6 ms·

I have a question regarding the 9-5 working day. Do Americans really work 9-5 and regard this as an 8 hour working day? Or is this a legacy of the old days with

by pathy 10y ago

I have a question regarding the 9-5 working day. Do Americans really work 9-5 and regard this as an 8 hour working day? Or is this a legacy of the old days with paid lunch or such? I officially work 8.25 hours per day or 8-17 with 45 minutes of lunch, this is roughly the standard working day in Sweden.

abstractbeliefs 10y ago
Not sure about the US, but in the UK which seems to be fairly culturally aligned, we're expected to put in an average of 7.5h of "logged in" work, with core hours being 09:30-16:30, and a mandatory 30m unpaid lunchbreak. (I say average because you're expected to put in ~37.5h of work a week, and have the deficit/surplus at month end of +-5h)
- mattmanser 10y ago
  Having worked 20 or 30 temp jobs in my time as well as perms, in the UK in the 2000s it used to be 37.5/37/35 hours per week for office and 40 for industrial or warehouse work, but it's increasingly common to see 40 for office.
frogfuzion 10y ago
This is legacy. Lunch is usually not included in the US so 8-5 if you take an hour lunch or 8:30 - 5 if you take a half hour lunch.
beachstartup 10y ago
most people work 09:00 - 18:00 and take 45-60 minutes for lunch around noon or 13:00. however many people start or end earlier or later to avoid bad traffic.
pessimizer 10y ago
Your hours are common in the U.S., except it would be a 1 hour lunch to keep to a 40 hour work week. 9-5 is just a shorthand.
Symbiote 10y ago
9–5 is the standard British working day, which includes an hour for lunch. As an example, my contract when I worked for the British government said, "You will normally be required to work a five-day week of 41 hours gross, Monday to Friday, including meal breaks". The time allowed for lunch breaks was one hour per day, which led to a working time of 7h12m, and a total weekly working time of 36 hours. I only notice now that this doesn't quite add up to 9–17h. That's probably because most people took about ¾ hour for lunch rather than the full hour, and left at 17:00 rather than 17:12. (Or maybe I was doing it wrong.)
- IshKebab 10y ago
  It may have been the standard once, but these days the standard seems to be 8 hours of work, plus 30 or 60 minutes for lunch. I don't know anyone that works 9-5 with an hour for lunch.
  - 72deluxe 10y ago
    That'll be me! I am in the Midlands. ....although I must admit this is rare. The last place was 9-5 with half an hour for lunch, which was widely abused by others (eg. 2 hour pub lunch every Friday, clear off early, roll in late). A previous place wanted 40 hours a week when I inquired about returning. A reevaluation of priorities led me to turn that offer down.
- d_theorist 10y ago
  9-6 is standard every place I've worked. I've always worked in London though, so perhaps there is a split there relative to the rest of the country.
lmm 10y ago
In the UK the standard was once 9-5 with an hour's lunch. It's slowly crept from that to "9-5 with a short lunch if you're not busy" and then "8 paid hours plus unpaid lunch".
- kraftman 10y ago
  Depends where you are really. I do 9-5 with an hours paid lunch, last place I did 8-5 with paid lunch.
sheraz 10y ago
You may be officially "at work" for that time in Sweden, but there are the countless fika breaks. I believe Swedish law calls for a minimum 5 minutes break per hour? (Not mandatory but an entitlement)
- dagw 10y ago
  but there are the countless fika breaks. At every company in Sweden I've worked the number was exactly 2 @ 15 minutes each.
  - mstade 10y ago
    Being Swedish, this sounds about right to me.
  - pathy 10y ago
    When I worked in manual labour (warehouses etc) that was certainly the case but in a white-collar job it is much less structured in my experience, we may have a formal fika once a week or just informal coffee breaks every now and then. Fika IS important to productivity though! Morale boosting if nothing else.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- Ma8ee 10y ago
  You are entitled to 5 minutes per hours for toilette breaks et.c. Most white collar jobs you just take your breaks whenever you feel you need them, and the fika is very important and in most places longer than the 20 minutes you accumulate in the morning or afternoon. In blue collar it is sometimes very different with a signal at 55 minutes every hour and then a signal 3 minutes later to signal that it is time to start moving back to your station and be ready for the signal at the hour. But I have worked as a construction worker where there was fika at least once every morning and afternoon.
talideon 10y ago
The situation is a little different in Ireland: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/hours_of_work/rest_periods_and_breaks.html http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_r... I work from 10am to 7pm, with an unpaid lunch break at 1pm. That's considered and 8-hour working day here.
JoeAltmaier 10y ago
8-5 is the standard USA working day.
ones_and_zeros 10y ago
I work for a well known software company in the US. I get in by 9 and leave by 5. I take a 30-60 minute lunch break. I'm not a young go getter. Many of my colleagues get in earlier and stay way later. I'm not sure about them but I continue to get raises and glowing performance reviews.

by pathy 10y ago

abstractbeliefs 10y ago

Not sure about the US, but in the UK which seems to be fairly culturally aligned, we're expected to put in an average of 7.5h of "logged in" work, with core hours being 09:30-16:30, and a mandatory 30m unpaid lunchbreak. (I say average because you're expected to put in ~37.5h of work a week, and have the deficit/surplus at month end of +-5h)

mattmanser 10y ago
Having worked 20 or 30 temp jobs in my time as well as perms, in the UK in the 2000s it used to be 37.5/37/35 hours per week for office and 40 for industrial or warehouse work, but it's increasingly common to see 40 for office.

frogfuzion 10y ago

This is legacy. Lunch is usually not included in the US so 8-5 if you take an hour lunch or 8:30 - 5 if you take a half hour lunch.

beachstartup 10y ago

most people work 09:00 - 18:00 and take 45-60 minutes for lunch around noon or 13:00. however many people start or end earlier or later to avoid bad traffic.

pessimizer 10y ago

Your hours are common in the U.S., except it would be a 1 hour lunch to keep to a 40 hour work week. 9-5 is just a shorthand.

Symbiote 10y ago

9–5 is the standard British working day, which includes an hour for lunch. As an example, my contract when I worked for the British government said, "You will normally be required to work a five-day week of 41 hours gross, Monday to Friday, including meal breaks". The time allowed for lunch breaks was one hour per day, which led to a working time of 7h12m, and a total weekly working time of 36 hours. I only notice now that this doesn't quite add up to 9–17h. That's probably because most people took about ¾ hour for lunch rather than the full hour, and left at 17:00 rather than 17:12. (Or maybe I was doing it wrong.)

IshKebab 10y ago
It may have been the standard once, but these days the standard seems to be 8 hours of work, plus 30 or 60 minutes for lunch. I don't know anyone that works 9-5 with an hour for lunch.
- 72deluxe 10y ago
  That'll be me! I am in the Midlands. ....although I must admit this is rare. The last place was 9-5 with half an hour for lunch, which was widely abused by others (eg. 2 hour pub lunch every Friday, clear off early, roll in late). A previous place wanted 40 hours a week when I inquired about returning. A reevaluation of priorities led me to turn that offer down.
d_theorist 10y ago
9-6 is standard every place I've worked. I've always worked in London though, so perhaps there is a split there relative to the rest of the country.

lmm 10y ago

In the UK the standard was once 9-5 with an hour's lunch. It's slowly crept from that to "9-5 with a short lunch if you're not busy" and then "8 paid hours plus unpaid lunch".

kraftman 10y ago
Depends where you are really. I do 9-5 with an hours paid lunch, last place I did 8-5 with paid lunch.

sheraz 10y ago

You may be officially "at work" for that time in Sweden, but there are the countless fika breaks. I believe Swedish law calls for a minimum 5 minutes break per hour? (Not mandatory but an entitlement)

dagw 10y ago
but there are the countless fika breaks. At every company in Sweden I've worked the number was exactly 2 @ 15 minutes each.
- mstade 10y ago
  Being Swedish, this sounds about right to me.
- pathy 10y ago
  When I worked in manual labour (warehouses etc) that was certainly the case but in a white-collar job it is much less structured in my experience, we may have a formal fika once a week or just informal coffee breaks every now and then. Fika IS important to productivity though! Morale boosting if nothing else.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
Ma8ee 10y ago
You are entitled to 5 minutes per hours for toilette breaks et.c. Most white collar jobs you just take your breaks whenever you feel you need them, and the fika is very important and in most places longer than the 20 minutes you accumulate in the morning or afternoon. In blue collar it is sometimes very different with a signal at 55 minutes every hour and then a signal 3 minutes later to signal that it is time to start moving back to your station and be ready for the signal at the hour. But I have worked as a construction worker where there was fika at least once every morning and afternoon.

talideon 10y ago

The situation is a little different in Ireland: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/hours_of_work/rest_periods_and_breaks.html http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_r... I work from 10am to 7pm, with an unpaid lunch break at 1pm. That's considered and 8-hour working day here.

JoeAltmaier 10y ago

8-5 is the standard USA working day.

ones_and_zeros 10y ago

I work for a well known software company in the US. I get in by 9 and leave by 5. I take a 30-60 minute lunch break. I'm not a young go getter. Many of my colleagues get in earlier and stay way later. I'm not sure about them but I continue to get raises and glowing performance reviews.