Suppose you were offered your dream job, at the same location where you work now. You do have to work 8 consecutive hours a day but you can pick what time you start your shift.
What hour do you your shift to begin? all other things remain the same in your life, your spouses schedule, daycare/school.
This is a poll, please wait for the choices.
I chose 5 am because I am early riser, I can avoid traffic, and I can be home in the afternoon to enjoy daylight.
7am, I’d rather be home early than start later.
0700 works for me. If I had to start any later I’d catch commute traffic in both directions.
6 or 7 am sound perfect to me. It would get me out in time to like… live my life. Go out with friends, go to the bank, enjoy a little daylight, etc.
But that would be assuming that work is all I really have to do. In reality, I have school during the day, so I have to work 4-12 pm instead.
Hmm… I’m a night-owl, I’d rather work late into the night and sleep in late. Unfortuantely that’s wouldn’t be compatible with family life, but if it were just me I’d prefer to start work at 9pm and work overnight.
Flex hours… and I’m the CEO.
So, no thanks… the dream job sounds too much like work. Set time to start working… working 8 hours a day… what’s next, wearing pants?
I had this question posted to me a couple of years ago by my boss. We were shaking up the department schedules, and I was given second pick.
I used to work the 11-7 shift, which was nice for avoiding rush-hour traffic. However, since we switched to telecommuting, that’s no longer a concern. I went with 9-5, which lets me sleep until 8:45 and still have several hours in the evening with my family.
I had flex hours from 10am to 6:30pm for a couple years. Worked out well. No traffic and I was actually alert at work.
I would do 11-7 if I had a choice. I start at 8.30 and work until about 6.30 most days anyway. If I didn’t have to start until 11 at least I could socialise at the pub too without suffering too much the next day.
As a college student, my summer job was a lifeguard. hours were 11 am to 7 pm. Perfect hours for college student. (legal min Drinking age in NY was 18 at the time).
I hate fighting to stay awake at 2 am on a Saturday and trying to go to bed at 11 pm during the week. So I like to work at 10 am and go to bed at 1 am. Then I don’t have two schedules going.
I picked don’t want to work/other. Of course winning the lottery and never working would be ideal 
but honestly I would prefer flex time - any 8 hours of the day as long as I get them in, but figured for 40 during the week so if I wanted to work 4 10 hour days, I could.
I once worked a wierd shift, for lack of a better term, 3 12 hour days, with a partial day on saturday - but the 3 days varied during the week as I was needed. I actually rather liked it as it left me plenty of time to do random stuff during the day [this was pre-internet] I had another job that I worked 5 days, but tuesday and wednesday were my days off - specifically so I would be off work on WoW patch day. any appointments or errands I needed to run I could get done while it was down, and I was there when it came back up to play any new content early =) I also never had to miss work if I needed a doctors appointment =)
10 or 11am would be delightful. Fuck you, “normal business hours”.
I waffled a bit between choosing midnight or 6 a.m. Certainly, the former would work better with my spouse’s schedule, but I don’t like sleeping during the day. It just seems wrong somehow. So I’d rather start at 6 a.m. and be done by 2 p.m. That way I’d get to spend more time with my kids and would be able to get more done. I think.
When I can, I go with 10:30am-X. Most important for me is that I can actually be conscious for the hours I’m awake.
I have flex hours, and I go in at 9 or a bit before. My wife would prefer for me to go in at 8, but if I did I’d stay until 6 anyway.
I answered 9pm, but would like to do a 12 hour shift instead of 8. Figure I could work 9pm to 9am during the overnight, 7 days on, 7 days off. Since I plan on working as a pharmacist, that is the overnight shift at most 24 hour pharmacies.
I’m a morning person and would rather have more of my afternoon. I would have said 7:30 if that were an option. I chose 8 just to give myself some leeway for the sleepy mornings.
I picked noon, and I am happy to say that is my real starting work time.
Work is within walking distance and I have no spouse or kids, so traffic and family are zero factors. I wake at 11:30am, arrive at noon, and get home whenever I’m done. It’s nice.