I've read a couple of things which seem to contradict each other.

1. The standard working week is 40 hours (ignoring the fact that some people are, or feel, obliged to work longer)

2. The standard working day is 9am to 5pm

Problem: 9 to 5 is 8 hours, and 5 days a week gives you 40 hours; but where does lunch fit into that!?

I am not working right now, but hubby works for the Gov't here, he works from 7:30am till 4:30pm 5 days a week. That is a 9 hour day with 1 hour for lunch, he gets paid for 8 hours, but he never takes a lunch hour.

He gets paid overtime for anything above his normal work hours, but right now, they have cut overtime 'pay' he gets comp hours instead.

Forget lunch and forget holidays

some companies (and that's not many) expect you to take 30mins for lunch, which you are paid for. And a lot of comapnies operate a core hours policy where you have to be in the office "working" at ceratin times of day, allowing some flexibility for arrival, lunch breaks and departure. Basically as long as you do 40 hours per week, they don't care when you take lunch (within reason)

I work 8am to 5pm with an hour for lunch. I am not paid for my lunch hour. I can choose how much time to take for lunch, but it has to be at least 1/2 hour and I have to put in 8 hours a day. That's generally the rule, we're flexible when we need to be here at our office.

Lunch?!! Ha!!

I work 13 hour shifts and they deduct 30 minutes per shift from my paycheck for "lunch"......which I never get!

I work 8am to 6 pm Monday through Thursday with an hour for lunch (unpaid) and 8am to Noon on Friday's with no lunch! That's 40 hours!

Dh does 4 ten hour days, which is really four 10.5 hr days as they don't pay for lunch.

I'm salaried, and work from about 8.15 - 4.45. Sometimes I take a lunch break, sometimes not.
Naomi.

I'm supposed to work 8 til 5 but generally they're lucky if I get to work before 8:30. I usually eat lunch at my desk so there's no real lunch break but then I am the only one who travels to work as the office is part of my bosses' house. The only time I take an hour or more for lunch is pay days when I have to travel to the bank to pay my money in and spend most of that time in the car

Previous gig had core hours of 10-4...generally work hours were 9-6pm...but reality was 8-7 or later.

Lunch isn't included in the work day, nor any breaks

In my old job I was a post-doc at a university, which means I was absolutely free to come and go as I pleased. If I didn't turn up for a week, nobody noticed. Under those circumstances I worked very flexible hours, doing massive 30-hour shifts followed by a couple of days of relaxing. The ivory towers are hard to beat.

My new job is with a big drug company. Total flexi-time, as long as I am in for meetings, and meet my targets. They don't care where or when I do the work, since I am a programmer and can work remotely. The company seems to have a Google approach to employment so I am looking forward to it. Good benefits and what seems like a good atmosphere.

I have heard a lot of working people here in the US, work much longer hours and get less holiday time than workers in the UK? Also a lot more 'retired' folks go back to work here too it seems. Both of hubby's retired parents are back working again.

Lunch??

Lunch gets tagged onto the end of the day and they think they're doing you a favor... If you want a midday lunch break work from 8am to 5pm or 9am to 6pm.

Personally, my hours are 40 hours a week... We do 24x7 shifts so I have some flexibility, but my lunch break generally lasts for no more than 10 minutes (taken sitting at my desk working).

Yup, case of be seen to work longer rather than smarter...and yeah, retired folks working at walmart etc just for medical insurance benefits.