Carpooling doesnt work for the US corporate professional. I know husband and wife's who couldnt do it , and they worked for the same comapny and both were high level management. They can come and go as the please and even they said it couldnt work.
Is it really like that in USA? Not here. You'll have much more predictable hours as a rank and file employee.
Nevertheless, my wife and I (pretty reasonably high management level) often trainpool. That is, we find a way to be in the same train (not that we need to of course), even though we are unlikely to finish right at the same time. But in the meantime you can do stuff on your computer, buy the groceries, get registered at a local library and pay a visit, call friends, just plain take a walk, answer the backlog of mails, write a poem...
If we can do it with a train (not everytime of course -but then if one gets in an emergency until 11pm you can always make contingency plans) when it's just for the sake of the 30mn together, I'm sure carpooling once a week must be doable for the not too obtuse. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
I would say that in a typical large company (computer, biotech, financial), most employees arrive in the office between 8:00 and 9:00 and leave between 5:00 and 6:00. But perhaps 5-10% will arrive at 6:00, and 10-20% will stay past 7:00 in the evening. Off-site lunches can easily exceed an hour and a half. Many people also work at home, either reading email (managers) or working on their projects (engineers), even during weekends.
Also it is not unusual to take an afternoon off for a dentist appointment, and Elk Fever is a frequent excuse for absence during hunting season.
The technicians (lab bench workers, system operators, phone support people) have more tightly constrained hours, but practically every organization has some form of flexible time. Retail workers have even wierder schedules, usually involving some sort of rotating shift system so that our typical 7-days-a-week, 12-hours-a-day opening hours can be covered.
My limited experience in Europe is that the working environment there is more structured than in the U.S. People here work 45-50 hours a week, but not on a fixed 8 to 5:30 schedule.
There might be a difference in weekly working hours for the employees and workers, but mainly in large companies. The working time schedule you mention :
most employees arrive in the office between 8:00 and 9:00 and leave between 5:00 and 6:00. But perhaps 5-10% will arrive at 6:00, and 10-20% will stay past 7:00 in the evening. Off-site lunches can easily exceed an hour and a half. Many people also work at home, either reading email (managers) or working on their projects (engineers), even during weekends.
For high-level management, in most of the companies, working hours are not limited and there is no fixed time schedule.
"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
