Has anyone ever been on 'flexitime' as a postdoc?

In my new job I have clock in and out and I find it really frustrating and an inefficient use of my time. For example, the clocking in machine is downstairs, so if I want lunch, which I eat in my office, I have to go downstairs to clock out, then back up to eat, then back down to clock in then back up again etc. I find it really disruptive. Also, if I find out my PCR hasn't worked that day and I need it for tomorrow and it's now after 5pm and I want to run it again before I go home, I can do this but I'm too tired to be thinking/reading/writing whilst it's running, so usually I would read some random websites or chat to friends, but now I feel like I should be working whilst it's running because they are paying me to be there.

Personally I prefer just being paid for a 9-5 and if I'm there til 7pm because I'm procrastinating/paying bills/chatting to friends during the day that's up to me. I'm well aware of when I'm being productive and when I'm not. I hate the feeling of being time pressured all the time and that I can't have a 10 minute conversation in the lab with others because I'm not 'working' and they don't pay me to stand around and chat.

Anyone else in a similar situation? I know the solution is to suck it up and deal with it, but I can't help being annoyed about it. The universities where I did my MSc and PhD previously weren't like this. Why are PhD students allow to do whatever they want but postdocs are subjected to this pettiness? Are all research institutes like this? I knew there was a reason I hated them.

I've experienced this kind of system in other jobs (not academic ones) and agree that it's infuriating - the worst case was one job in which we had to put a certain code in to indicate when we went to the loo! However, I agree with Dunham that you shouldn't feel you have to be 'productive' all the time - studies of human productivity generally show that we reach something like 60% productivity at our best - ten minute chats are nothing to worry about.

I've never heard of this either. I generally come in late and leave a bit later, without anyone caring what hours I do as long as stuff gets done.

I'd be interested to know why it was brought in - was it that they want to know exactly what you're doing when, or was it because there was a previous culture of people being expected to work really long hours whilst only being recognised and paid for 9-5 hours?

I agree with other commenters about not feeling like you need to be productive all the time you are on the clock. Even in the evening, if you have to be there whilst the PCR is running, you should get paid for it. Whatever you are actually doing with that time.

Yeh, I've never heard of this for postdocs in academia before... Officially my contract specifies flexitime hours, and I'm supposed to be at my desk between 10 and 12 and 2 and 4 everyday. But... no one cares if I work from home, or if I work in the evening instead. It might be different if there were more people involved in my project. But, as long as the work is getting done no one seems to mind when it gets done. E.g. right now I'm in my office but am having a 10 minute internet break because I am struggling a bit with the whole "being smart" thing this morning.

Do they do the same with the academic staff? I know administrators at my uni officially have flexitime but there's no formal clocking in and clocking out. However, admin staff are expected to adhere to the flexitime rules more stringently but that's largely because a lot of their work can't be done elsewhere and they work more as part of a team.

How do the other postdocs handle it?

And do you actually get overtime pay?

I've experienced it before when I worked at a company too, and sometimes I think it is required, particularly for those staff that won't actually do any work unless someone is watching them, but I think when you get to postdoc level it's a bit much. Generally, we are in research because we want results, so not doing the work isn't helping anyone. It's been about 8 years since I've worked in a job where someone monitors what I'm doing every minute of the day so I'm finding the regression to this difficult.

I don't actually get paid for overtime, but I get the time back as flexitime, so I can take extra days off, but I still have to request them off, which doesn't sound very flexible to me...

I'm not sure why they brought this in the first place, because I've only been here a couple of weeks, but I expect it is because they have had issues in the past. I've read some of their other policies and it appears that their management solutions are a blanket approach for everyone when issues arise. For example, they had a fire so now they ban bunsen burners. I mean, seriously?? In a microbiology lab!?

The academic staff don't have to clock in and out and apparently I can come off it in six months time, as long as my PI agrees.

I haven't met any other postdocs yet to know how they deal with it, but I have joined the postdoc group here, so when they have the next meet up I can talk to them about it then.

It's good to know that other places don't have this, or when they do it's not enforced anyway, so it means I am less likely to encounter it in my next postdoc!

I imagine it might be because of time sheets. Some project funders, e.g. the EU, demand time sheets, for all full-time project employees, to prove that they are actually at work. If you have a flexitime system, then it's loads quicker to gather and send that information than it is to force each postdoc to fill in a daily form by hand. That at least is why I was on flexitime as a postdoc.
You know this won't go away? All full-time academic staff in the UK have to do something similar - every couple of months, you have to detail a full week's activities by the hour. This is demanded by the government to track what activities academics are spending their time on. It is really annoying. Additionally, there are some universities (I've heard Surrey is particularly keen on this) that demand academics are in their offices between certain core times i.e. most of the standard working day. Depending on who you work for, the claims that academia is a workplace where you determine your own working pattern are definitely fading.

Yes I have to fill in a separate timesheet too, to say which projects I have worked on, how many hours of meetings etc. This I don't mind - I only have to do it once a week and it's easy to get this information from my calendar. I didn't realise that some academics elsewhere have to do that too; I know that my PI said that he has to do it.

Well, I hope I get to work in an institution that resists this change for as long as possible.