1) Working hours are regulated by law. Your employment contract should state the time you work. It might not be the case in the US, especially for tech workers

1) Working hours are regulated by law. Your employment contract should state the time you work. It might not be the case in the US, especially for tech workers who can be quite flexible, but it is real in other places/jobs. 2) You don't live in a vacuum. Most people can't change their time by themselves because they depend on the rest of the world. Maybe you take a train/bus at 7 to get to work at 8. There might not be a train at 6. Maybe you have to drop your kids at school. The school is not taking your kid one hour back or forth as you wish. Maybe you work in a factory/office that's opening and closing at some point, you can't work outside of these hours. You depend on coworkers who do other tasks, you may not be able to work by yourself. That's the reality for most workers, outside of developers.