ruttyboy said:
Out of interest, are you legally contracted to work so many hours or are you bound to an eight hour day (for example) and then feel obliged to work unpaid overtime?
Also, if you decided to work strictly 9AM-6PM as you suggest (whilst still getting all your work done) do you believe you would be fired?
I know this is a cultural thing but I'm wondering how people who work outside 'the norm' are treated? As I understand it, in Germany it's normal to work to the clock exactly (could be wrong, but that's what I've been told about the working culture there), whereas here in the UK there's a lot of pressure to work unpaid overtime (to the point that it gets written into your contract a lot of the time).
In my contract the working hours state "from 10:00 AM", but it doesn't say at what time it finishes. Their old website says 6PM, the new site doesn't say anything.
If I decided to work from 9AM to 6PM, I would not be able to enter the office until 9:45AM, and even if I left at 6:45PM, yeah, I would be fired probably after the second day doing that.
I was working with the guy sitting next to me about how I thought the working hours here were kind of a mess and how they could improve work and just leave the rendering stuff for the nights and then come back in the morning and check out everything. He agreed with me, but apparently "that's how things work here".
I'm a foreigner and I just started working here some months ago. If I propose them to change the schedule, they will just ignore it.
As for the cultural thing.. My girlfriend works 9AM-5PM and that's the norm. When I first started working and told her I'd be getting back home at 10:15PM, she was surprised and said they were exploiting the people working there. But she also admitted many people here work that much, but it's just a waste of time, energy and health. Which I guess everybody can agree with. But "we" are treated just like everybody else. Or seen as hard-working people. LOL!. If only they knew a lot of us spend so much time sleeping or just as zombies doing things slowly.. Though as I said, I don't sleep at work. But a day like today, when I've finished my last work earlier than expected and I have some time before getting serious about the next work, I just take it easy. Hell, I'm at work now
BTW, there's one company here in Japan that in the last few years has gotten quite big. It's called GREE and they make games for smartphones, browsers, etc.. The company owner and boss is some 30something year old guy. He doesn't have a separate office or room, he stays there with everybody, and they go home quite early (about 5PM, and everybody including him, get out of the office at exactly that time). You can see it's working for them. They were featured on a TV show some months ago and talked about how the company worked and everything.
And yet you see companies like mine making people work crazy hours thinking we will work at the same pace all the time. Hahaha...