When do you begin your work day?

Depends on when I wake up. I make a coffee and start checking my email. Sometimes that’s 5am, often it’s 6. But I’ll take a break for a bite to eat, and depending, sometimes I’ll work out in the morning as well. So ‘start’, early. But I don’t necessarily work right through.

Back when I went to the office daily, I’d typically get in around 7:30. People often mistakenly assumed I am an early riser/morning person. I am not. Over time I learned I hated when I’d come in and immediately got pulled into meetings, phone calls,… i like to enjoy my coffee quietly and ease into my day.

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Girl, same.

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i roll in 9-930 these days.

when working from home and not commuting…close to the same.

years ago, I use to like getting to the office early. Catch up on stuff that came in after I left the day before. Actually get stuff done without clients or coworkers bothering me.

One job that was about 5 miles from home, I’d get in some days at 6:30. Always made sure to send the boss an email about something silly just so she could see I was around then. (At the time there was no remote work and we didn’t have access to email at home.)

A few other jobs I did the same thing. Even when I was working in Philly, a 2-hur commute. If I was awake at 4 for some reason, I’d just leave around 4: 30 and get to work around 6;30.

These days I much rather stay in bed until I have to. However, if I’m going to need to work extra, I prefer to do it earlier than later. So I’ll start at 6 or 6;30 and still wrap up at 4:30, ringing up the extra two hours of work and still have time for my family.

At the last local office I worked at, I tended to start my day at 6:30 and leave at 3:30, hours that seemed to minimize my commute time (30 minutes in the morning, 45 in the evening, under normal circumstances) while maximizing time at my desk when I was likely to be contacted (except for a couple of folks who tended to call me late, usually getting reaching me after I was at home and plugged back in for that purpose).

The only problem with this arrangement was that I’m not a morning person.

That, combined with the fact that I didn’t work with anyone in that building (I was supporting folks in other offices around the country) led me to get permission to WFH.

Had I done more normal hours in that office (most people rolled in between 8:30 and 9), I would have spent two hours or more in the car each day.

Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can’t see me, heh heh - and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.

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I mean, I’m thinking about work before I even get dressed so that should count for something…

:oh_noes:

Roll out of bed at 8:29, log in to work by 8:30.

So, I wfh 3 days a week, but on the days I do come into the office it’s like an hour commute. I’m always up at like 6 anyway to help get kids ready, but then I either can get ready for work…or just go back to sleep for an hour. And it’s a constant dilemma.

It’s kind of an ADD thing. I’m thinking about everything all at once.

I’ve never been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD but I think I’m somewhere in the ballpark. This sounds like my brain at least a chunk of the time.

I mean I’ve never been officially diagnosed but…

‘work’ day started at 4:30 this morning for some stupid reason. But, I got a school assignment done by 6am, so that was nice. I like being 2 weeks ahead in the course, currently only 1-1.5 weeks ahead and it’s stressing me out a bit. Like, I have a backup, but what about second backup?

Damn. You guys all start super early.

We usually “start” at 10am when we WFH

The main downside is that we don’t really clock off. As long as the work gets done, they don’t care how you go about your day (great for school runs, exercise, Dr appts etc).

Definitely second the awesome flexibility associated with WFH. Even just taking a break to go for a walk or whatever is so much nicer when you’re at home than at the office.

I’d hate starting at 10am though.

why is that a downside?

I don’t clock off either. My screen always stays on and I check it from time to time.

I think there are people that believe that having a clear distinction between “personal time” and “work time” is necessary for work-life balance.

I think there is some merit in that…but my job is one where I sometimes need to let stuff sit and simmer for a period of time, either because a model run/query takes time, or because I need to take a break so that I can come back with a fresher head to consider the problem du jour.

WFH works great for me because of that – I’ll switch to “personal stuff” for a bit, and then switch back to “work stuff” when the time is ripe.

If I’m awake, I’m probably plugged in to work. But my actual time working is only 30-50 hours each week most weeks…and those 30-50 hours can occur any time between 7am and midnight, all seven days of the week. As long as I’m available when needed, and as long as my work gets done on time…it’s OK.

Even though they’re aware of my philosophy on the matter, my boss and grandboss are believers in more conventional work schedules. They expressed concern the first time they saw an email from me at 11pm on a Saturday night.

I learned. I now make use of Outlook’s “delayed send” feature (and I point to Teams’ lack of an equivalent feature when asked why I use email so much, instead of Teams chat).

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Yeah, my job isn’t really deadline dependent. So there’s never a case where I see an unread email and go “oh shit!”

In my prior jobs I would dread getting emails because of shitty bosses that micromanage. But now I pretty much am in charge of my own responsibilities it’s a lot more relaxing, so I don’t mind staying on all day everyday and just work whenever I please.