Exactly correct. What are they going to do, fire you?

Wish I could upvote this 23879 times. Push for the off-boarding to be done as soon as you get there. Work 2 hours and leave with a big smile on your face.

Agreed, but definitely make sure you tell your boss in advance that is what you are going to do. Him being surprised will make the short day seem worse than it is.

@DJClayworth - Exactly this. A very brief email confirming that you're going to need to leave promptly for some reason (medical appt, picking up a family member from the airport, etc etc) is a good way to set the expectation that you're going to leave at the appointed time and not after

I'm not sure working for free = slavery. I might stay for a little extra time if it I knew the person that would be taking over my work and they were my friend, and I knew I'd be screwing them otherwise. Other than that, good answer.

And CC HR on the email, you don’t know how your boss has communicated this situation to the company

@Martijn The reason is stated in the answer, what else to give? OP is only contracted to work two hours - what else to state?

I had to double-check that it was not Kilisi answering. Well done, sir Brian.

@Richard I see no particular reason to give a reason, especially a made-up one. "Hi Boss, Just to confirm I will be leaving at midday on my last day (Friday) per contract. Wish you the best of luck in the future." Done.

@LightnessRacesinOrbit - I was thinking that if you give them a firm reason, they can't really then try to brow-beat you into staying for 'just a few more minutes'

@Richard Fair enough but I feel it sets a bad precedent, if only for those that come after you. "Sorry, no, I have to go now" should be enough!

@LightnessRacesinOrbit - This individual seems to feel that it's highly likely that their boss will push them. The easiest way to push back is to make the leaving time non-negotiable.

@Richard Exactly! Providing a reason only opens yourself up to counter-reasoning. The way to make it non-negotiable is to state it directly without any deliberation. "No." Just like this: "no".

@LightnessRacesinOrbit - I disagree. "No" (without offering any explanation for your refusal) is the opening of an argument and bad feeling. "I have a non-changeable dental appointment" is the end of the argument since it's an external motivator.

@Richard If you find yourself forced to lie to avoid conflict then you've already lost. "Can you stay a bit longer?" "Sorry, no." "Why not?" "Because my contract ends at midday." "But..." "No." Learning to just say no without equivocating or giving ground is a crucial skill. This has already been well-covered across Workplace and Interpersonal too, though, so we can just agree to disagree without rehashing it :)

@Richard I think that saying "because my contract ends at midday" is a firm enough reason.

@DJClayworth I think it depends on if the situation has been actually brought up, or if this is an unspoken assumption that he will stay the entire day. If it's just an assumption by the boss, I don't really see the point in calling attention to the fact that you are only working your contracted hours. I could see that decision also making your day a lot worse for those two hours than just leaving after two hours. It gives your boss 2 hours to annoy you about your decision to only work the contracted amount. It seems like it could be easier to just work as per your contract.

@JMac If you suspect that someone is making different assumptions than you, it is almost always worth mentioning this. If you don't, then the boss gets angry (no matter how unjustifiably); then even less gets done that day, and you part on a bad note. If you let him know early he gets to calm down and realize he might have made a wrong assumption. Nobody likes to get unpleasant surprises, even if it was due to an unwarranted assumption.

@DJClayworth The flipside is that he spends those 2 hours bothering you trying to get you to stay. That seems like it would also "make the short day seem worse than it is". I really think this depends on how rational the boss actually is. In a world where everyone is reasonable, definitely. Without knowing more about the specifics though, it just sounded to me like your suggestion could actually cause the thing you were trying to prevent with some people.

@JMac In my view he's more likely to spend two hours getting you to stay if you tell him only at the start of those two hours.

@DJClayworth I think that's likely, but it's also still possible he bothers you for the day. There's really no guarantee that he behaves rationally. I don't see why you would necessarily need to tell him at the start of the two hours either. It depends on a ton of factors. For example, does OP usually only work 2 hours on Friday, or is this a special circumstance for this week in his contract? That would make a large difference IMO.

@JMac It doesn't matter. The OP and his company have a contract signed by both that says when he works on Friday. OP seems to understand the terms, if the company doesn't, that's their problem.

@Blrfl That seems to support my point. I don't get why you would want to specify when you are leaving at all if it's already clear from your contract. It seems like it could be minimally stressful to just leave at the end of your contracted work and let them deal with the consequences if they aren't ready. I don't know if emailing them the day before would help, or just have them breathing down your neck for two hours the next day.