from junior staff to Partners. People are pretty free to work from home when they want to, since it’s the delivery that matters

[-]

lozface86@reddit

Yes although I think it is company-dependent. I work for an international company with offices in Eastern Asia (Tokyo, Seoul etc.) and the USA (California). As we have daily meetings with at least one of those regions, we are expected to be available to work between 8am and 7pm. We can take a longer lunch break and manage our own time but they are LONG work days even if I don't work more than 7.5 hours in total.

[-]

badger906@reddit

My missus does 8-4 and she’s home the second she finishes.

[-]

Ornery_Pipe_9243@reddit

No. I do Monday - Friday

Week 1 8-4 with a 30 min break Week 2 10-6 with a 30 min break

[-]

stuaird1977@reddit

Depends on the company and sector. Retail management absolutely crap pay for the 12 hours a day you will do, now I work in manufacturing in safety, far better pay, well above national.average and home by 3:30 everyday start at 7am

[-]

Funky_monkey2026@reddit

9-5 is regular hours. I usually do 8ish to 4ish working from home, but I started at 7:30 today because I woke up early. 8:45am and I'm on my bed, played games for 30 mins on my laptop. Usually work through lunch with a very short break but will probably close my laptop around 3:30-4 if I finish my work early and no meetings pop up.

[-]

R_110@reddit

Book just do that for drama or to build some background around that character.

For the average office worker, it'll be either 8-4 or 9-5.

[-]

Vimto1@reddit

I'm a coach driver, my contract is 42 hours but my rota is 57. I'm knackered

[-]

TheArabella@reddit (OP)

Just what you want in a coach driver

[-]

Vimto1@reddit

Nothing screams safety like pushing drivers to the legal limit 🤣

[-]

You_moron04@reddit

Avg is 35-40 hours a week. That’s pretty standard compared to the continent

[-]

New_Plan_7929@reddit

Not at all. We all go home at 5pm but in reality very little work happens after 3pm.

Putting a meeting in after 4pm is considered a hate crime.

[-]

dtrrai@reddit

This reminds me of something that happened at my current job. We had an audit, and come 5:00pm, we closed but I wasn't ready, so I was still at my destination at 6:00pm. My boss was leaving, he saw I was still there and told me to go home - basically, he said we pay you to work 9-5, and that's it. I don't want you staying late, come back tomorrow all fresh and ready to go and you will get it done.

Considering how bad my last job was for working late, this was night and day and I've stayed at my current job for over 5 years now and I love it! They appreciate me coming in early, but they never let me stay late, miss my lunch hour etc. such a good company to work for

[-]

tb5841@reddit

As a teacher I worked 50 - 55 hours per week. It wasn't really enough, so I was still dping the job badly.

Now as a web developer I work 37.5 hours per week.

[-]

GooseyDuckDuck@reddit

Absolutely not, most are 37.5 hours a week 8:30 to 5pm ish.

[-]

obedevs@reddit

I do about 9-4 on slow days (of which there are fewer and fewer), and average 9am-11pm on busy days. But it pays well and I enjoy the work.

[-]

DoorConfident8387@reddit

Not anymore Most office U.K. jobs are nominally 9-5.

Now of no course it really depends on your industry. how much you are being paid, shift patterns etc, some sectors have morphed into 9-6, others have completely different shift patterns, but the 9-5 is still the nominal standard.

[-]

Typical_Fisherman_50@reddit

Core hours in the office are 10 to 3 , flexi working outside of this to make up the hours to 37 for the week. The office will be dead by 4:00pm.

[-]

no-puedo-encontrar@reddit

I work a fairly senior role at a major global bank and I log on at 09am and I’m logged off at 5pm, 95% of the time.

Other 5% of the time is when something is due and I’ve been waiting on stuff from others and they send it to me at like 4:50pm.

[-]

Insomniacbychoice90@reddit

Depends on what sector, I'm in a warehouse doing QA at the moment working nights, we'll generally get to work about 10 minutes before shift to have smoke & chat then we get half hour paid lunch (8 hour shift) which we leave the floor 10 minutes early to get to the canteen so call it 40 minute break, then we'll leave 10 minutes before end of shift to get our bits and wait by the clocking machine.

When I worked for the village parish council I'd finish an hour early every day & get told to hide inside so no-one saw me, we'd also get an hour paid lunch & free full English from the local cafe.

Swings & roundabouts.

[-]

37728291827227616148@reddit

Commercial Electrician

7-3.30

[-]

TheArabella@reddit (OP)

That's regular tradie hours here too.

[-]

rohithimself@reddit

London, some places it can go on till 6,7 pm. Outside London, less chance. But as others said, industry matters.

When I came to the UK, I first worked at a BMW office in Bracknell. I used to be the last one to get out at 5, and the cleaning person used to be staring at me, to motivate me to leave.

After that British Airways, it was common to see good number of people at 6 pm, if a project was needing it.

After that retail banks, surprisingly, I found you can leave at 5 and people wouldn't see it as an affront.

[-]

asmiggs@reddit

Most long hours depicted in the UK relate to specific professions such as finance and law, most office workers outside those professions are contracted between 35-40 hours a week.

[-]

dodgy_donkey@reddit

I’d say “contracted” does the heavy lifting here. Me and a lot of people I know are technically “contracted” for 35h but work 45-50h on a weekly basis.

[-]

OSfrogs@reddit

I am opppsite work like 20-30 hours a week but contracted for 40.

[-]

Canipaywithclaps@reddit

Equally, most people I know are contracted 40 hours but genuinely woke about 20, especially those that have the ability to work from home

[-]

Pretend-City6652@reddit

Teacher here - we average 50+hrs a week (and work through our holidays)

[-]

Imnotlost_youare@reddit

Despite the common views held here, certain professions particularly in London demand much longer hours. We’re talking 9am to 8 or 9pm in a magic rice law firm average. But for reference, I now live in Sydney and it is also typical for me to finish at 7pm. People just don’t see it because they aren’t in those professions. Also people who work those long hours are less likely to have the time to post on Reddit, so your results on Reddit will be skewed.

[-]

SauconyAlts@reddit

I work 8 til 4 and cant remember the last time I saw 16.01 on my laptop screen

[-]

Sharps43@reddit

Most people at my company either week 0800 - 1700 or 0900 - 1800 (we dont get a choice as to which).

I work a mix of 0900 - 1800 / 0600 - 1500 / 1300 - 2200.

My longest shifts are over the weekends where its 0800 - 2000.

[-]

eugene-fraxby@reddit

Mine is typically 40 on the dot but recently I had a 56 and 92 hour weeks. That was not a fun time.

[-]

Jolly-Avocado0@reddit

Not really. I've occasionally done an extra hour when I've been really busy or behind. I think you're more likely to work longer when you have a non-office job.

When I did retail I'd have the odd 12 hour shift. My partner works in a builders merchants and does much longer hours than I do. NHS staff, carers etc all have crazy long hours.

[-]

JohnCasey3306@reddit

I (senior software engineer) work 9 - 17:30 ... Once or twice a month a late evening may be required.

[-]

AnneKnightley@reddit

Normal office jobs are usually 9-5 with many employers being flexible- eg I do 8.30-4.30pm. I wouldn’t dream of working later than that.

[-]

Asher-D@reddit

What time do you start? I work 2pm until 10pm, with 1 hour paid break. I may start very late but I work in a warehouse and work 30-40 hours a week depending on if it's busy so we stay an extra hour or if there's not as much work, in that case we leave an hour early. My standard work week is 35 hours of actual work. But there's three shift patterns and some people are finished for the day at 6am and others finish at 2pm, as in they take the first step out the building right on the hour.

Just because you finish quite late doesn't mean you worked long hours, unless you consider 7-8 hours to be long hours?

[-]

TheArabella@reddit (OP)

Good point I should have put that in. I work 8-4 with a 30 minute break. I was more thinking of people who start at the regular office time of 8 or 9

[-]

NoCold3997@reddit

Well to be fair i was working 12 hours a day in a foundry but anything over 4 days was voluntary overtime...

[-]

boscha15@reddit

Lawyer here. The thought of finishing at 5pm is unheard of. Always on and available.

My 20s and a large part of my 30s in the pre-wfh pre-Covid era were spent sat at the office until at least 8/9 pm with fairly regular all nighters.

It’s part of the expectation of the job in a lot of the larger more corporate firms and would be probably fairly typical for your fellow Aussie lawyers at firms like Minter Ellison.

The pay and the promise of the life changing money when/if you hit partnership is what allows for the level of exploitation.

[-]

Terrible-Group-9602@reddit

'It seems common' based on what?

[-]

TheArabella@reddit (OP)

Read the first part of the sentence

[-]

terryturbojr@reddit

I think we're generally longer then Europe but less than the USA and Asia.

Mine have historically been 40-45 hour weeks

So 8 or 9-6 with a lunch hour.

I've always worked in finance though which is known for longer hours and pay to make up for it

Public sector known for less hours and clock watching here too, especially people lower down the earnings

[-]

ohnobobbins@reddit

I think they used to be, people were more invested in impressing the boss 20 years ago.

There used to be a social contract that if you worked hard, you got promoted & good pay rises.

These days, with late stage capitalism, selfish board members and shitty suppressed wages, people are more boundaried and wise about it.

It’s a real shame, 30 years ago companies were way more fun to work for. People seem to be treated like drones now.

[-]

WGD23@reddit

WFH, 8ish til 5ish, 4 days a week, an hour for lunch, flexi. Lots of colleagues work similar but good luck scheduling anything formal before 9.15 or after 4pm.

[-]

Original-Proof-8741@reddit

I work in electronics manufacturing, it’s 9-5…

[-]

2c0@reddit

I leave the office at 4. Some people leave later, most earlier.
It depends on if management like you, if you managed to get good terms in your contract and your workload.

[-]

Unusual_Lab5318@reddit

Depends. I’m finding work hours in Australia are longer for me and my partner than when we were in the UK. We have gathered people definitely work more here surprisingly.

[-]

StarFox1997@reddit

I would differ to a few of these comments and say most corporate jobs in London, the majority of people are working until post 6pm.

[-]

HazzwaldThe2nd@reddit

Work for a mid sized tech company, 95% of the time I'm done at 5 on the dot. Occasionally I'll work an extra hour or so to get something finished but then finish an hour earlier another day to make up for it.

[-]

PickOpposite1201@reddit

I start when I start and finish when the job is done, between 7-15 hours a day Monday to Friday, 48-50 hours average a week, £45k

[-]

Low-Rooster5398@reddit

It depends I think. I've worked in places where everyone sat in the office until 6.30-7 when finisng time was 5.30, there's a toxic culture in some places where you have to be seen to be staying late and I'd regularly do 50+ hour weeks....it was almost expected of you. Other places you could go home at the normal time. I think it just depends on where you work.

[-]

forzafoggia85@reddit

The worst I have known is the expectation to stay for 50 hours, even though your role was complete within 36, but somehow your the bad guy

[-]

Available_Chapter685@reddit

Depends on what industry. I commonly work 12-14 hour days without breaks in a tech start-up. If you work in the public sector 9-5 with a long lunch and no intensity is normal.

[-]

Canipaywithclaps@reddit

Surly that depends what you do in the public sector?

For example I work 8am to 9pm, and regularly don’t get any break at all without high intensity the whole day?

[-]

Spiritual-Tip-4086@reddit

If you work in the private sector you will work longer hours. If you work for the public sector you will sit around being unproductive then leave at exactly 5pm

[-]

pnlrogue1@reddit

The template in the UK is 9-5 (8 hours a day for 40 hours a week) but the specific implementation varies a lot these days.

One place I worked was 8.30-5.30 with an unpaid lunch break to make it 8 hours.

My current place is flexible - I do 9-5 but colleagues often do 8-4. We 'work' 7.5 hours but 30 minutes is paid break and we take 30 minutes unpaid break to get our full lunch hour.

[-]

No-Sandwich-7661@reddit

Factory worker meant to do 22:00 but could be till 23:30 but yeah average between 37 hours to 42

[-]

a_strawberrydream@reddit

Depends on the job and the city tbh. A corporate job in London it's pretty much standard to be working to 6/6.30.

[-]

Interesting_iidea@reddit

You’re bound to work 8-4, 9-5 and 10-6 some workplaces require an additional 30 minutes but it all works.

[-]

Broad-Raspberry1805@reddit

No. 9-5 or 5.30 is a standard office shift.

[-]

limpingdba@reddit

Less and less. It wasn't unusual to see people in the office until 6pm before covid. Now it's unheard of.

[-]

rklrkl64@reddit

Where I work, the work start (08:00-10:00), lunch (1 hour during 12:00-14:00) and work end (16:00-18:00) all have 2 hour windows. As long as you are at work for scheduled meetings and do your 7 hours of work a day, it's all good. Yes, someone could potentially work a solid 10 hours by skipping lunch, but there's no overtime or time off in lieu if you did that, so no-one does.

[-]

plongeronimo@reddit

Only a cunt would work beyond 9-5, and even that's pushing it.

[-]

StIvian_17@reddit

Seems reasonable.

[-]

Ell2509@reddit

Days have gotten longer in the last few decades.

It is more normal for people to work 8 or 8.30 to 5.30 ir 6pm, now... I would say for full time, 40 to 60 hours a week is probably about average.

[-]

StIvian_17@reddit

That’s not how averages work 🤣. And a 60 week is a totally different beast to a 40 hour week. 60 hours is 8-8 5 days a week that’s an absolute slog. 40 hours is a normal contract.

[-]

_-id-_@reddit

Common to stay late for jobs with "crunch" periods and lots of deadlines or pressures. But in general no.

[-]

Werthead@reddit

Not really, as there's strict regulations which limit how long shifts can be. Most office hours are around 9am - 5.30pm, with some leeway (8.30 - 5pm is becoming more common). It may vary a little on if you have half an hour or an hour for lunch. Call centres might have shifts, so one team does 7am - 3.30pm, another does 9 - 5.30 and another does 12.30 - 9pm or something like that.

Some people might also do the same number of hours in less days, so doing 40 hours in four days rather than five, so you might work 7am - 5.30pm but then have Friday or Monday off.

In some industries, like video games and finance, it might be "expected" for people to do more than their contracted hours to get projects over the line, like crunch with video games, but even that is limited in the UK by law and unions more than in other countries.

[-]

Lachiexyz@reddit

I generally get into my office at 8am, have breakfast and read the news and generally start actually working by about 9am.

I head home about 4:30pm most days.

Been doing this for three years and nobody's said anything.

[-]

Apsalar28@reddit

It's company dependent. I'm a software engineer and in my current job it's 8:30 to 17:00 ish Monday - Friday with the occasional day starting earlier or finishing later if there's a major issue or something that needs finishing off. Most days I'm working from home.

My previous job was meant to be the same but turned into 8:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday in the office then logging back on at home for another couple of hours and at least one day on the weekend. This is why it's a former job not my current one.

[-]

ii_VorTex137@reddit

I do 8:30am-6pm Monday to Friday :) 45 hours per week

[-]

aesop_fables@reddit

I’m American living in London. I work a little less than half of what I used to in America.

[-]

audigex@reddit

A normal office job in the UK is either 8:30-5 or 9-5:30 with a 1 hour lunch, and a lot of people take a 30 minute lunch instead and arrive later/leave earlier

6-7pm would generally be an occasional thing at a busy time or if things have gone wrong (and I'd take the hours back once the rush was over), or someone who's working a later shift eg in a call centre where they might be open later... but they'll also start later

Nobody I know routinely works until 6-7pm

[-]

halbtehalf@reddit

You have jobs that have reasonable hours in the UK for sure but they do not pay as well as similar jobs in Australia. The ones with decent salaries demand longer hours in my experience.

[-]

Informal-Intern-8672@reddit

Nah, standard work day is normally 8 hours, most my colleagues finish at 4 or 5, I finished late because I changed to part time and condensed my hours into 3 and a half days.

[-]

Pikachu_OnAcid@reddit

My office job is until 8pm.

[-]

RavenSaysHi@reddit

Pre covid it wasn’t unusual for everyone to be in the office 8-7:30. Now people largely work 9-5, with working until 6:30 for certain projects as required.

[-]

ResultProfessional74@reddit

It depends. I work in a bank where I’m contracted 9-5 but work a lot of overtime. My boyfriend is the same working in a big 4 accountancy firm

[-]

Fureniku@reddit

I worked 8am-8:45pm today in an office job.

But I'm a burnt out game dev in peak crunch so take that with a bucket of salt

[-]

Under_Pressure_123@reddit

Like everything... It depends. I'm office based on the manufacturing sector and I work 10 hour days, sometimes more (I'm working at home right now), I don't get paid overtime. But I'm salaried and I am happy with the balance between my compensation, my work life balance, and my job satisfaction.

[-]

MojoMomma76@reddit

In London, office hours generally are flexible in my industry.

If you’re an early bird, 7.30 to 3.30 is fine, if you’re a later person 10-6 also fine. I had one job I adored I did 10.30-6.30 when I worked an office job in homelessness.

My place is totally hybrid so as long as you get your job done and show your face a couple of times a week, you’re good. I work a 9 day compressed fortnight so am technically around 8-6 ish 9 days each fortnight.

In reality, I work much fewer hours but get the job done, and very very occasionally work 60 hours a week when duty calls but it’s more like 20 really most of the time.

[-]

cal90265@reddit

I’d say amongst my friends most are definitely still in the office at 6pm, for many 7 or 8pm. I generally try to leave for 6/6.30pm which is the general expectation in my company. I feel London perhaps is later than other regions of the U.K.

[-]

boringfantasy@reddit

That's just Londoners

[-]

SomeWomanFromEngland@reddit

I often work until 7pm, but it’s not an office job and I don’t think most offices are open that late.

If you do shift work, your hours can vary by quite a lot and you can get some late finishes. But a late finish comes with a late start, so it’s not actually long.

[-]

This-Bread-1130@reddit

I work on the railway. It’s a 35 hour 4 day week. We get paid for our meal breaks and every minute over the 35 hours is paid overtime.

[-]

danmalluk@reddit

I worked until 8/9pm regularly when I was a grad until I realised nobody else in my org cares and I was wasting my time. If you're salaried, as I was, anything beyond your contracted working hours is free labour and loses respect, not gains it.

So yes, some people work long hours but no, it's not the norm and it's frowned upon.

Speaking as a knowledge worker in London. Others' experiences will be different.

Ironically, my last manager was based in Australia and worked longer hours than I knew possible. Like she'd be up before the Japanese and join meetings with the Americans. No idea how she's still alive

[-]

When replying to submission/post please make genuine efforts to answer the question given. Please no jokes, judgements, etc. If a post is marked 'Serious Answers Only' you may receive a ban for violating this rule.
Don't be a dick to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on.
This is a strictly no-politics subreddit!

Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.