Working hours

[Retrofair]

I've recently been offered a new job and in the proposed contract are some clauses which to my mind seem pretty unreasonable in relation to working hours and I'd be interested in what other people think. The first one is that it states "Your normal working week will be a minimum of 22.5 hours per week". It then goes on to say "The company may need you to work additional hours as necessary for proper performance of your duties in the interest of the company without additional renumeration. This may mean you work in excess of normal business hours and in some cases at weekends or public holidays". This worries me as whilst I'm not adverse to working more hours where needed this seems hugely weighted in their favour with no form of recourse for me if I ended up continuously working excessive hours. The contract is at complete odds to the flexible, forward thinking working culture they present

[mummastripes]

Something like this is written into my contract, also in all job descriptions at my organisation it says 'anything else the business may see fit relevant to the grade of the position'. I think this is pretty standard but others may be able to advise

[squidgesquodge]

I think this is standard for any job where you're not being paid hourly. How many hours you do in total will depend on industry norm and then behaviours in your company. Some places you may have to do an extra half hour once every few months; others you will do a couple of hours extra every week; others will expect you to do huge numbers of extra hours.

[Biggreygoose]

Absolutely standard for salaried employee.

It's been in mine ever since I started working (many years and many companies ago).

I work for an extremely flexible company and its still on there. As @squidge said, it's the culture of the industry and the office that really determines what it means.

[ElinoristhenewEnid]

Surely this is unfair if you are part time - effectively they could be getting full time hours for part time pay. When I have worked part time I was paid overtime up to full time hours at normal hourly rate. These were salaried posts. Overtime after that was at 1.5 but that is another subject!

[Retrofair]

@ElinoristhenewEnid this was one of my main concerns too. With my current employer I also work 3 days a week and easily do at least 4 days a week work for them which is one of many reasons why I want to leave. With this new role I will go up to 4 days after a few weeks so will hopefully longer term be properly remunerated for the work I do.