• Visitors can check out the Forum FAQ by clicking this link. You have to register before you can post: click the REGISTER link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. View our Forum Privacy Policy.
  • Want to receive the latest contracting news and advice straight to your inbox? Sign up to the ContractorUK newsletter here. Every sign up will also be entered into a draw to WIN £100 Amazon vouchers!

Client Dictating Hours of Work

Collapse
X
  •  
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Client Dictating Hours of Work

    I've recently started a contract and, leaving at 4.30pm fits in with my personal/family needs. My contract states 37 and a half hours a week as standard and, although I'm certainly not a clock watcher and will stay longer if my workload calls for it I've been coming on site at 8.30am and taking a half hour lunch. This hasn't seem to have gone well with my manager who took me to one side and advised that 'the working hours are 8.30am until 5pm.' When I politely mentioned that I generally start at 8.30am as I like to leave at 4.30pm she asked me to, in that case, take an hour lunch and leave at 5pm. I said that I didn't want to take an hour but she pretty much ended the conversation with 'we will discuss this in our next catch up meeting' and walked off.

    I have already been told on taking the contract that there is no allowance to work from home which I won't argue with but now I'm also being told when I should work and how long lunch breaks should be to finish at 5pm. This person is also a contractor. To make her point she has also started scheduling half hour meetings with me at 4.30pm. How do I compromise without sounding antagonistic?

    #2
    Are there hours stated in your contract? Sounds like a D&C nightmare with a bit of a cock womble client manager thrown in. You've two choices here. Hand your notice in and leave. Stay, do what you are told and sweat about your IR35 status for the next few years.

    I know what I'd be doing.
    'CUK forum personality of 2011 - Winner - Yes really!!!!

    Comment


      #3
      Third choice, I suppose, is to refer to your contract and if it doesn't specify working hours, make a point of that and see if she'll back down. Have to be prepared to be dismissed, though.

      Hours dictated is only one indicator of SDC, of course. "When" and "where" you work is reportedly not as important as "how" you work. But IR35 is only one aspect of this -- what works for you and your family is obviously more important. If it is a relatively short contract, maybe you can put up with it? But if it is a relatively short contract, maybe it wouldn't be much of a loss to walk away, either.

      Comment


        #4
        Indeed but if shes gonna be so anal about 30 mins Id hate to think what else is going on.
        'CUK forum personality of 2011 - Winner - Yes really!!!!

        Comment


          #5
          If she is also a contractor, perhaps a quiet word about D&C et IR35 might be in order. Perhaps she needs educating. Ask her to come on here and ask NLUK about it, but don't tell her about the stickie.

          Comment


            #6
            Pretty standard and cannot see what you are moaning for personally. If it was the way you wanted none of us would take lunch and wed start at 7 and **** off at 3.30.

            Comment


              #7
              1. I too like to start early and leave early to avoid a nasty commute. Therefore before I take any contract I ask the interviewer about the working hours and then tell them this. If they are adamant that I have to work at particular times I don't take the contract.

              2. Sometimes I have felt some permies have commented about my working hours, therefore I am aware a client manager has come in early for a few days to check them. On the vast majority of occasions they have found that I've actually come in between 15-30 minutes early than I report unless it's half term/school holidays were it can be up to 40 minutes. This is because commuting conditions vary. I also have a habit of wasting 10 minutes checking messages or doing online shopping before I start work. I also like to be able to take and make phone calls during the week in private without anyone commenting on my working hours.

              In your case I think your client manager is too lazy to do 2.

              Therefore if you did 1 at interview, you need to talk to other client managers who are her peers delicately about the situation and give a good reason for doing it. (I had a client manager who was told by her peers to shut up when she complained about the fact I was allowed to work from home.) If this doesn't work or she has no equivalent peers then you need to suck it up. You only have to do this until you are offered an extension which you turn down or until you find another contract and leave. When you leave make it very clear what the reason for this is and point out their attitude isn't very family friendly.

              If you didn't do 1 then you need to stop complaining and suck it up.
              People are not mind readers and if you like doing things a certain way you need to explain it to them at the earliest possibility in case it causes a problem.
              Last edited by SueEllen; 20 February 2016, 14:10.
              "You’re just a bad memory who doesn’t know when to go away" JR

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by northernladuk View Post
                Are there hours stated in your contract? Sounds like a D&C nightmare with a bit of a cock womble client manager thrown in. You've two choices here. Hand your notice in and leave. Stay, do what you are told and sweat about your IR35 status for the next few years.

                I know what I'd be doing.
                What does D&C stand for? The hours of work are not stated in my contract but it just states 7 and a half hours is classed as a professional working day and 37 and a half hours as a standard working week. .A half day is stated as 3.75 hours

                Comment


                  #9
                  Direction and control. It's one of the three main pillars of IR35. I suggest your get some reading done if you are not aware of that. You need to know about MoO and RoS at the very least.
                  'CUK forum personality of 2011 - Winner - Yes really!!!!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by WordIsBond View Post
                    Third choice, I suppose, is to refer to your contract and if it doesn't specify working hours, make a point of that and see if she'll back down. Have to be prepared to be dismissed, though.

                    Hours dictated is only one indicator of SDC, of course. "When" and "where" you work is reportedly not as important as "how" you work. But IR35 is only one aspect of this -- what works for you and your family is obviously more important. If it is a relatively short contract, maybe you can put up with it? But if it is a relatively short contract, maybe it wouldn't be much of a loss to walk away, either.
                    I don't have kids but I do have other family priorities although I really don't feel why I should have to explain what those are to justify working in accordance with the terms of my contract and the fact that I am in fact supplying services and not an employee.

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X