Only 55 per cent of people who signed up to the “Go Home on Time Day” campaign actually left the office on time, with many respondents blaming their bosses for not letting them go home.
Of the 20,000 people who registered for a “leave pass” to get out of the office on time on 25 November, just in excess of half actually put it to use on the day, a follow up survey by The Australia Institute revealed.
Some people reported opposition to the idea of “Go Home on Time Day” from managers, with respondents saying that bosses intentionally loaded them with work because they knew what day it was – one saying that management laughed at the idea and another instructing employees to not even say the phrase “Go Home on Time Day” out loud.
Overall the most common reasons cited were having too much to do (68 per cent), colleagues were working late (11 per cent), forgot to go home on time (7 per cent) and the boss made them stay late (7 per cent).
Some of the other reasons why people didn’t leave the office were: “a last minute job had to be done before I left the office; a late meeting was called and ran overtime; I had to wait for an important email from a foreign country; I got “in the zone”; I had a presentation the next day and I have an unrealistic boss who expects 12 hours unpaid overtime per week.
