Confused About My Working Hours as an Executive Assistant – Can I Leave at 6 PM?

My query is regarding the working hours in a manufacturing company. I am working as an Executive Assistant to the Director of XXX for 4 months. Now, the thing is, I am pretty much confused regarding the working hours. My company's HR Manual states that an employee's day would be counted as completed when they complete at least "8 Hours" from the time of arrival.

Understanding Working Hours

So, the confusion is, what are my real working hours? Most of the employees come around 9-9:30 am and leave at 6-6:30 pm. Am I entitled to leave at 6 o'clock? If I leave at 6 or 6:30, will my boss be offended? Please provide me with valuable suggestions.

Understanding Working Hours as per the Factories Act

As per the Factories Act, a worker shall not work for more than 48 hours in a week, which comes to 8 hours per day. Therefore, I do not find anything wrong with the manual. I also do not find anything wrong with people leaving at 6 or 6:30 p.m. as they report for duty at 9 or 9:30 a.m. Thus, they stay in the factory for a total of 9 hours, which may be bifurcated as 8 hours of work and one hour of rest interval.

Similarly, you can also count 8 hours of work plus one hour rest interval (total 9 hours) after you arrive for duty and decide at what time you can leave the factory. It is not that you can come at 10 a.m. and leave at 6:00 p.m. along with those who report at 9:00 a.m.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor

Dear Milan, My views are different from the legal angle. Mr. Saikumar has given views on legal aspects. Now let me say something from a career point of view. Let me ask some basic questions like what is your age, what is the length of your experience, and what is your qualification?

Why Executive Assistants Are Hired?

How are they different from Office Secretaries? Have you given due thought to these two questions? If not, then let me help you in answering them.

Executive Assistants are hired to reduce the workload of the Directors. While an Office Secretary does the mundane jobs of typing, maintaining the office, etc., he/she may not be competent enough to handle the high-level work of the Director. Ideally, this gap is filled by Executive Assistants. Are you doing a job of this kind where one requires knowledge of the industry or knowledge of management science itself?

Most directors' roles transcend across functions like Purchase, Finance, Marketing, HR, etc. Obviously, they cannot restrict their work to the eight-hour work formula. Spillover beyond the specific working hours is obvious. Since Executive Assistants get exposure to the decision-making process at the highest level, they are expected to put in long working hours without grumbling. Since you have started questioning the legal aspects of working hours, it appears that you are not finding much value in what you are doing. Now, this is your call on how to derive benefit from your position and improve your own decision-making capabilities. Will this varied exposure not be conducive to your growth? One fine day, will it not help you to get into the shoes of a Director?

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

I also second Mr. Dinesh Divekar. It depends on the job profile you are handling. If it requires responsibility, then you cannot treat yourself like other staff who are engaged in daily routine work. If required to complete a task/responsibility/work and to engage yourself for a few extra hours, then you are supposed to do so. The company is paying a premium amount for the said post.

As Mr. Dinesh V Divekar rightly pointed out, your working hours totally depend on the work profile entrusted to you. Moreover, in this computer age, no company requires a clock-watching employee, as we have to be competent in the field. Once your boss is satisfied with your performance during the initial stage, say the first year, even your boss can give you some relaxation in timings, etc. For all these, you have to be more competent as you are working as an "Executive Assistant" to the Director, which is not comparable with other employees.

Thank you.

While I agree with all the above observations and suggestions, I strongly feel you have a different role to play in the organization compared to other office staff. You are hired for a different purpose: to share the workload of the Director and ensure the smooth functioning of the organization. Certain roles cannot have fixed work hours, even though it may sound unprofessional from a legal point of view. Responsible roles have job scopes that go beyond the normal expectations, and the standards are very high. To meet these expectations, you need to go the extra mile. Only then will you be successful in your career. Hope you got the message! Happy working!

Regards,
B. Dakshina Murty

Dear Milan, your timing should be one hour before your boss arrives and half an hour after he leaves. It should not be less than 9 hours. You are working as a senior professional, not a regular worker of the company. Be proud of it. Make contributions with a growth chart rather than a time limit chart.

Regards,
Capt Rajeshwar Singh