Reply to: Is 8 hours a day common thing ??

[Jaws]

My contract states something like £xxx/day based on an 8 hr day and somewhere else it mentions something about not exceeding 40hours/week.

I always work the 40hours and I've been able to invoice for additional hours before after mentioning to the client I might need them.

[Ivor Bigun]

Utter bollocks. Only permies work 'fixed' hours and leave on the dot at 4 or 5 o clock etc.

If you operated a 'proper' business, you wouldnt say 'oh, I've done my 8 hours for the day so Im off home now!'

Uhhhhh - no sure where you're trying to go here.

If the gig is "X hours a day and no overtime", why would you do the extra hours for free?

Or..... are you trying to tell us all that you're different to most contractors.
Perhaps you're not paid by the hour but by "items of work completed"
- like a toilet cleaner being paid by the number of clean smelling traps .

What counts is the total money earned - not how you get paid.
BB, you think like a permie if you want - "I'm a business" etc
Meanwhile others will earn a lot more than you and be quite happy to do 8 hours a day.

Hell! pay me enough and I'll even clean your bog !

[NotAllThere]

The regular hours / IR35 question has been raised again and again since 1999. The consensus remains, and case law has shown, that it makes no difference. Many permies work regular hours. Many permies work "professional working days".

I don't work regular hours because it doesn't fit with my lifestyle.

[ratewhore]

Haven't done an 8 hour day for years. I set expectations at interview stage and, as long as I deliver, no one moans. Even in an IB I was in at 9.30, gone at 4.30.

Current contract states 5 PWD's without stipulating what a PWD is. Works for me...

[NiceUpNorth]

contracted for 37hrs per week

up 2 me when i put those hours in

[Archangel]

Utter bollocks. Only permies work 'fixed' hours and leave on the dot at 4 or 5 o clock etc.

If you operated a 'proper' business, you wouldnt say 'oh, I've done my 8 hours for the day so Im off home now!'

You would if your "proper business" was providing 8 hours of support.

[Archangel]

Utter bollocks. Only permies work 'fixed' hours and leave on the dot at 4 or 5 o clock etc.

If you operated a 'proper' business, you wouldnt say 'oh, I've done my 8 hours for the day so Im off home now!'

What utter tosh!!!!!

I work fixed hours (dictated by me, not the client) because of my lifestyle and childcare needs. I leave my curret client every day at 4 on the dot to pick up my son at 4:30. If my client was an extra half an hour away I'd leave at 3:30 on the dot.

I've been contracting since 1988 and have never agreed to a day rate and never worked (regularly) more than 37.5 hours.

When I was investigated for IR35 they asked about hours worked, the reply was "the contract states 35 hours, I decide when I do them, I decide I like working 7-3 every day".

The fear of IR35 should not alter your life, just your business practices.

[Solidec]

Done 40 hour weeks for years, then got a couple of public sector gigs, both 35 hours a week.

I find it weird working 35 hours, it seems a bit on the low side, but if thats how the contract is negotiated, so be it. I charge by the day so its largely irrelevent for me.

[Stan.goodvibes]

I try to get an hourly rate then aim to get my hours up to about 50 a week. Usually when I'm on contract I'll try and get more work than I can handle in a 40-hour week and go for the 6 day week. I do that by putting my hand up for everything thats going.

Thats coz I usually work for about a year then have quite a few months off, and I have no problem working 6 days a week in winter.

I'm all about maximum bucks in minimum time, coz as we all know, you can be benched at a moments notice...

[minestrone]

He doesnt have to sit outside your client co for a year. Most buildings have an access system that use a swipe card or electronic key which also identifies you. Your hours on site will be easily obtainable direct from the client.

I have never been in a building where you have to use a pass to get out, you just press the exit button on the door so really door systems only ever record entry times, not much you can prove with that.

IR35 rules are starting to become voodoo like superstitions for some people, no basis on fact but contractors will just go along with it "just in case".

[BolshieBastard]

Aye, the tax man is going to be sitting outside ClientCo for a year checking my exit times to use it in an IR35 investigation.

If you want to stay in all hours to give the impression that you run a 'proper' business then go for it. To me you are just getting shafted as much as the promotion hunting permies.

You get a days consultancy off me and that day does not go past 8 hours unless I have buggered up somewhere. That is my definition of a professional day and if the client does not like it then I walk.

He doesnt have to sit outside your client co for a year. Most buildings have an access system that use a swipe card or electronic key which also identifies you. Your hours on site will be easily obtainable direct from the client.

I dont stay 'all hours' as you put it but I do vary my hours on site. The permies cant do 4 day compressed working week either.

If you want to stick rigidly to your hours and give some permie manager the impression you work a fixed working pattern like the rest of his permie team, then, be my guest, go right ahead.

[Netraider]

I'm working in a private medical practice in London. I'm not allowed to work more than 37.5 hours per week, and in the contract I have to leave my desk for at least half an hour every day for lunch. This is monitored by the HR police.

[minestrone]

Utter bollocks. Only permies work 'fixed' hours and leave on the dot at 4 or 5 o clock etc.

If you operated a 'proper' business, you wouldnt say 'oh, I've done my 8 hours for the day so Im off home now!'

Aye, the tax man is going to be sitting outside ClientCo for a year checking my exit times to use it in an IR35 investigation.

If you want to stay in all hours to give the impression that you run a 'proper' business then go for it. To me you are just getting shafted as much as the promotion hunting permies.

You get a days consultancy off me and that day does not go past 8 hours unless I have buggered up somewhere. That is my definition of a professional day and if the client does not like it then I walk.

[PM-Junkie]

Utter bollocks. Only permies work 'fixed' hours and leave on the dot at 4 or 5 o clock etc.

If you operated a 'proper' business, you wouldnt say 'oh, I've done my 8 hours for the day so Im off home now!'

Absolutely right. Regular hours is a great way to be flagged as a disguised employee, though it's obviously unavoidable in some cases.

I have worked anywhere from 3 to 18 hours in a day - the key is to have your contract defined as "per business day". In my view/experience that is.

[BolshieBastard]

I will simply refuse to work over 8 hours a day.

If you have to work more than that it tells you the application is tulip and they want you to pay for their decades of crapness.

Having said that I am doing about 100 hours a week when I add the time spent on plan B to the day job, it's been that way for about 6 months. My head is mush just now.

Utter bollocks. Only permies work 'fixed' hours and leave on the dot at 4 or 5 o clock etc.

If you operated a 'proper' business, you wouldnt say 'oh, I've done my 8 hours for the day so Im off home now!'