Is this allowed?

[thatone1967]

The company I work for, has grown fairly rapidly over the last 5 years since I joined, effectively going from small to small / mid sized.

They have brought a few rules in which I doubt the legality / morailty of.

We have to be at our desks ( I work in IT Support) and ready to take calls 5 minutes before our shift starts. If we are not, we are classed as being late. If I arrived at my desk at say 3 minutes before my shift started, was logged in and ready to work before my official shift start time, I would STILL be classed as late. There is no direct consequence of being late, apart from the fact it is indicated on a staff rota for ALL to see ( my 2nd bone of contention, surely this information should be kept private?)

My only concern is, should the company decide to start reducing numbers in a recession, it could work against who has been "late" the most.

Now I realise that there are several millions unemployed, and I am grateful for the job, so I am not going to start going on about how hard done by I am. I am just curious.

[thatone1967]

Scott330ci said:

Leave 5 minutes earlier.

Not allowed.. got b0ll0cked for leaving 1 minute early last week to catch the bus..
Was told that the buses run every 15 minutes, and I should wait for the next one.

[thatone1967]

rog007 said:

It seems reasonable that to be able to respond at 9 on the dot, you would need, as a minimum, to be ready 5 minutes before to guarantee you're ready.

That's the point though... We had to be READY to respond by 5 minutes before the start of out shift. With a 48 week year, that is 20 hours a year, or almost 3 days that we have to work unpaid?