Comments about ‘Balancing act: Is leaving work late the new 'on time'?’

I think for the most part, my managers have shared Kratz's opinion. Stay late if the project demands it, but otherwise team members should go home at the end of the day, on time to avoid burnout. People who spend too much time at work start to resent their jobs and it affects their performance, as well as other aspects of their life. While I feel that my willingness to work late does speak to my quality of character as an employee, I don't necessarily feel it directly correlates to my eligibility for promotions. Sometimes if someone's working late it's because they've procrastinated doing something. A good manager can determine quality by people's results, not their schedule.

I'm with you Kratz.

If you have to pretend to work then in the long run you hate your job. If there is not something important to work on then go home and be a good dad (or mom).

Bosses who want people to pretend to work are lame!

It's time to take our lives back.

Is leaving work late the new on time?

Only if you got to work late or are earning time and a half.

Otherwise its being a chump.

I've worked for 41 years now. Virtually to a boss if I wasn't on the job early and there late I wasn't doing my job. On a few occasions I was accused of not taking the job seriously when I was "on time". Working for "Utah" management is a challenge. It's one of the reasons I now live in Massachusetts.

@Dennis
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I have found just the opposite. I work in software in Utah, and for the past 20 years, I have had to work late very rarely. Family-friendly employers exist everywhere in Utah if you look for them. This is true of many places outside of Utah also. However, I recently had a boss who moved to Utah from the east coast who told me that the biggest difference between Utah and the east coast is that people from Utah go home at 5:30 and on the east coast they stay until 7:00 pm or later.

Sure there are exceptions right here in Utah, but I stay in Utah because of the many family-friendly employers.