It’s the end of the workday. You’re ready to bounce. But you feel compelled to check in with your boss. For many workers, it feels like the appropriate thing to do. But as one viral TikTok makes clear, those norms may be changing.
The skit—which has more than 20 million views—asks whether it’s okay to leave at 5: An employee walks into the boss’s office. “I’m heading out,” she informs him.
“Wow—5 p.m. right on the dot. I just love your work-life balance,” he responds sarcastically.
“The workday ends at 5,” she, very fairly, points out.
The post then opens up the debate to the comments section: Do you leave at 5 o’clock on the dot? Do you finish up what you’re working on and drift out sometimes between 5 and 6 p.m.? Or do you ensure you are always the first one in and the last one out of the office?
Naturally, people were divided.
Some stood by the fact that they will work the hours they are paid to work, not a minute longer. “If I’m prepped and ready to work at 8 I’m prepped and ready to leave at 5,” one wrote.
“Go to the bathroom from 4:30-5. Then go home,” another suggested.
“I’m in my car at 4:56,” another added.
In many workplaces, though, staying put at your desk past 5 p.m. or until your boss has packed up and left is the unspoken rule. “I always believed you show up 10 mins before you start and leave 10 mins after you time is done,” one commenter wrote.
“If you’re paid until 5, you work until 5. It takes a few minutes to gather your things,” another added.
Checking in with your boss can be an act of transparency and open communication. But it could give a toxic boss an opportunity to make you work late when there’s no need. It could also be a sign of a fawn response, in which you suppress your own needs for validation from an authority figure. And staying until your boss leaves (or hanging around trying to look busy) can be a form of presenteeism, which could lead to burnout and isn’t even good for the company’s bottom line.
In the U.S., employees are already expected to work more hours than their counterparts in most other nations. Taking off promptly at 5 p.m. has long been a trait managers could judge you on. But whether it’s seen as lazy or simply setting healthy work-life boundaries is changing.
For the first time ever in 2024, recruiting agency Randstad’s yearly survey of 26,000 workers around the world found work-life balance surpassed pay as a key motivator for employees. Within those firm boundaries, “9 to 5” means “9 to 5,” regardless of salaried status.
“If you’re micromanaging a few minutes,” one commenter on the TikTok post said, “I don’t wanna work for you.”
It’s currently still an employer’s market, which may empower managers to feel no qualms about asking direct reports to work late. Of course, that won’t last forever. But the debate on whether bosses should keep people past 5 might.
“People don’t quit jobs,” said one commenter. “They quit managers.”
