Work conference call at 11pm

[agna8277]

Just venting really, a work call has been scheduled for 11pm to accommodate different time zones because a senior colleague is travelling and that's the only time she is free.

It's an important meeting that has to be on that day. I raised this to my manager who is empathetic but nothing he can do.

I work across APAC and USA I get wanky time calls all the time, can't really do much about it.

I'd be no good as I'm more of a morning person and I'd be tucked up in bed fast asleep by 11:00 pm !

It's the downside of what I presume is mostly a pretty good working environment?

Mine is the same. Mostly work calls are during UK office hours.
The odd one is 8am which I can't really complain about (used to be a ball ache with school run, but DS2 is older now).
Once a month I have an 8pm one, which TBH I prefer to the 5 or 6pm ones, as I've done evening stuff (dinner, clubs) can tidy up and then nip out to the garden office.
Once every 2 months we have a 5am one which just about kills me as I am a night owl. That's the only time I work from my bed with the webcam off!

I regard it as the trade off for the great flexibility I have.
I'll maybe skip off and do a long run during the day if I've got a late call.

Agree with others, it really depends on the culture in the firm. I am self employed now give myself this flexibility, but have lots of clients working in multiple time zones. It's not unusual to find myself on a call with someone at very late/very early hour for them. But it's also pretty common for that person to have some flexibility built in both ways. eg I've spoken to people late Australian time who tell me they don't mind because they tend to leave the office quite early, do the afternoons/evenings with their DC then get on calls with Europe at 10/11pm. I also have a client whose two main offices are London and New York and the culture in the firm is that days in Europe tend to start quite late and finish late while New York tend to get in earlier and leave a bit earlier.

That’s not a fair expectation. I’m a “professional” and I still have contract hours and wouldn’t agree to this. I’d also consider that it’s not just the hour or half hour of the call itself that counts- you wouldn’t be able to wind down properly beforehand, so your whole evening is effectively fucked. Even if I agreed to do it as a one-off, I’d insist on working the whole evening and taking a half day in lieu. And I wouldn’t start agreeing on a regular basis, that’s where you really get taken for granted.

I used to work with clients in Australia. 2am starts. It was not particularly fun but had to be done. Maybe ask for TOIL.

I work across NA (east and west coast) and APAC and do 4am / 11pm calls occasionally, but I am a senior head of department, it happens four or five times a year at most, I am paid handsomely for the privilege and it's expected that we take TOIL, so if I start at 4am, my day finishes at 2pm at the latest.

If you work in a global team these things are unavoidable, to accommodate time zones you end up doing really early morning calls or late evenings every now and late evenings every now and again.

Even if you work for a UK company and you're based in the UK, it's unavoidable. It's often much worse for colleagues in the other regions, especially Asia.

I've had to get on video calls when I've just come off a long flight, totally jet lagged and it was the last thing I wanted to do, it's inconvenient for everyone but best to get on with it

Can’t see the issue. If that’s what the job occasionally requires and you do t like it, maybe not the job for you.

It happens, I had a 21:30 hr call every day for a week. Meant I had more time off in the daytime.

Are you really needed? Could it really not be at 10pm or 1030pm? I guess it could, if someone was willing be it you or someone else to push back and say.

If when you were appointed it was said this could happen, then no grounds for complaint, but I get the impression this was not. In my case I have on call responsibilities, which were made crystal clear before I joined, and I get extra pay for.

My abiding memory of my time in corporate law was being on a conference call with a raft of counterparties and hearing a Japanese lawyer gently snoring over the line. I think it was about 4am their time. His colleague woke him when it came time for him to say he agreed to whatever thing we were agreeing to.

For all the TOIL / “oh I’d decline” chat - can’t speak for other industries but in international law the reality is that if you want to progress in your job this is a part of it. No one would go to their boss and decline on the basis that it was outside their core hours. Though I think (at most firms anyway) no one would expect an early morning the day after if the transaction had wrapped up. But if it was an ongoing thing and you were needed in early - back to the grindstone. I was on a very high salary (into six figures) even as a junior - that’s what the money is for.

Yes, you should complain if this is a) a new thing in your role not discussed reasonably and b) you are not senior.

Are you senior?

What are they paying you (approximately)?

Unless your salary makes it worthwhile, I would give 'apologies' and request minutes or the recording, if it's being recorded.

Par for the course do what the job requires

I guess it depends on your role in the company and what your salary and perks are.

I earn £21k and there's absolutely no way I would do an 11pm meeting. I would if I was on a high salary and had more responsibility.

I disagree, when you work for a global business this is the reality. Nothing at all to do with the OP’s failure to set boundaries.

I mean sure suit yourselves. I totally get it - I work for a huge public company with global operations and routinely see meetings go into my diary at odd hours. I've just come around to the view that accepting this sort of thing as 'the reality' perpetuates the expectation and culture of constantly being on call and working unpaid extra hours for the sake of other people's convenience or 'business need' when actually there are usually ways to avoid it especially with the technology we have today.