I managed network/systems infrastructure at a small UK telecomms company. The CEO built the company from scratch and worked every day 7am to 7pm. My contract stated office hours between 8am and 16:30. So barring an emergency, I was out of the door at 16:32, no excuses, just a goodbye. I would still answer phone in after hours emergencies.
When I started, I worked alone. We grew, CEO hired more people and I became a team leader. I noticed the english folks all worked extremely long hours. Of course this included spending 40+% of worktime chatting in the kitchen, reading social media, discussing football and brownnecking CEO. My CEO, at first jokingly, started calling me “Mr Factory Worker” every time somebody wanted to schedule a late afternoon meeting and I excused myself. Later, he started poking fun at my “factory worker mentality” at every possible occassion, mentioning how my other colleagues seem to really want the company to prosper while I just run off after 8.5 hours. I politely told him he could fire half of them and productivity would only go up.
Fast forward 2 years and during my yearly performance review I ask for (occassionally) more than 1 home office day. Suddenly, I am no longer a good fit for the company unless I start giving more. It stung. A lot. I said I couldn't give more without sacrificing time with my family, so after 7 years I was let go.
Moved my family to a different country (German speaking one), starting over. Same type of job. Few months in, new CTO sits me down and proceeds to scold me for a full hour about my overtimes. Apparently, CEO noticed me working very late twice in 1 week and called CTO to ask if he's overworking me or if I'm unqualified to handle normal workload. (Yes, this is a twist in the story)
So I'm sitting there in disbelief and finally ask: “Am I supposed to be like a factory worker then?” And in response, I get a resolute: “38 hours a week, not a minute more without my permission. If you need more, you take time off next day or next week.”