Why do managers care about arriving 5 minutes early?
Managers often enforce strict start times by demanding employees arrive 10 to 15 minutes before their scheduled shift to settle in, boot up computers, or make coffee. This creates an unfair double standard where workers are penalized for arriving at their actual start time while expected to provide free labor beforehand.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1looking elsewhere if they are that petty
- 2planning my exit
- 3Checking the employee handbook for notice requirements and work hour policies
- 4Asking a coworker to cover the mandatory training as a favor
- 5Hiring a babysitter or relying on family and friends for the one-hour gap
- 6Talking to HR about the point system
- 7Finding a new job and quitting
- 8Drafting a company-wide email reminder about scheduled start times
- 9Conducting individual meetings and performance memos for late employees
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I had a manager actually tell me “well work starts at 8:30 but we really want people coming in about 10-15 minutes earlier”.”source ↗
“I was told off in my review for “always coming in late” at 8:20 instead of at 8:00 every day. Then, I was also told off for “leaving early” at 5:15 every day.”source ↗
“My current office manager is like that. Work starts at 7, so be in your chair and ready to open your emails at 7. If that means you need to get there at 6:50 to make your cup of coffee, then that's what needs to happen”source ↗
“I'm the HRBP at a mid-size company and we've had office staff coming in whenever. Some are 15-30 min late pretty regularly and it's kind of become the norm since nobody really enforced it before.”source ↗
“My main issue is I have 2 small kids, a 1 year old girl and a 3 year old boy and my wife works in the mornings and gets home right after 3:00pm. Once she gets home I have to speed up to work.”source ↗
“I explained all that to my team manager, I tried to be flexible and told her I could watch the video after work but she said no.”source ↗
“I was told that if I don't show up at 3pm tomorrow I would get a point as if I was late for work. I don't know what to do, I just can't leave my kids alone at home.”source ↗
“They want HR to lead it it’s a small company I’m the only HR person here”source ↗
“Managers need to be enforcing this. They’re having you do it because they know people won’t be happy and they’d rather the HR person get the hate rather than themselves.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 11Why can't employees ever use the self service portal?
- 3How to deal with a manager who is confidently wrong
- 5How do I deal with non-technical managers and constant interruptions?
- 3Why does management give us arbitrary deadlines without explaining why?
- 4Why do parents get mad about minor rules but ignore failing grades?
- 2Why is my child always late getting ready for school?