Is it unreasonable to work contracted hours?

[Questionwork]

I have only ever had one job where I wasn’t expected or encouraged to work beyond my contracted hours. Bearing in mind I never received extra pay.

Yet again I find myself in a job where expectations are high, there isn’t enough manpower and to meet my deadlines I am having to work long hours.

I don’t work in banking or law or any sector where I’d be paid enough to work like crazy.

Is this normal? Will I ever find a normal 9-5 job? Does this even exist anymore?

Help!

Following as I am about to take leave and resolve AGAIN not to work more than my hours. I'm also not paid enough for it.

Maybe work out what your actual salary is when you work the extra hours to try and motivate you to say NO!! I think I'm going to do that e.g. 2 extra hours = this, 4 extra hours = this.

I think the thing to do is work your hours and wait until challenged for any later work. Worth keeping a record of what you do in your work hours. If challenged ask them for advice on priorities.

Are you salaried or hourly paid?

I think the thing to do is work your hours and wait until challenged for any later work. Worth keeping a record of what you do in your work hours. If challenged ask them for advice on priorities

This is the clever way around it.

Nope

Unless at OD, MD, COO, CEO level and then all the hours and then some can and will often be expected.

Depends on your contract. As someone said already if paid £ph I’d claim overtime. If not I’d have to do extra, I was expected in my contract to agree to opting out of the working time directive. But it was swings and roundabouts, I found if I put extra hours when they needed me I got more opportunities to leave early because of x, y,z or extra Time off when loved ones were ill.

I think it’s only really civil service I see working their hours. But think there are strict rules I think about sick days and leave?

Even when my contract has stated 9-5 I don’t think I’ve ever actually worked those hours....That said though, if I need a few hours off here and there during the working day then they are flexible with me so I don’t resent it

The more reactive or service-based your job is, the more you are likely to get stuck working overtime, because problems can land in your lap at the last minute and need urgent attention. If you aren't in that kind of job, then the problem is volume of work and poor organisation - either your own or the people who give you the work to do.

What do your colleagues do, especially
the working mums as typically they are the ones who leave on time? If they all manage to leave on time and arent sobbing with stress every day or on disciplinaries for poor performance, then it is you that is the "problem". Maybe ask a few colleagues who leave on time how they do it (Although in a lot of cases the answer is they go home and switch on laptops or attend to emails at weekends.)

I think many jobs have an expectation of some overtime occasionally but if it is significant and it is every single day then there is a staffing or a management problem.

If you've always worked overtime and you do it every day, i think it becomes a habit and whatever work you've got somehow stretches to fill the time. If you are obliged leave at 5.30pm, then unless there's an emergency you can usually manage it by being hyper-productive during the day.

You can wind the situation back, but you have to retrain the people around you to know that overtime is not your norm, otherwise someone will always be bothering you with a last minute request. One idea is to book a gym class after work, maybe twice a week, and make this widely known so that you leave bang on time those days. Without fail.

You have to push back on whoever keeps you late. For example, don't take on ANYTHING new in the last half hour of the day. Reply to emails and verbal requests n this 30 minute window with, "I'm just wrapping up my work for today. I'll have a look at your request by 9.15am tomorrow and let you know when I can get that work done." Then wait and see if they explode at you. Over time, people will realise they can't dump stuff on you last minute just because their own organisational powers are rubbish.

If you manage your own time during the day, you also need to keep a clear To-Do list, with all your activities on it, and an up to date calendar. If you have regular tasks, one idea is to mark a regular slot in your calendar with a realistic time frame to get the work done. In that space of time make it your sole focus. If that is impossible because your job requires you to keep an eye out for urgent messages it can be insanely disruptive. If you have IM at work eg Skype, if your calendar has a meeting in it then it should switch your status to "Busy". As back up have a phrase on your paste-board like, "hi, I'm busy with X until X o'clock, unless you need me urgently can you send an email instead of IM please?". If you are being constantly disrupted by customer requests and your priorities are chopping and changing all the time, then you need to talk to your manager about how to handle that. I had a colleague once on my team who replied to customer requests almost instantly, kicking off huge email chains which I needed to weigh in on to stop stupid things being agreed to. It was so time-consuming and my inbox was always groaning with unread mail. Email overload is a HUGE problem in some jobs. Monitor how long you spend on email and ask your manager for help if it is eating up an unreasonable portion of your day.

Lastly and I say this with kindness as i am AWFUL myself, but ask yourself if you:

• are a perfectionist. This can mean finishing tasks or wording emails can take longer than for a non-perfectionist.
• prevaricate and put off difficult or big tasks because you like the comfort of clearing off the easy wins first
• chat too much to your colleagues
• feeling entitled to be on your phone checking Insta or watching your puppy on the Doggie Cam or whatever for a portion of the day. A minute spent not working, is a minute you owe back to your employer.

Others in my workplace seem to do this. I’ve always been clear, I will work my contracted hours but if I work over I’m taking the time back in lieu.
Hourly they have to pay you but on salary they can average the hours out.

Now i’m a mom I have even more reason to leave on time. If there is pushback go to HR

Senior manager in HE, I work 30hrs/4 days a week and never anything extra unless I choose (very rarely!).
When I was younger I did, then I realised it didn’t make any difference at all. More you do, more you get. So I stopped doing it and nobody died. I don’t think anyone noticed in fact.

I work contracted hours, as does everyone else in my department. Our managing director has a very "work to live, don't live to work" attitude. It's a medium size family business.

@echt

I think the thing to do is work your hours and wait until challenged for any later work. Worth keeping a record of what you do in your work hours. If challenged ask them for advice on priorities.

I should say I am salaried, but as a teacher in Victoria, I have a cast-iron contract of 38 hours per week in term time. It covers everything: teaching, admin, reports, meetings.

Like every teacher I know, I work more than this, but know that I cannot be instructed over those hours.

I would just stick to your work hours. I wouldn’t email people in the last 30 mins of the day to say I would deal with it by 9.15. I deal with what I could in the 30 mins and just leave the rest until morning otherwise you are creating more work for yourself

I had this before in an old job and asked my manager what they'd like prioritised. They said everything was a priority so I pointed out that I wanted to be paid for overtime because nothing in life is free.

I am salaried and I don't work unpaid extra hours - but we can get overtime. I'd quit if they wanted my precious precious time for free!!! Time is money and some companies are such cheapskates

If you have colleagues in thd same job as you, what do they do?

I’m facing this same problem. I’m hourly paid but regularly do an extra 1.5-2 hours a week, it doesn’t sound a lot but the extra money would make a huge difference over the course of a month. As it is I don’t get paid for it despite asking. It’s not the kind of job where you can just leave either, I’m expected to work until my jobs are completed

I’m 50% FTE and only do my hours. Occasionally if I need to finish something, I’ll work on for an hour. But my boss is very strict about adding any extra time to my timesheet and claiming those hours back in lieu. In 6 months, I’ve saved up 12 hours, which is almost 3 bonus days off!

Hopefully this doesn’t come across as a brag but more of an example where working contracted hours does exist. I work in an area of law as a fee earner, and I work 9am to 5:15pm most days. I’m very lucky that my boss explicitly says he doesn’t want people working late into the evening. He thinks it means you’re not being efficient if you do have to work later than your contracted finish time (this is because he manages work flow and believes that he has given people the right amount of work for a 9-5 day). It probably is easier to measure because we record billable hours rather than having an output which is measured in a more vague way. Nevertheless, in my opinion, it’s a culture that needs to be encouraged in more organisations. And it needs to come from the top down. It shouldn’t be an expectation to work longer than you’re being paid for, and sadly so often it is.

I finally found a job where we (as in everyone below senior management level) all work out contracted hours and nothing more unless we're working overtime.

It's a massive relief after 5 years in marketing where no amount of unpaid overtime was good enough.

My DH works his contracted hours and no more. He works in logistics (from an office, not as a driver or anything) and is extremely busy all day but when he's done, he's done. He doesn't bring work home with him.

I'm a solicitor (corporate type area of law) and my hours are horrendous. I work 4 days a week so am on 80% of my FT pay but I easily work 40 hours across those 4 days and I often have to log in on my day off and at weekends too. We log our time via timesheets and if I just stopped when I got to 7.5 hours a day I simply wouldn't get the work done.

The money is very good, even on 80% pay, but I'm seriously considering a move to the public sector soon. I have a toddler and another baby on the way, and after work, giving my LO his tea and putting him to bed, and sleep there is just no time left for anything else.

@Jen123456789 your job sounds like a dream!

I work for a charity. I have to be really strict with my hours. I finish at 4pm, often a meeting will be added to start at 4. I decline. I'm not being paid and I have things to do.

When I used to work in an office, it was accepted that the part time staff left on time but the full time staff were expected to stay until whenever. I never did but it takes a lot of confidence to do that.

I honestly do not know why people do extra hours unless management. If there isn’t enough time to do everything they need to employ more staff . It’s crazy busy where I am but I refuse to work extra hours unless paid , they made staff redundant last year and are now struggling to fill these posts . It was short sighted of them and I’m not doing more than I can . I work like mad on my contracted hours but then I clock off . The more you do the more you expect so say no .

@GoodGrief100

I had this before in an old job and asked my manager what they'd like prioritised. They said everything was a priority so I pointed out that I wanted to be paid for overtime because nothing in life is free.

That’s a good reply .

In my job (agency), we are often expected to work over but can save the hours for time in lieu later which can sometimes prove helpful. Not all departments can do this though, which causes resentment.