How early should I come to work?

19 comments

1. Hourly? 1 femtosecond before clockin

2. In the words of the great RuPaul: unless they’re paying your bills, pay them bitches no mind.

3. My man, I don’t go that early for my full-time job in one of the biggest companies in this
   Country, i time my train to be the closest possible to the clock. Imagine a part-time one where they barely pay enough to be worth it. Just ignore it. Even if it was normal to come early, it isn’t, you don’t need to subject yourself to it, ride your gaijin card till the end

4. Fuck that noise. Just because Tanaka-san comes to work early and stays 3h late each day to impress the boss on a meaningless job, doesn’t mean you have to.

   It’s a job. A part-time one at that. No reason to join in on the meaningless Japanese workplace shenanigans. You are there when you get paid for it. You go home when you are not.

5. If you are ready to work when your shift starts, you’re fine.

   In my previous job I had a female colleague who would park her car three minutes before 8 (when work starts). We started radio exercise at 8 and I (German) would joke about her (Japanese) always cutting it this close. She was never late though.

   Me, I always came in half an hour early. It’s a habit. I hate being late. Really hate it. On the other hand I rarely ever worked after hours. She did.

   TLDR: Personal preference. If you’re not late you’re golden.

6. Each workplace has its own culture – and there may even be sub-cultures within that. Consider scouting around and notice when other people typically arrive. Or, ask the チーフ or shift manager or whatever they have at your place, how much time he thinks it would normally take a person to get ready for their shift. No harm in asking.

   I don’t think this is so much a “Japan Life” question as just a run of the mill workplace question. But for sure in Japan, 誠意 can usually mean coming in with time to spare.

7. Depends on your work, but if it’s part-time, there is no problem unless you have to change dresses or get ready for the job. But for example, if there is a time-card located, you should punch exactly at 6pm and get the work started at the same time.
   The 15-20 minutes before case applies if there’s a job interview. You should atleast be there 10 minutes before.

8. It is like listening to haters. You will never make them happy.

   You will come 30 minutes early and they will complain that you come too early.

   You are not late, there is no issue.

9. 5 minutes early is fine as long as your boss hasn’t specified otherwise, don’t think too much about it.

10. You’re an adult. You decide how close you want to cut it. That being said 5 minutes can be the difference between getting on a train or having to watch it go and wait for the next one, or the elevator stopping on every floor before yours, or a combination of such small factors. If your particular job is time critical then 5 minutes does seem risky

11. Really, what that coworker means is you shouldn’t have left the day before and just slept there over night waiting all day to do your actual work shift like any good Japanese wage slave.

12. it’s a **JOB**.

    No different than any other, in any country.

    If they’re not paying you, you shouldn’t be there.

13. not too late!

14. I clock in giri giri, go to the toilet to powder my nose. If it’s summer, I freshen up a bunch. And be on my desk 5-10min after 9am, or on the dot. I don’t want to jinx it but never cared what they’d think, but I hope no one will have the “audacity” to tell me off. Go home on the dot most days too.

15. Always plan to be 15 mins early. That way if the train is slightly delayed you still make it 5 mins early. Also leaves time just incase of poop.

16. It’s a part time job. You should be clocking in exactly at your start time and clocking out exactly at your finish time. Nothing they can do about it.

17. As long as you’re ready to rock n roll when your shift actually starts, 5 min early is good enough. If you’re coming in right on time but aren’t actually ready to work when your shift starts, and that happens often… Then yea that’s probably not too good.

    I personally try to leave for work 30min or so earlier than i need to because i know sometimes I will…

    1. Miss my train.
    2. Mistakenly take the wrong train.
    3. Get off at the wrong stop/forget to get off cause I’m YouTube surfing (lol)

    Even after so long in Japan i still sometimes make stupid mistakes like those hah.

18. I have always arrived between 5 to 2 minutes before the job starts, and everybody knows it, no one complains. I’m full time employee
    There are people who arrives 1, 2 heck even 3 hours before time
    To the point some people say “do they have a home?” No matter the time you arrive, someone will always say something. Just ignore, you aren’t getting paid for that

19. As somebody else mentioned here as long as your ready to work on time I don’t think there will ever be a problem.

    If they require you to be there earlier they will tell you and that’s just something you have to live with in Japan(That’s actually very common).

    I’ve been on both sides of the fence.

    Once I had a job that required me to have a meeting 15 mins before work everyday without pay.

    I had another job where I would turn up maybe 2mins early if that, at that particular job most other employees were working from about 15-20 mins before work and one employee complained to me, they ended up getting told off as my boss overheard them complain. My boss basically told them that I’m always ready to to work on time and that nobody needed to be there earlier.

    ​

    I think she was probably just envious how “girigiri” you turn up because its not something she would be comfortable doing.

    I wouldn’t think about it too much unless your boss mentions it.