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What's a standard day?

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    What's a standard day?

    Hi there,

    My contract says... 'standard day 8 hours'. Does this mean 9-5 or can they get away with asking for 9-6 with an hour for lunch?

    Cheers,

    Ian.

    #2
    I did an 8 hour day in my last gig by tacking on an extra 15 mins each end of the day, otherwise it would have been 7.5 hour days which is more 'standard'.
    "Is someone you don't like allowed to say something you don't like? If that is the case then we have free speech."- Elon Musk

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      #3
      Appreciate the effort but please could someone suggest an answer to my question?

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        #4
        Why don't you ask them?

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          #5
          Originally posted by IanIan
          Hi there,

          My contract says... 'standard day 8 hours'. Does this mean 9-5 or can they get away with asking for 9-6 with an hour for lunch?

          Cheers,

          Ian.
          It seems to me that in general lunch is done in your own time, except in the UK where office people expect to be paid for taking lunch.

          As for what it actually means in your contract, that would be in the mind of the person who drafted it I suppose. I'd say that they can certainly get away with saying that they don't think of it as working time. But if they want 9-1, 2-6 then they should say so.
          God made men. Sam Colt made them equal.

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            #6
            I pay my staff a 40 hour week.
            9 til 5
            1 hour unpaid lunch break
            10 min break am paid -10 min break pm paid
            law is any person working over 6 hours is entitled to paid 20 min uninterupted break.
            this is considered a standard day. lunch may vary between 30 min & 45 min.
            My staff forego the hours lunch and all knock of at 4, (voluntary agreement).
            Confusion is a natural state of being

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              #7
              Why don't you ask them?
              Well they definitely expect 9-6. But the agent rang at 5.30 to see how the day had been and was surprised I was still at my desk. I rang him afterwards and he was apologetic and said he'd ava' word. So given he sent me the initial confirmation with the 'standard day' thing I believe 9-6 is not what he had in mind.

              Not sure being payed for lunch is relevant because its a daily rate but I agree with the poster who implied it should be clear that the end time is non-standard.
              Last edited by IanIan; 16 July 2007, 20:18.

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                #8
                oh Dear, you must start as you mean to go on..........

                1. Take Lunch, always, always and not negotiatable, this must be at a minimum of 20 mins away from your desk, all things being equal you can then bugger off at 17:30pm, and *they* are still ahead.

                Thing is to make sure that *they* think they are getting some form of value for money.

                If you set expectations early on in the contract that you are there from 0900 to 1800 and always there between 1200 and 1400 at your desk, then that will become the defacto "agreement" and it won't matter what the written contract is , it will be the "perception".

                If they want you to do 9 hour days, then get the rate changed!!!


                here are some "standard" days I have personally encountered....

                0830-1930/often 2200 - working for a consultancy..... yeuch
                0830-1700 - Investment Bank
                0730-1630 - Government (and 0930-1330 fridays )
                0900-1730ish - Typical Blue-Chippy
                Last edited by barely_pointless; 17 July 2007, 00:29.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by IanIan
                  Well they definitely expect 9-6. But the agent rang at 5.30 to see how the day had been and was surprised I was still at my desk. I rang him afterwards and he was apologetic and said he'd ava' word. So given he sent me the initial confirmation with the 'standard day' thing I believe 9-6 is not what he had in mind.

                  Not sure being payed for lunch is relevant because its a daily rate but I agree with the poster who implied it should be clear that the end time is non-standard.
                  Sorry, I thought the arithmetic was clear: if you are contracted for an 8-hour day and you work 9-5 with 1 hour for lunch, you are being paid for your lunch break. If you are contracted for an 8-hour day and you work 9-6 with 1 hour for lunch, you are not being paid for your lunch break. Not that it matters how you put it.

                  You hit an aspect of contracting here: you are contracted to the agency, but the expectations that matter are the client's.

                  I agree with barely_pontless: start as you mean to go on. I've seen any number of cases where contractors who started with an early Friday departure, a late Monday arrival, or even Fridays off/at home, have continued doing that throughout the contract, whereas others who asked for the same thing have been refused.

                  To put it at its worst, if the client asks you after a month or more not to leave early on Frdays, you can always say (if you mean it) that you're not sure you would want to continue on that basis, so let's discuss it. If OTOH you say "can I leave early on Fridays" and he says no, you can hardly say let's discuss it, because you just have.

                  It is normally much better than that: just do it, and make sure that your work is more than satisfactory. Then the question of changing things is less likely to arise.

                  Personally (to get back to the point) I don't even ask that question: I make a point of not keeping regular hours.
                  God made men. Sam Colt made them equal.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Diver
                    I pay my staff a 40 hour week.
                    9 til 5
                    1 hour unpaid lunch break
                    10 min break am paid -10 min break pm paid
                    law is any person working over 6 hours is entitled to paid 20 min uninterupted break.
                    this is considered a standard day. lunch may vary between 30 min & 45 min.
                    My staff forego the hours lunch and all knock of at 4, (voluntary agreement).
                    Diver, you're talking tulipe. Your numbers don't add up.

                    9 til 5 is 8 hours!

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