Salary and hours worked

[HiveQueen]

I’m just wondering what salary you would expect to work more hours than contracted?

I’m contract to work 37 hours a week and earn approx £35,000. I regularly work more than these hours to fit in everything I need to and am always behind in responding to emails. I am efficient and have a high output (which has been feedback to me by my manager) which I think is why I am given a high workload.

I’ve been talking to a friend who is on a similar salary who will never go beyond her contracted hours. On a salary of £35,000 would you expect to work additional hours?

Some days I feel aggrieved, others I think it’s reasonable. It will settle the internal argument I have to hear others opinions.

Fantastic advice thank you. You have settled my mind a lot.

You’re right that it does have an impact on others when someone does work additional hours. This is partly the reason I do it and why I’m conflicted about it.

It depends if you're in a professional job. Teachers, lawyers, accountants all work over their contracted hours as a matter of course. I started on 16k 20 years ago and have regularly worked 50 hours a week rising to 60 in busy times. Paid for 37.5 falling to 29 when I went PT. So do 5 days for the price of 4 rather than 6 days for the price of 5. Am I a mug? Maybe, but its worth it to me. I'm in a senior role and it's well paid.

It’s completely industry and company dependent and variable. And you’re get a mixed response here; I had a thread later pulled about being contacted on holiday, the consensus here was suck it up, although irl it was pretty unanimous that it wasn’t ok.

@OooPourUsACupLove

I always have, since the first salaried job (as opposed to an hourly wage). I don't like leaving thoughts half-thought or jobs half-done overnight, so I find it less stressful to work later and finish when my brain says I'm finished. Paradoxically given what I said about finishing stuff I also get distracted a lot during the day, and I find it less stressful to follow the distraction and finish the job later than keep pushing my brain back on task. (The distractions are all work so they do add value, and I have considered I may have ADHD).

I realise it's just the way I am and I'll do it whatever job I'm in, so I've taken the opposite view and gone for higher paid jobs where working longer hours/to the task not clock is expected. Figure if I'm going to do it I might as well get paid for it.

I’m like that and I have ADHD…

If it happens on a regular basis I would have a word with the manager. Too much unpaid overtime means people are unhappy and unhappy people are leaving.

It also depends on your role, the more senior you are the more working outside your box is expected but again, in lots of cases it is mismanaged work flow and responsibilities.

I do unpaid overtime whenit comes to projects but I know that it is appreciated and normally compensated in some way, higher bonus the next year, promotion, general acknowledgment in the company. But it may be once a year or similar and my boss is aware and happy to route my normal work to others if I struggle.

Depends entirely on your roll- I’m an assistant and that was my starting wage at my current work place. I have to work any hrs needed which I’ve never minded- also when I tried to resign for a better paying job they bumped me up by 13k- honestly go above and beyond to up your worth even if it isn’t paying that at the moment.

I earn £45k. I dont have a 9-5 mentality in that I'm available outside my contracted hours in an emergency or if I can help someone and I will stay late to sort out a particular issue or crisis, but I refuse to routinely work longer hours and I do expect flexibility. So if I've had a period of working late to get something finished and I want an hour off for something, I'd ask, but I'd expect to get it. (And I do)

Completely depends on the industry and career progression. Eg when I started I was on that salary as a graduate and worked 80hrs/week (corporate law). But my salary went up massively every year and at 6 figures you absolutely work well in excess of what you’re contracted for. However, if that was my salary with little scope for progression I’d be sticking much closer to my contracted hours.

Why would you work extra hours for free?

I can’t get my head around this, surly the whole point of going to work is to get paid, so why would you do it with not getting paid?

I understand career progression, but unless it’s guaranteed, I wouldn’t work for free at all.

When I was teaching full time my contract said 25 hours a week. Not bad salary at around 30k. Only that didn’t even cover the hours the children were in and I was working 50+ hours just in the building some weeks.
I would say that no one I know works less than or their required hours. It’s just the culture now. Shouldn’t be….

Something is wrong with your company, either people are slacking or there's too much work for the amount of employees. Working over your contracted hours means you are allowing your colleagues to slack or allowing the company to take on too much work for how many employees they have. Quit the extra hours and let your colleagues pick up the slack or the company will have to take on extra staff to cover the workload. Whilst you're doing extra this won't happen.

@MajorCarolDanvers why not?

It's pretty normal of most contracts in my workplace to have overtime built into our contracts. And a time for time aspect too of course. For example I stayed an extra hour yesterday to sort something but I will be finishing tomorrow at 2.30 (all going well) and If for some reason I don't finish until 3.30 then I will put it in as an hour overtime

@qualitygirl

In my sector contracts specifically say you will not be paid overtime. But TOIL is given in return for additional hours worked.

So my expectation is based on my experience. Your different expectation is based on your different experience.

Nothing extra. Teacher, headteacher and education adviser contracts state 'and as many hours as the service demands'.

I work way over my hours but get them back as work flexi time. Had some lovely days off recently with flexi hours owed.

@MajorCarolDanvers

On a salary I wouldn't expect any overtime payments.

However I would expect to get the hours back as Time Off In Lieu

I work flexi time. So there are times I do longer days to get things completed.

But you can be sure as hell I will make sure I get that time back when it suits me.

If you are having to constantly work over to get the work done, then something is wrong.

@TractorAndHeadphones
I’m like that and I have ADHD

Thank you, it's really helpful to hear from people with similar ways of thinking. I do suspect it. I've actually got a referral for assessment but keep forgetting to follow it up except when it's the middle of the night and I can't call...which is kind of telling also I guess

I have been retired now for 7 years. Before I finished I was on £18,000 pa (PA to Directors of the company). Official hours 37 per week but in effect we were all expected (Directors included) to just work the hours needed to be the job. I probably averaged 43-45 hours a week. Usually had lunch at my desk. I did bring up the question of getting some part-time help in but never got anywhere. To be fair the directors were not on huge salaries and worked very long hours. At one time they were trying to block a hostile take-over of the company and two of them worked 7 day weeks for two months.

At one time we were all having to record our hours just before the European Working Time Directive (no more than 48 hours per week) was due to be bought in. One of my bosses got to Wednesday lunchtime and said he had already done his 48 hours and could he go home now. He didn't and eventually the company became very successful but it didn't come about by luck.

I’m also on flexi time, I’m contracted for 37.5 hours anytime I work above I accrue flexi and take random days off when it suits me.

If I didn’t get flexi I wouldn’t be going above and beyond - I work to live not live to work

I think it depends on the job. DH is a software engineer and logs every hour he does as overtime and is paid for it accordingly.

Dsis works in HR and doesn’t get paid overtime but works maybe ten hrs a week over her basic.

Both on c£70k.

Much, much earlier in my career, I often worked long hours because I had sooo much to learn in a very steep learning curve.

I was trusted with ever bigger projects, remunerated very well and quickly promoted into more interesting roles.

In those days, it never occurred to me to take back 'time in lieu'.

Nowadays, I am much more comfortable and do take time for myself in the fallow periods and only pull out all the stops when I really need to.

Even so, I noticed at the beginning of lockdown that I was spending more time at my desk, mostly because there was a little else interesting to do.

How efficient are you in other areas of your life? That is usually a good test of whether you are being given too much or just need to manage your workload better.

My full time salary is 33k this is based on a 35 hour week. I only do 18.5 hours a week at the moment but even full timers don't work over their set hours on a regular basis. I will often do half hour or so more if I need to finish up but try not to as much as possible. If we are really busy we are usually offered flex time which everyone hates as it's usually difficult to take back the time when you actually want it. Occasionally perhaps a couple of times a year if volumes are very high we get paid overtime but often just at standard rate. I wouldn't be happy in a job where I was expected to regularly work additional hours with no reward

Think about the extra fee hours you work. If there’s five in your team say and you all do an hour extra a night that’s almost a full time post’s worth!!

If you didn’t do that free work the company would have to hire someone else.

Lots of good hard working educated professionals have been made redundant during covid.

If your company stepped up that could take someone out of unemployment. I know I was very grateful for jobs, having been made redundant three times in my lifetime.

You’re not doing anyone my favours by working for free. Stop it. Join the union and work towards a better home life balance and a better future for those about to lose their homes etc as they’ve lost their jobs an nobody’s hiring.

Just because ‘it’s expected’ or ‘it’s always been this way’ doesn’t mean it’s right. It’s not.

The only way to change bad to good is for us to stand up and stand firm. That’s how change is made. Brave people standing up and saying no more.

Just say no, sorry, my circumstances have changed and I will no longer be able to work for free outwith my standard hours.

@WhatsAppening

I think it depends on the job. DH is a software engineer and logs every hour he does as overtime and is paid for it accordingly.

Dsis works in HR and doesn’t get paid overtime but works maybe ten hrs a week over her basic.

Both on c£70k.

Where does your DH work that pays overtime, can you get me a job there too 😎

Unless he’s one of those senior roles that’s on call