(I'm doing that right now.)
My goal as a manager is to promote better work hygiene in my employees. Which was supposed to be the point of my comment, probably should have left off how I personally have dealt with this.
Are you sure about that? You're a manager. Responding to your parent comment about managing worker's perceptions of their team members: In the case that someone wants to leave at 3 because they got there at 6, why not just explain to everyone that it is, in fact, okay (or even encouraged)?
One of my employees does this by spending the morning hours managing his inbox and otherwise catching up. Additionally, he always makes a fresh pot of coffee right when getting in. The coffee maker has a 2 hour heat timer, so when it dings at 8:30am it's a clear indication he was in the office early.
You don't have to be blatant. He isn't, but he's well known as the guy in the office that likes working super early, and no one gets bent when he steps out of the office by 4pm. They occasionally whine about how it's unfair he's a morning person and gets to enjoy the afternoon sun, but it's jovial joking about their night owl habits compared to his morning habits.
Basically, having a good team that understands and respects each other is the key. If you don't have that you miss out on many of the good parts.
"Hey guys, I know we are an non-profitable early-stage startup, but do you think we could all try to stick to 8 hour work days?"
I find it interesting that everyone always assumes that working more hours means less quality of life. I thoroughly enjoy my job, so spending more time doing it does not detract from anything.
"Only 13 percent of people worldwide actually like going to work"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2013/10...