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Comment by howeyc | Hacker News Reader

Do 9-5 jobs with paid lunch exist?

Everything I've seen is either 8-5 or 9-6 or some variation of that. Heck, where I am now is 9 hour days plus they encourage you to take lunch, 7-5. Half-day Friday though.

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I have a friend who works for a large software company (SAS), and he works 9-5 with an hour lunch in the middle.

Some still do, I guess it largely depends on the company. Each company I've worked at the last several years were 9-5 or 10-6 with lunch break in the middle somewhere.

They (kinda) exist in Finland, as lunch is unpaid, but the workday is 7.5 hours and the workweek is 37.50 hours. Lunch is often optional, but a typical workday can be from 9 to 5 with a 30 minute lunch break. There can also be two ~10min "coffee" breaks in addition to the lunch break but they typically matter only in non-software development work environments..

Is 7.5 the standard workday in Finland or are you talking only about your case? If it's typical, it's very encouraging to read about it and it explains a lot about why it's mostly Scandinavian places that are willing to experiment with 6 hours also.

By law the maximum is 40 hours per week (8 hours a day). The length of the workday is determined by a "generally binding" collective labor agreement[1]. It depends on the sector you're working in, but is often 37.50 hours per week. In the IT industry it's almost everywhere 37.50 hour per week. Some sectors have a 40 hour work weeks, but have extra days off here and there to bring the average down to 37.50 hours.

1. http://www.tietoala.fi/english/

I work any hours I want basically, I just have to show up to weekly meetings. But I work for a startup where the success of the business is linked to my efforts. So it behooves me to eat a quick lunch and return to work.

It's the same with my vacation. In my agreement it said "vacation: as you see fit". I hope to use that the same way, responsibly.

It's not for everyone obviously. Some people don't work the same way and will take advantage.

> So it behooves me to eat a quick lunch and return to work.

As you stated, it's not for everyone. I went from a position with a mandatory half hour lunch to one where I had an optional lunch up to an hour long. I find that I'm much more productive when I take a full hour for lunch, and then stay an extra half hour after when I would normally leave. It really breaks up my day, and time doesn't seem to drag on towards the end of the day.

It also helps that I live close to work, so I can go home and play with my dog for a while. She has really good ideas, and has helped me get through some conundrums.

Depends on the country. They are very common outside of the U.S., but seemingly a lot less common in the U.S..

My co-workers have those hours. In at 9, 1 hour lunches, out at 5 on the dot most days. As a consultant, however, I'm paid hourly, so I get to stay late every night.

One of the things that marks a "salaried" job out from hourly paid is that there are normally no fixed hours - unfortunately a lot of employers do not seem to understand this.

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