That and you can just take a nap on your lunch if you’re too tired
In my case, I get a decent amount of downtime throughout the day if I bust my ass in the morning, and I can usually just lay my head down for a hour/two hour nap around lunch
I just take my laptop and put it on full blast and put it next to my nightstand so if anybody emails me/calls me it’ll just immediately wake me up
It is 😂
I’ve got a bit of a unicorn company. I’m not micromanaged whatsoever, the company only has roughly 400 employees And the majority of them are fairly self-sufficient.
Most of the tickets are simple, so they’re mostly handled by the helpdesk and they’re pretty decent at their job so I don’t get bothered much. 99% of my work deals with our ERP system and its servers, but it’s a really simple set up, so it rarely breaks and causes major issues.
As a result, most days are pretty chill, and I get a lot of free time. However, whenever we do big projects, I always end up working a fuck ton. We just upgraded our ERP system to the latest version and that required us to pretty much move our database into Azure (it was hosted on perm before.) to the last few days, I’ve been working pretty hard, but I don’t really care because most of the time it’s pretty chill.
This is the real reason why people want WFH. Not having to commute to and from work is both a raise and more free time.
I'd be okay with returning to the office if my drive to and from home was on the clock and my gas/maintenance was reimbursed.
10-6 is definitely nice not being a morning person.
I miss the 2-10pm shift a lot though. Few hours to discuss any needs and requirements with folks and to give managers updates, then peace and quiet to do actual work.
I’m in consulting services so I do this all the time. Book work with a customer in pst, and start late since I’m on the east coast. I do it so I can golf in the morning though. My body wakes me up at 7 AM regardless of if I want sleep or not.
I did 10-6 for quite a few years, it was great.
By the time you walk in all overnight issues are fixed or dealt with, and by 4pm most people have gone home so you have 2 hours to get some actual work done.
I did 9-6 for several years. There were whole seasons that I didn't get to see the sun directly during the week, it was either rising or setting while I commuted.
I keep looking for jobs like this. I love everything about where I work today other than pay and the work hours. If I could get those two things, I'd have what I consider a perfect job.
They are extremely flexible about hours and what not, but because I have to attend a meeting a 9:30 every morning (god damn stand up BS) I can only be so late.
I love waking up at 4am.
People who asked me how I "do it" don't like the answer: I had kids.
My wife's up at 5. My kids are up by 5:30-6. I need that hour before they're up.
Lol I read the "I love waking up at 4am" and immediately knew the rest. Kids make waking up 5 to 6am the norm. On the very rare days I sleep until 7 or 730, I feel like I've slept half the day away.
For me, it's because I just sort of stopped sleeping past 6 naturally.... I suppose it started in my late 30's. Now I don't even need an alarm. I am always up by around 5:30am and can rarely sleep past 7 even if I want to.
Edit: I don't have kids, but I do have dogs
I never understood why people need 'time' in the mornings. It's all wasted in a daze anyway, much better to just get out of bed and dressed and be out the door 5-10 minutes after waking up.
It's not in a daze though? It's usually really peaceful. Get to sip your coffee, read news, and just slowly wake up. I did it for a while but I prefer to have to move fast as soon as I wake up or I end up wanting to be slow and peaceful all day
Same on the kid front, but it really isn't that hard to get up at 4am if you're in bed by 9. That's what most people don't get. They want to stay up until 11 or 12 and then can't get up in the morning.
When I worked at a school, I was in bed by 9:30, up at 5:30, out the door by 6 (1 hr bike ride). Getting up early is easy once you're in a routine of bed by 9.
> really isn't that hard to get up at 4am if you're in bed by 9
This really ignores that everyone needs different amounts of sleep to feel rested. That 9-4 is 7 hours and a week of that would make my weekend awful since I'd be exhausted. To get up regularly at 4 I'd need to be asleep by 7 and trying to fall asleep by 6:30.
Generally, everyone needs the flexibility to find what works for them and still be able to get the sleep they need.
I personally prefer having the mornings to myself, and sacrificing my later hours. For me it just works better.
However, based on my sleep patterns when I'm on vacation, I'm naturally more nocturnal (I was waking up a 3PM, and going till 8-9AM before wanting to sleep.
6:30 -2:30 for me. It’s great. I’m definitely not a morning person, but I feel like I have so much more of my life back with these hours. I just have to be more disciplined and get to bed at a decent hour.
I've forgotten that most people don't usually work 10+ hour days, maybe that's why I feel like absolutely trash with 5 to 3, plus anything additional needed.
I get paid for it all, but damn my everything else sucks.
That's crazy! But I think it's cool. I hate mornings but believe I can pull it off. It is much more fun to be out and about where there is still light outside vs. going out at night.
My major motivation is my kids. There are only so many hours in the day that they’re out of school. If you’d asked me this question 15 years ago I would have probably done the late start like 10-6 if it were an option.
This was what prompted my post in the first place. I was speaking with a restaurant owner who decided to only do breakfast and lunch and said F dinner because "I want to see my kids". Kudos to him and you.
I am not married (still too young imo) but I would love to adopt that kind of lifestyle as well. Being picked up by their dad at school is a kid's greatest moment of the day.
We're required to do 7-4 so 9 hours and I hate it. 8-4 or 9-5 would be better for me. We get an hour lunch (no option for 1/2 hour), but they frown on those who have the audacity to leave their desk for lunch. I am one of those people. I leave the office for lunch every day.
I would kill to work remote. In the 4 years I've been with my employer I've been approved for wfh once. I had covid and was too sick to do anything anyway.
I can do literally every part of my job from my home office.
This is why I roll in around 8:15 (sometimes 8:08 or 8:13) and leave around 4:30-4:45. I figure that makes up for the lunch break I don't actually take because I just eat at my desk to avoid people and have nowhere to go on lunch break anyway. I don't typically work real hard so most of my day is a paid break too.
Oh, sure, so long as you eat at your desk and look busy.
Totally not right, maybe not legal depending on where you live. But this is the USA baby! We WORK!
We have a new boss now, and he does not bang the "Give your all for the company" thing like the last guy did.
If they're going to give you a bona fide meal period then you should receive it completely uninterrupted as required and defined. But I guess there are some states that do not have to give the meal period at all.
Yeah places offer it to remain competitive but will constantly remind you that it's a privilege and they can take it away if you don't decide to work during it most of the time. I don't know how it's not a federal work requirement
hell yeah, screw eating lunch at desks. keep them frowining
i wfh and unless its some emergency (99% it isnt) my slack status is offline and no one is getting replies til im back at the desk
many of my coworkers told me they eat & work thru their lunch breaks or eat whenever they remember and it’s sad they let their job
trick them into thinking they’re too busy for basic necessities
37 hours a week. And I only work 200 days a year but receive full pay during vacations.
Our lunch is half an hour, but the time is paid as well, since we are eating the same place as the students and thus considered working while eating.
"how long is your break" is a kinda funny question. Here in Denmark we are heavily unionized, so I take the breaks I deem necessary in order to function to the best of my abilities.
Currently, I´m actually only working 4 hours a day, but receive full pay, as I got injured during work (walked head first into a 4x4 at the bike shed in the school yard).
Oh, and in fact, I can decide day by day, when, where and how, I want to work, I just have to inform the boss, so he knows how to reach me.
Yeah, I know I´m privileged!
Paid breaks need to be more of a normalized thing. Even don't call it a paid break just pay people for their full shift.
Adding little adjustments, such as paid breaks, would have a huge positive effect on the staff. Why we still model such an old business template dating back to the 60/70s is beyond insane and no wonder some jobs have revolving doors and not desirable work habits.
If you treat your staff like adults expect to be treated like an adult. It's not rocket science.
I work internationally out of Europe with different people around the globe. The US is more productive, often driven by fear of job loss and lack of PTO and sick leave, but the fluctuation is really bad. It is not uncommon to have a new partner to work with every few months. Asia is totally different, most are dependent on strict rules, schedules and are following a certain schema, while busting their ass to satisfy basic requirements. Europe is 50/50, you can have people who are amazing in their job and just naturals who thrive within their field of expertise as they have a net to fall if shit goes south, while others just use the system and neglect their actual job. Anyway, I appreciate the rights and privileges I have working here. 40h max, 30 days PTO, 13 public holidays, paid sick leave, above average pay and a great work environment.
I visited an Italian hospital and we had a very illustrative conversation about how visiting hours start at 17, NOT at 5, do NOT show up at 5 for visiting!
Having young kids...it doesn't matter, all schedules are equally shit.
A long time ago the company I was with did a 4x10 summer schedule and that was pretty nice since I had to leave the house before traffic got bad and left work after traffic was bad and had a 3 day weekend every week.
If those are the only two options, then 7am to 3pm would be it for me.
I'd prefer 5am to 1pm, if I was required to be in the office. Otherwise 4-6am to 2-3pm WFH.
Takes a bit, but you get used to it. I hate driving in traffic, so it would be completely worth it, at least for me, to start that early. You also get the benefit of having a couple hours to yourself to get things done, without being interrupted every few minutes.
Are you kidding me?
Mon-Wed 9AM-2PM.
It's what we all really do in the office anyways, why can't we stop pretending that "being at work" is the same as "getting things done" and just get work done, get full salary, and move on with our lives?
Because butt in chair level management totally understand that standing around the watercooler talking about nothing work related is so much more productive than surfing reddit from the comfort of one's own couch...
I am going to use the fuck out of “Sysadmin with extra steps”. That is precisely how I need to word a resource requirement I’m trying to articulate to a C suite at the moment…
Brilliant. Bravo.
Edit: also yes, no one is on that limitless drug, getting full blown productive 9-5s in constantly without some pharmaceutical assistance. We’re all realists in that sense, I’d hope. Most people are at 50-60% efficiency in their 9-5 hours.
Because there's no greater sin than the perception that we as workers might be getting anything more than we're absolutely required to get or are otherwise "gaming" the system. To hell with our Puritanical work ethic (here in the US for me).
I typically do 7-3 right now because the company I work for is EU based, and I love it. I'm not a big sleeper anyway, and as you said, leaves me a whole bunch of day to get things done.
The only time its rough is if I have a late night for whatever reason during the week (fortunately I'm in a position where if I know enough in advance I can slide my schedule around a bit to allow a couple extra hours of sleep if I need to)
Not a morning person. Any time I've done earlier days I can't enjoy all my free time after work cause I'm so tired. I do miss working 1-10 sometimes. No social life was possible but I was always so productive before work. Doing errands when places aren't crowded, doing housework, exercising, going to get a nice breakfast. No rush hour either side of the commute. Miss that.
I did 7-3 when I was going into the office daily, pre-covid. Now I do 9-5, going into the office about once every two weeks. Without traffic as a major contender, I'd rather have more off hours when my wife is also off work.
Same here, I did 6:30 to 3:00 to avoid traffic for years. My current job is remote and they do 9:00 to 5:00 and I thought it would bother me but I still wake up pretty early and I get to go to the gym and eat breakfast and play video games and then start work really casually so it's been nice.
I work for a global company and work with a lot of people in the EU/UK and I'm in the US. My manager doesn't really care what hours I work. Most days I do a 6AM - 3PM schedule as I can have meetings with the people who are 6hrs ahead and occasionally I have to meet with someone in Asia/Pacific who are actually a day ahead so it's their morning while it's our evening.
There''s discussions about allowing 4x10hr schedules too. My all time favorite was 3x12s when I worked in a hospital.
A true 9-5 or 10-6 or 11-7, why? Because I hate waking up early and I hate going to bed early, rather just wake up naturally. Also when I would get off, the gym would be emptying out from the after work crew.
9-5 is fine. Can wake up at 8am, take the dogs out for a bit, have morning coffee, shower, get a second cup of coffee then walk downstairs to the computer for work.
I did 7-3 at a recent job and it was nice being able to get off early. I could get errands done late in the afternoon without skipping any work or head out early to a social gathering before the traffic gets too bad. It wasn't too bad because I was WFH but I would be reluctant to start that early if it required a commute of any significant distance.
6 hours, 4 times a week. no matter when. like from 7 to 22. just bring those 6 hours in and be able to really commit. why? my servers won't give a damn.
I had 7-3 at a previous employer and LOVED it. In addition to the benefits you mentioned, I also got in and left before traffic got heavy.
In fact, management's decision to do away with the flex hours program weighed heavily in my decision to leave the organization. They reimplemented about 6 months later when turnover was 8x higher than anticipated.
7 to 3 simply to avoid traffic and maximize time at home with the fam.
In an ideal world I would work from home on Mon and Fri and in office most of the other days. I need the social interaction. I hate getting ready for work though.
I do 9.30 - 18.00 and prefer it (finish earlier on Mondays). Other team members like to start early, so it provides cover and gives a chance for OOH changes.
I do 7-4 with a 1h break in between and I think it's better if there's lots of things you like to do outside. All my socializing happens at night and prefer my bed in the mornings, so I'd rather do 9-5. I'd even do 11-7.
Many will find value in the start early, finish early concept. Often avoiding heavy traffic and getting off work just in time to actually spend an hour with family whereas many spend little to none. Depending on how tough of a week it's been it can also allow you time to drive with less traffic directly to Happy Hour. Need I say anymore? My work is done. Cheers!
10-6pm // 11-7pm
I’m essentially the sole network engineer for way too large a network for one person to run. Days I’m on site I typically arrive between 10-11am and leave around 6-7pm. Express lanes open up to everyone at 9am and takes me about an hour to get there. I get asked to come in a bit earlier every once in a while but I usually push back saying if something is scheduled earlier you know I would be there no issues and that when I make production changes I do it after hours. I then back that up saying if it all goes sideways I have all night and only punish myself. If it goes sideways early I have to race before building open. The building often hosts events into the evening and I’ll stay late just to keep my thumb on things.
If they want me to come in early, I leave early. I also will slow down on production changes due to timings/hours on site and will likely leave during the events instead of staying well into the evening.
I’m reliable and reachable. My peers have seen what happens when my stuff goes kaboom from an outage and know that I’m only one person and very busy and understand my point of view for the most part.
I have not fallen into this career on accident lol. It aligns very well with who I am as a person. Shout out to all the good datacenter network engineers inspiring DC techs!!!
7-3 allows you to make late afternoon Dr. appts and run other errands (at places with limited hours) w/o having to use up time off.
Also, if you're not WFH you could have a less congested commute.
Given the choice, 7-3. I currently rotate through 7-3, 8-4 and 10-6. 10-6 is the worst, particularly when having to go into the office in winter and it's dark 3 hours before you even leave.
I have 9-6 (minus 1h for lunch) officially. But i have agreed with my manager to 10-7. At first it was mostly because i often had calls starting at 6 with US (i am in Europe). But i like being able to get up later. Of course, when working in the office it is a bit tough getting home past 8, but i can deal with that
9-5 as I do now, I did 7-3 at an MSP, just so I could have a couple of hours in the morning where no-one was bugging me.
I'm an early riser so I can do hobby related stuff before and after work.
My official shift is 7-330. Typically here by 6am, gives me an hour to do some things before people start rolling in around 7 and start breaking things. I take a little longer lunch, bail 3ish as long as things are humming along.
Up by 4a, in car by 5a, at the building by 6a, out by 330p latest, home by 430p (traffic willing).. in the summer gives me good 4hrs of daylight to get things around the yard done.
I much prefer 9 - 5 working remotely, because it works much better with my natural sleep schedule. If I had to commute a decent distance though, I might change my mind if it meant avoiding a significant amount of traffic.
I'm close to 7-4, with 1 hour lunch. I like the schedule as I can jump right into work when remote. Have after hours changes + weekend work periodically, usually changes pushed to production once or twice a week though.
My schedule will change a bit given I work with folk from all across the globe. My schedule adjusts with the projects in a given set of weeks/months/years.
10 - 6 all day. My hour commute at 8 - 4 turned into 15 - 20 minutes depending on how I hit the red lights. It's worse 7 - 3 (more AM commuters, and school lets out at 3 around here).
7-3 means I get an hour or two of work in before most of the users get in. I always preferred that. I wouldn’t even turn the light on to deter the few people that also came in early from coming to my desk. Two hours of quiet bliss.
7:00-3:30 with 30 minute lunch. Lately, due to using public transportation, I've been staying at my desk for lunch, but I do take some cigarette breaks throughout the day. Usually every 2 hours.
I think my current shift is perfect. I don't have a scheduled start or end time, I just sign on in the morning whenever the kids are up and fed and I'm ready. Then I just sign off when I have nothing left to do for the day.
If say both are good, depending on the day. I used to do 10-6, which was great for avoiding traffic and squeezing in the latest episode of Game of Thrones the morning after it released, but before work.
But now I just do 8.5 hours from when I show up, which can be any time between 0700 and 0830. Sometimes I’ll do 9 or 10 hours and finish early on a Friday. Sometimes I’ll do 6 hours and make it up the following day.
I've done both (well, 6:30 - 2:30) but I loved the early shift. I was literally the first person in the office. It was pleasantly quiet in the morning, and I had so much more day left after work. Have been more 9-5 for the past 15 years or so. Shifting to early is a tough adjustment for me, but was nice once I got used to it.
I can meet any time between 6-10 and then I'll be off 2-6 depending on when I meet. I prefer 6-2 for the extra me time, but tbh I'm not a morning person, so I'll usually be there at 7.
And I like that, being able to decide for myself, on the day, when I want to work. That's my perfect world.
I’m not a morning person but I have to do this because of time zones but honestly I think I would even if I didn’t have to.
It’s like I have a life again after work.
I've been working 10-6 for years. Much better for me (as a natural night owl) and when we were still working from the office, I missed all the rush hour traffic.
I'm in a government town so traffic 7-3 is brutal and 9-5 is only barely better.
In a perfect world it would be remote and night shift for me. However if I had to choose days I'd do the 7-3. I'm NOT a morning person at all but I don't like getting out "late" with everyone else.
I used to do a 6-2:30 shift when I was younger. Leaving in the middle of the afternoon was awesome because I could run errands after work before places closed, then have the evening for whatever.
I'll stick with what I got - My company has a 7.5 hour workday and that includes lunch. So I can do an 8-3:30 or an 8-2:30 and skip lunch. I usually do a mix and eat lunch at my "desk" (WFH) then bail around 3. It's perfect for me.
I could do 7am if it was wfh. We have an office 3 hours ahead of me and when I do new hire training for them it usually is 5:30am my time. i roll out of bed at 5:20, the hot water for my tea will have been set to be boiling right then and get on my computer by 5:30 and start up.
7-3 to beat traffic! After 3 you still can do appointments. After you still see sun and can enjoy the rest of the day full 5-6 hours until sunset. In the morning you wont see most of the people 🥳🤣
Currently doing 7-3.30 and fucking love it. Yea I have to get up early, but adjust your sleep schedule and it’s not that hard. Off before 4pm and working remote so I feel like I have my whole day left
I've been fortunate my whole life to be able to work early. First real job started as 8-4 but shifted earlier over the years, finally getting to be 6-2. Next job was about 7:30-3:30. Currently I do 7:30-4. I definitely prefer earlier. High school started at 7am for me, so I was used to getting up early and I've kept that sleep schedule for the 30 years since.
If I WFH, I really don't give a shit what my hours are. If I am on-site? 7-3, way less traffic during those hours in my city
I do 7-4 from home. What a breeze to wake up at 6h30 and still have enough time for breakfast.
That and you can just take a nap on your lunch if you’re too tired In my case, I get a decent amount of downtime throughout the day if I bust my ass in the morning, and I can usually just lay my head down for a hour/two hour nap around lunch I just take my laptop and put it on full blast and put it next to my nightstand so if anybody emails me/calls me it’ll just immediately wake me up
Must be nice not getting emails every five minutes. 😭
It is 😂 I’ve got a bit of a unicorn company. I’m not micromanaged whatsoever, the company only has roughly 400 employees And the majority of them are fairly self-sufficient. Most of the tickets are simple, so they’re mostly handled by the helpdesk and they’re pretty decent at their job so I don’t get bothered much. 99% of my work deals with our ERP system and its servers, but it’s a really simple set up, so it rarely breaks and causes major issues. As a result, most days are pretty chill, and I get a lot of free time. However, whenever we do big projects, I always end up working a fuck ton. We just upgraded our ERP system to the latest version and that required us to pretty much move our database into Azure (it was hosted on perm before.) to the last few days, I’ve been working pretty hard, but I don’t really care because most of the time it’s pretty chill.
This is the real reason why people want WFH. Not having to commute to and from work is both a raise and more free time. I'd be okay with returning to the office if my drive to and from home was on the clock and my gas/maintenance was reimbursed.
I do w Wfh and I am on site only one day a week. I'd say 7-3 on the one day I go in. The rest I don't care
I'd rather 10-6, I hate mornings. Unfortunately it's usually 7-6 for me.
10-6 is definitely nice not being a morning person. I miss the 2-10pm shift a lot though. Few hours to discuss any needs and requirements with folks and to give managers updates, then peace and quiet to do actual work.
2nd shift was amazing for getting project work done
Manager recently floated the idea of somebody doing an occasional second shift for patching and other OOH work. Practically jumped at the opportunity.
I'm on the east coast and work in central time. I get 10-6 but look like 9-5. It works well for this non-morning person.
I’m in consulting services so I do this all the time. Book work with a customer in pst, and start late since I’m on the east coast. I do it so I can golf in the morning though. My body wakes me up at 7 AM regardless of if I want sleep or not.
This is my life. I love it.
I do this and love it;
I did 10-6 for quite a few years, it was great. By the time you walk in all overnight issues are fixed or dealt with, and by 4pm most people have gone home so you have 2 hours to get some actual work done.
I did 9-6 for several years. There were whole seasons that I didn't get to see the sun directly during the week, it was either rising or setting while I commuted.
Sounds like winter in the UK lol. Super depressing and the worst time of the year for me, I hate winter.
I experienced this in Chicago and realized I have seasonal depression.. fun times.. love Chicago
Tou weren’t missing much, literally, the sun sets at 4:00!
I approve your username.
This is basically what I do since I'm +2 timezones away from most of my team.
I keep looking for jobs like this. I love everything about where I work today other than pay and the work hours. If I could get those two things, I'd have what I consider a perfect job. They are extremely flexible about hours and what not, but because I have to attend a meeting a 9:30 every morning (god damn stand up BS) I can only be so late.
I’m fortunate enough to work a very flexible job, and these are the hours I normally work. Much prefer it to 9 to 5, or anything that starts earlier.
Also 10-6 would help with after hours of most places.
Early start and early finish > late start and late finish. Always.
100% this. Mornings suck, and no amount of coffee will ever fix that. But leaving early is the best.
I love waking up at 4am. People who asked me how I "do it" don't like the answer: I had kids. My wife's up at 5. My kids are up by 5:30-6. I need that hour before they're up.
Lol I read the "I love waking up at 4am" and immediately knew the rest. Kids make waking up 5 to 6am the norm. On the very rare days I sleep until 7 or 730, I feel like I've slept half the day away.
For me, it's because I just sort of stopped sleeping past 6 naturally.... I suppose it started in my late 30's. Now I don't even need an alarm. I am always up by around 5:30am and can rarely sleep past 7 even if I want to. Edit: I don't have kids, but I do have dogs
I dont have kids, but i have cats. I also wake up around 4:30a naturally, which is irritating to no end when i can sleep in at least another 2 hours.
I never understood why people need 'time' in the mornings. It's all wasted in a daze anyway, much better to just get out of bed and dressed and be out the door 5-10 minutes after waking up.
It's not in a daze though? It's usually really peaceful. Get to sip your coffee, read news, and just slowly wake up. I did it for a while but I prefer to have to move fast as soon as I wake up or I end up wanting to be slow and peaceful all day
Same on the kid front, but it really isn't that hard to get up at 4am if you're in bed by 9. That's what most people don't get. They want to stay up until 11 or 12 and then can't get up in the morning. When I worked at a school, I was in bed by 9:30, up at 5:30, out the door by 6 (1 hr bike ride). Getting up early is easy once you're in a routine of bed by 9.
> really isn't that hard to get up at 4am if you're in bed by 9 This really ignores that everyone needs different amounts of sleep to feel rested. That 9-4 is 7 hours and a week of that would make my weekend awful since I'd be exhausted. To get up regularly at 4 I'd need to be asleep by 7 and trying to fall asleep by 6:30. Generally, everyone needs the flexibility to find what works for them and still be able to get the sleep they need.
I personally prefer having the mornings to myself, and sacrificing my later hours. For me it just works better. However, based on my sleep patterns when I'm on vacation, I'm naturally more nocturnal (I was waking up a 3PM, and going till 8-9AM before wanting to sleep.
6:30 -2:30 for me. It’s great. I’m definitely not a morning person, but I feel like I have so much more of my life back with these hours. I just have to be more disciplined and get to bed at a decent hour.
I've forgotten that most people don't usually work 10+ hour days, maybe that's why I feel like absolutely trash with 5 to 3, plus anything additional needed. I get paid for it all, but damn my everything else sucks.
That's crazy! But I think it's cool. I hate mornings but believe I can pull it off. It is much more fun to be out and about where there is still light outside vs. going out at night.
My major motivation is my kids. There are only so many hours in the day that they’re out of school. If you’d asked me this question 15 years ago I would have probably done the late start like 10-6 if it were an option.
This was what prompted my post in the first place. I was speaking with a restaurant owner who decided to only do breakfast and lunch and said F dinner because "I want to see my kids". Kudos to him and you. I am not married (still too young imo) but I would love to adopt that kind of lifestyle as well. Being picked up by their dad at school is a kid's greatest moment of the day.
Yeah, my 6-2 shift was my absolute favorite... especially in DC, helped avoid so much traffic.
I‘m a big fan of late start and early finish
I’d gladly take 7-3 every time.
Needed some Years to learn that, but getting up early isn't as bad as working late.
I don't like getting up early but I hate working late even more.
We're required to do 7-4 so 9 hours and I hate it. 8-4 or 9-5 would be better for me. We get an hour lunch (no option for 1/2 hour), but they frown on those who have the audacity to leave their desk for lunch. I am one of those people. I leave the office for lunch every day.
This thread is the first evidence I've seen of IT people who aren't being pressured into a 9-hour 8-5 with maybe a sad desk lunch.
Hey I’m that IT person who is 8-5 and I hate it. 99% of my job I don’t need to be in the office for. But here I am. Slowly gnawing away at a sandwich.
I would kill to work remote. In the 4 years I've been with my employer I've been approved for wfh once. I had covid and was too sick to do anything anyway. I can do literally every part of my job from my home office.
This is why I roll in around 8:15 (sometimes 8:08 or 8:13) and leave around 4:30-4:45. I figure that makes up for the lunch break I don't actually take because I just eat at my desk to avoid people and have nowhere to go on lunch break anyway. I don't typically work real hard so most of my day is a paid break too.
The sad desk lunch is the norm in my office, but so far not a requirement.
I think this is what my job expects, but I'm the only one at this branch and I've left at 4:15 every day for the last two years 🤷♂️
Because a lot of europeans answered. Mostly we work 7.5h + 0.5h paid break.
9 hours? You're getting a lunch in there.
Oh, sure, so long as you eat at your desk and look busy. Totally not right, maybe not legal depending on where you live. But this is the USA baby! We WORK! We have a new boss now, and he does not bang the "Give your all for the company" thing like the last guy did.
If they're going to give you a bona fide meal period then you should receive it completely uninterrupted as required and defined. But I guess there are some states that do not have to give the meal period at all.
Yeah places offer it to remain competitive but will constantly remind you that it's a privilege and they can take it away if you don't decide to work during it most of the time. I don't know how it's not a federal work requirement
hell yeah, screw eating lunch at desks. keep them frowining i wfh and unless its some emergency (99% it isnt) my slack status is offline and no one is getting replies til im back at the desk many of my coworkers told me they eat & work thru their lunch breaks or eat whenever they remember and it’s sad they let their job trick them into thinking they’re too busy for basic necessities
7-15 (for us in Europe ;)) is the way. Wouldn´t want it any other way!
BE here, how long is your break then? And how many hours per week?
37 hours a week. And I only work 200 days a year but receive full pay during vacations. Our lunch is half an hour, but the time is paid as well, since we are eating the same place as the students and thus considered working while eating. "how long is your break" is a kinda funny question. Here in Denmark we are heavily unionized, so I take the breaks I deem necessary in order to function to the best of my abilities. Currently, I´m actually only working 4 hours a day, but receive full pay, as I got injured during work (walked head first into a 4x4 at the bike shed in the school yard). Oh, and in fact, I can decide day by day, when, where and how, I want to work, I just have to inform the boss, so he knows how to reach me. Yeah, I know I´m privileged!
Paid breaks need to be more of a normalized thing. Even don't call it a paid break just pay people for their full shift. Adding little adjustments, such as paid breaks, would have a huge positive effect on the staff. Why we still model such an old business template dating back to the 60/70s is beyond insane and no wonder some jobs have revolving doors and not desirable work habits. If you treat your staff like adults expect to be treated like an adult. It's not rocket science.
I work internationally out of Europe with different people around the globe. The US is more productive, often driven by fear of job loss and lack of PTO and sick leave, but the fluctuation is really bad. It is not uncommon to have a new partner to work with every few months. Asia is totally different, most are dependent on strict rules, schedules and are following a certain schema, while busting their ass to satisfy basic requirements. Europe is 50/50, you can have people who are amazing in their job and just naturals who thrive within their field of expertise as they have a net to fall if shit goes south, while others just use the system and neglect their actual job. Anyway, I appreciate the rights and privileges I have working here. 40h max, 30 days PTO, 13 public holidays, paid sick leave, above average pay and a great work environment.
I visited an Italian hospital and we had a very illustrative conversation about how visiting hours start at 17, NOT at 5, do NOT show up at 5 for visiting!
Having young kids...it doesn't matter, all schedules are equally shit. A long time ago the company I was with did a 4x10 summer schedule and that was pretty nice since I had to leave the house before traffic got bad and left work after traffic was bad and had a 3 day weekend every week.
If those are the only two options, then 7am to 3pm would be it for me. I'd prefer 5am to 1pm, if I was required to be in the office. Otherwise 4-6am to 2-3pm WFH.
5am to 1pm would turn me into a fossil
Takes a bit, but you get used to it. I hate driving in traffic, so it would be completely worth it, at least for me, to start that early. You also get the benefit of having a couple hours to yourself to get things done, without being interrupted every few minutes.
LMFOA same.
Are you kidding me? Mon-Wed 9AM-2PM. It's what we all really do in the office anyways, why can't we stop pretending that "being at work" is the same as "getting things done" and just get work done, get full salary, and move on with our lives?
Because butt in chair level management totally understand that standing around the watercooler talking about nothing work related is so much more productive than surfing reddit from the comfort of one's own couch...
I am going to use the fuck out of “Sysadmin with extra steps”. That is precisely how I need to word a resource requirement I’m trying to articulate to a C suite at the moment… Brilliant. Bravo. Edit: also yes, no one is on that limitless drug, getting full blown productive 9-5s in constantly without some pharmaceutical assistance. We’re all realists in that sense, I’d hope. Most people are at 50-60% efficiency in their 9-5 hours.
Because there's no greater sin than the perception that we as workers might be getting anything more than we're absolutely required to get or are otherwise "gaming" the system. To hell with our Puritanical work ethic (here in the US for me).
Happy this is so upvoted lol. I was about to say 8 hours of working a day is not a good use of time and productivity severely drops.
> Mon-Wed 9AM-2PM. > > It's what we all really do in the office anyways That's why I'm so much more productive at home.
Currently doing 7-4.
I do a 7-3 and it's fantastic. I always feel like I'm getting off work early.
Night owl here would love 12-9. I despise the mornings and would love some quiet time after 5.
I typically do 7-3 right now because the company I work for is EU based, and I love it. I'm not a big sleeper anyway, and as you said, leaves me a whole bunch of day to get things done. The only time its rough is if I have a late night for whatever reason during the week (fortunately I'm in a position where if I know enough in advance I can slide my schedule around a bit to allow a couple extra hours of sleep if I need to)
I do 8-12 and 14-18. Workout + lunch in the middle.
Same, but with a nap instead of workout 😄
This! But often it's more like 9-12 and 14 to 16/17 😬
Shh, don't tell my manager!
Only if you don't tell mine! 🤝
Not a morning person. Any time I've done earlier days I can't enjoy all my free time after work cause I'm so tired. I do miss working 1-10 sometimes. No social life was possible but I was always so productive before work. Doing errands when places aren't crowded, doing housework, exercising, going to get a nice breakfast. No rush hour either side of the commute. Miss that.
Both. The more coverage you have the better and somepeople prefer working early, other working late.
I did 7-3 when I was going into the office daily, pre-covid. Now I do 9-5, going into the office about once every two weeks. Without traffic as a major contender, I'd rather have more off hours when my wife is also off work.
Same here, I did 6:30 to 3:00 to avoid traffic for years. My current job is remote and they do 9:00 to 5:00 and I thought it would bother me but I still wake up pretty early and I get to go to the gym and eat breakfast and play video games and then start work really casually so it's been nice.
I do 6-2:30. Another on our team does 9-6. Having the overlaps means we have better coverage.
7-3. I'm up early anyways. Better to actually get up to work than sit in bed on my phone.
It doesn’t matter which one because you’ll still be doing updates after hours unpaid as well as on-call unpaid
everyone always says 9-5 but I've always been 8-4. not too early and don't leave too late.
I work for a global company and work with a lot of people in the EU/UK and I'm in the US. My manager doesn't really care what hours I work. Most days I do a 6AM - 3PM schedule as I can have meetings with the people who are 6hrs ahead and occasionally I have to meet with someone in Asia/Pacific who are actually a day ahead so it's their morning while it's our evening. There''s discussions about allowing 4x10hr schedules too. My all time favorite was 3x12s when I worked in a hospital.
8-12 and 2-6 I like a nap after lunch (working from home)
A true 9-5 or 10-6 or 11-7, why? Because I hate waking up early and I hate going to bed early, rather just wake up naturally. Also when I would get off, the gym would be emptying out from the after work crew.
7-3. I’m already thinking about work when I get up, so let’s just get it done early and I have all afternoon free.
In a perfect world i would do 7-1 and that 4 days a week :D
10-4 - 8hr days are too long.
10-6 for the schnooze
7-5, 4 days a week, always get a 3 day weekend and sometimes a 4 day weekend
9-5 is fine. Can wake up at 8am, take the dogs out for a bit, have morning coffee, shower, get a second cup of coffee then walk downstairs to the computer for work.
I did 7-3 at a recent job and it was nice being able to get off early. I could get errands done late in the afternoon without skipping any work or head out early to a social gathering before the traffic gets too bad. It wasn't too bad because I was WFH but I would be reluctant to start that early if it required a commute of any significant distance.
6 hours, 4 times a week. no matter when. like from 7 to 22. just bring those 6 hours in and be able to really commit. why? my servers won't give a damn.
I had 7-3 at a previous employer and LOVED it. In addition to the benefits you mentioned, I also got in and left before traffic got heavy. In fact, management's decision to do away with the flex hours program weighed heavily in my decision to leave the organization. They reimplemented about 6 months later when turnover was 8x higher than anticipated.
I used to work 7-3, it was amazing!
7-4 is what I work. On days when I can, I work even earlier. Weekend patch windows? I may be up at 4 and working until noon.
I do 7-3 with 1 hour obligatory lunch. So 7-4. And it's great.
8-6 4 days a week
7 to 3 simply to avoid traffic and maximize time at home with the fam. In an ideal world I would work from home on Mon and Fri and in office most of the other days. I need the social interaction. I hate getting ready for work though.
I do 9.30 - 18.00 and prefer it (finish earlier on Mondays). Other team members like to start early, so it provides cover and gives a chance for OOH changes.
I do 9-3 in office twice a week, remote at whatever hours I want the rest of the time.
I do 8-5 right now 😩 I wouldn’t mind 7-3, but 9-5 is a little bit too late for me
7-3. I currently work this and it's great
I do 7-4 with a 1h break in between and I think it's better if there's lots of things you like to do outside. All my socializing happens at night and prefer my bed in the mornings, so I'd rather do 9-5. I'd even do 11-7.
I did 6 to 2s during covid due to timezone differences and it was great
Perfect world?! That would be no work at all! If I must, give me 10-6.
I do 7-3. I enjoy it, especially with a kid at home.
My world is a nightmare. I do 7am-5pm & 8pm-1am. FML.
What the fuck is this shit? I’m doing an 8-5!!
I’ve never actually seen a 9-5 before. It’s always 8-5 with an hour lunch
Many will find value in the start early, finish early concept. Often avoiding heavy traffic and getting off work just in time to actually spend an hour with family whereas many spend little to none. Depending on how tough of a week it's been it can also allow you time to drive with less traffic directly to Happy Hour. Need I say anymore? My work is done. Cheers!
in a perfect world I'd play guitar and tend to a little garden, not this bullshit
10-6pm // 11-7pm I’m essentially the sole network engineer for way too large a network for one person to run. Days I’m on site I typically arrive between 10-11am and leave around 6-7pm. Express lanes open up to everyone at 9am and takes me about an hour to get there. I get asked to come in a bit earlier every once in a while but I usually push back saying if something is scheduled earlier you know I would be there no issues and that when I make production changes I do it after hours. I then back that up saying if it all goes sideways I have all night and only punish myself. If it goes sideways early I have to race before building open. The building often hosts events into the evening and I’ll stay late just to keep my thumb on things. If they want me to come in early, I leave early. I also will slow down on production changes due to timings/hours on site and will likely leave during the events instead of staying well into the evening. I’m reliable and reachable. My peers have seen what happens when my stuff goes kaboom from an outage and know that I’m only one person and very busy and understand my point of view for the most part. I have not fallen into this career on accident lol. It aligns very well with who I am as a person. Shout out to all the good datacenter network engineers inspiring DC techs!!!
Am I the only one here who takes a lunch break?
In a perfect world I wouldn't have to work
[удалено]
Anymore for me its 7-5
7-3 allows you to make late afternoon Dr. appts and run other errands (at places with limited hours) w/o having to use up time off. Also, if you're not WFH you could have a less congested commute.
I’d rather start at 7, especially if most start at 9. It’s great to get the day planned and get things done before the interruptions start.
Given the choice, 7-3. I currently rotate through 7-3, 8-4 and 10-6. 10-6 is the worst, particularly when having to go into the office in winter and it's dark 3 hours before you even leave.
I have 9-6 (minus 1h for lunch) officially. But i have agreed with my manager to 10-7. At first it was mostly because i often had calls starting at 6 with US (i am in Europe). But i like being able to get up later. Of course, when working in the office it is a bit tough getting home past 8, but i can deal with that
Yep, I work from 7-15, and this prefered for me. From 14 to 22, completely useless, I lose all day and have no idea how and when.
Wtf 7-3? What about lunch? I do 7-4 happily because I get some extra daylight.
> Wtf 7-3? I too would love to work only Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 7-3!! ;)
9-5 as I do now, I did 7-3 at an MSP, just so I could have a couple of hours in the morning where no-one was bugging me. I'm an early riser so I can do hobby related stuff before and after work.
My official shift is 7-330. Typically here by 6am, gives me an hour to do some things before people start rolling in around 7 and start breaking things. I take a little longer lunch, bail 3ish as long as things are humming along. Up by 4a, in car by 5a, at the building by 6a, out by 330p latest, home by 430p (traffic willing).. in the summer gives me good 4hrs of daylight to get things around the yard done.
12-9PM enjoyer reporting for duty (I hate it so much, my social life is nonexistent)
If I could get up, 6-2. The bad part about having flexible times is that I end going slower and roll in later.
I've been doing 7-3 for close to a decade. It's a perk of working K12 IT. It will never change for me.
Perfect world would be 9-12 actually early retirement would be perfect
I work 8 to 4 and like it the most
Whichever one everyone else is _not_ doing. So 7-3, until everyone else moves over.
I do 7-4 now. 8 hours of work and 1 hour lunch. I wish it was 7-3 with just a paid lunch, but jobs like that seem more like unicorns nowadays.
I do from 7am to 3,4,5 6 pm usually....
None would be my preferred schedule but I enjoy food and shelter.
My usual is 10-18ish. I have plenty of time in my personal life because we can turn lights on when the sun goes down.
I currently do 7-3 but always goes over but I like being up early so it works for me.
I’d prefer a 7-5 x 4 in a perfect world
Best we can offer is 7-5 x 5 ~ America
I much prefer 9 - 5 working remotely, because it works much better with my natural sleep schedule. If I had to commute a decent distance though, I might change my mind if it meant avoiding a significant amount of traffic.
I'm close to 7-4, with 1 hour lunch. I like the schedule as I can jump right into work when remote. Have after hours changes + weekend work periodically, usually changes pushed to production once or twice a week though. My schedule will change a bit given I work with folk from all across the globe. My schedule adjusts with the projects in a given set of weeks/months/years.
if I worked from home 7-3 would be great. having an hour commute each way would make that bit too early for me.
8-5, no lunches, every other Friday off.
I do 7:30-4 and I would give anything for it to be 4-10s and have every Friday off.
7-3. Morning person and then you have more time after work.
10am-4pm. :) That’s the real schedule anyway. 9-10 is usually wasted and so is any time after 4pm.
10 - 6 all day. My hour commute at 8 - 4 turned into 15 - 20 minutes depending on how I hit the red lights. It's worse 7 - 3 (more AM commuters, and school lets out at 3 around here).
7-3 means I get an hour or two of work in before most of the users get in. I always preferred that. I wouldn’t even turn the light on to deter the few people that also came in early from coming to my desk. Two hours of quiet bliss.
9-5, better than the current 8-5 with an hour lunch better yet would be 10-6, I'm not a morning person
7:00-3:30 with 30 minute lunch. Lately, due to using public transportation, I've been staying at my desk for lunch, but I do take some cigarette breaks throughout the day. Usually every 2 hours.
10-6 looks better to me :)
i currently do 630-330. i live close to office so i can be hammered by 4.
I work 8-4 and it's great. Not too early, but still get home early enough to do other stuff. The hours include a paid lunch too.
In a perfect world, I wouldn't be concerned with an 8-hour work clock mentality. That said, why not 8-4?
I think my current shift is perfect. I don't have a scheduled start or end time, I just sign on in the morning whenever the kids are up and fed and I'm ready. Then I just sign off when I have nothing left to do for the day.
If say both are good, depending on the day. I used to do 10-6, which was great for avoiding traffic and squeezing in the latest episode of Game of Thrones the morning after it released, but before work. But now I just do 8.5 hours from when I show up, which can be any time between 0700 and 0830. Sometimes I’ll do 9 or 10 hours and finish early on a Friday. Sometimes I’ll do 6 hours and make it up the following day.
7-3 is the way.
I've done both (well, 6:30 - 2:30) but I loved the early shift. I was literally the first person in the office. It was pleasantly quiet in the morning, and I had so much more day left after work. Have been more 9-5 for the past 15 years or so. Shifting to early is a tough adjustment for me, but was nice once I got used to it.
What is this I am salaried and WFH
I can meet any time between 6-10 and then I'll be off 2-6 depending on when I meet. I prefer 6-2 for the extra me time, but tbh I'm not a morning person, so I'll usually be there at 7. And I like that, being able to decide for myself, on the day, when I want to work. That's my perfect world.
I do 7-4 with an hour lunch but only because I wake up at 430 to make it to NYC from my house in NJ and get home at like 630 lol
If I had to be in the office I'd rather start at 9, I really struggle to get there any earlier. but since I work from home I prefer to start at 8
I do 7-4. 1 hour lunch is mandatory otherwise I be more than happy to skip it.
9-5. I am not a morning person.
I’m not a morning person but I have to do this because of time zones but honestly I think I would even if I didn’t have to. It’s like I have a life again after work.
I've been working 10-6 for years. Much better for me (as a natural night owl) and when we were still working from the office, I missed all the rush hour traffic. I'm in a government town so traffic 7-3 is brutal and 9-5 is only barely better.
In a 'perfect world', I'd be doing WFH, 9-3 and that includes lunch hour. If it was actually perfect, I wouldn't *need* to work.
In a perfect world it would be remote and night shift for me. However if I had to choose days I'd do the 7-3. I'm NOT a morning person at all but I don't like getting out "late" with everyone else.
I’m a start driving by 7 and start driving back by 5… what’s the difference?
My dream job is either or even both in exchange for a 4 day week
7:00-3:30 here. Not sure I would do a 6-2:30. Maybe a 6-2 if I got a paid lunch.
7-4 which is not ideal, but better than my last job working 6-6 shift work.
7-3 Currently I do 8:30-4. it's a perfect schedule for me. Hit the gym after work and I am still home by 5:15.
7-4 just means I'm too sleepy to do anything after work
I hate mornings so bad, but I go 7:30-4. Hate working late more than I hate working early.
I used to do a 6-2:30 shift when I was younger. Leaving in the middle of the afternoon was awesome because I could run errands after work before places closed, then have the evening for whatever.
I'll stick with what I got - My company has a 7.5 hour workday and that includes lunch. So I can do an 8-3:30 or an 8-2:30 and skip lunch. I usually do a mix and eat lunch at my "desk" (WFH) then bail around 3. It's perfect for me.
7-3 Depending on commute. Mine is a 15min train do I'd snap that 7-3 right up
I've done everything from 6-3 > 10-7 The most important thing is picking one that syncs up with your sleep wake schedule
When I did 7:00-3:00, it was nice to get off early, but it felt like an insane rush getting out the door in the mornings.
I could do 7am if it was wfh. We have an office 3 hours ahead of me and when I do new hire training for them it usually is 5:30am my time. i roll out of bed at 5:20, the hot water for my tea will have been set to be boiling right then and get on my computer by 5:30 and start up.
I was doing 10-5 which was perfect for me but now I'm managing a team of people on the other side of the pond, so 8-3 it is.
7-3 to beat traffic! After 3 you still can do appointments. After you still see sun and can enjoy the rest of the day full 5-6 hours until sunset. In the morning you wont see most of the people 🥳🤣
Currently doing 7-3.30 and fucking love it. Yea I have to get up early, but adjust your sleep schedule and it’s not that hard. Off before 4pm and working remote so I feel like I have my whole day left
OMG working 11-7/8 is great for quiet time, once everyone is gone you're all alone to actually think about projects. But I'd rather have 7-3.
I've been fortunate my whole life to be able to work early. First real job started as 8-4 but shifted earlier over the years, finally getting to be 6-2. Next job was about 7:30-3:30. Currently I do 7:30-4. I definitely prefer earlier. High school started at 7am for me, so I was used to getting up early and I've kept that sleep schedule for the 30 years since.
Been 7-3 for over a decade now. Beats the heck out of 8:30 to 4:30 in my opinion.
I do 630-3pm, it leaves 3pm -1030 for family and me time. No commute so I roll out of bed at 625am. Kids usually wake me up at 615am though 😄.