the Missus is rarely home before 8pm with 40 mins commuting... guess this is what holidays and w/ends are for...
I work from home in my own time and have done so for the past 6 years... can't beat it... but then that came after years of slaving in catering.
You've hit the nail on the head there.
The big corps bring in the brightest and best from all the affiliates and work them into the ground.
Some do well, some leave, some go back to an easier life.
The world is full of hopeful people willing to do it.
Work life balance my arse!
If the original OP is on less than CHF200k a year as a contractor they are being fleeced.
But worker's rights in Switzerland plays a bigger role. (compare vacation times, for example) Wouldn't multi-nationals have to abide by these in-country standards? Or is it out of sight out of mind?
Does it not depend on the industry? I would have thought so but I'm a humble workingperson turned dreamy-eyed academic so what do I know of the world.
I'd like to think so but obesity surely isn't the only cross-cultural "contamination" creeping into Europe... and corporate working hours is a lot less exciting in the press (so gets less attention).
Out of site, out of mind, until they have a nervouse breakdown or go off on stress leave, which happens all the time with the big companies.
As the saying goes, you can't flog a dead horse, but one that keeps moving.....
However, coming back to the OP, they are not a 'real' employee of a swiss firm, but a contractor working either direct or via an agency.
Agencies really don't give a about the contractors as long as the money keeps coming in.
You're right, I used my powers of deduction to assume they were in IT, with the 'half my team is in India' line.
I could be very wrong.
Anyway, OP has 'Zurich - soon to be Manchester', so for him, the battle is nearly over, I hope.
you mean it wasn't you about the 3 mil package?
Aw, menace I feel bad for you with the kids and all. That sounds very tough.
I usually leave for work at 6:10 and arrive home around 7:30 or 8pm. I work longer than my counterparts at work because I commute for 3 or so hours every day. So if it's a long day I might not get home until 11 or so.
I feel pressured to get to work early, take a short lunch or eat at my desk and stay late. We don't get paid for overtime, which my swiss bf can't believe because he wouldn't stay later than 5pm if he didn't get his overtime hours for it.
Still, I find it's much better conditions than if I were in the US. I get paid double for an entry level position and I have twice as much vacation time. I wouldn't get 4 weeks holiday anywhere in the US!
I usually get home at around 4:20pm.
We have a 42.5 hour week, so with 30 mins for lunch this generally means approx. 9.00-18.00 or 10.00-19.00. If I wanted I could get in much earlier and leave much earlier . . . might do this in Summer.
My commute back to Kreis 2 is 40 minutes, so it all works out fine. In London I lived close enough to walk to work in 20 minutes . . . I miss that.
I get up at 7 a.m, leave the house at 8 a.m, in the office by 8.30 latest. No lunch break, leave again somewhere between 4 and 5 p.m., if there's loads of work I leave later or I'll come in at the weekend. Pretty regular and structured, but then it's my own company, so I set the rules
I'm a bit confused about how the OP's employers are not breaking Swiss working time rules. I thought they were fairly strict on that here . . . certainly they worry about it this firm (multinational/finance firm).
I wish my husband would adopt that attitude, the last time i saw him was monday
Get in about 7:15, get home about 4:45. :-)
Some of it, though, is less American corporation culture (which of course does play a part) and more the simple time zone difference. My hubby's company is the European office of an American company, so he and his colleagues here are effectively working a double shift: his counterparts over the Pond regularly schedule telecons to take place at 10pm Swiss time.
Mostly he goes along with it - he loves his job, accepts it as part of the bigger salary deal, etc - but if it gets out of hand, he reins it back in by scheduling meetings which involve them over there getting up at 4am.
kodokan
At this time of year, I leave my house at 6.45, to be at work for 8.00; I'm expected to remain on the premises until 16.00, but I'll usually stick around till five or six to finish off.
In the Autumn, though, it's a whole different story - it isn't unusual to roll home after nine o' clock.
Fortunately, twelve weeks' holiday a year makes up for that...
Too funny!!
...what is funny??
It's a combination of being able to leave on time as he's 'in management' and not having to stop to buy a ticket for his journey home.