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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that the world would be a much nicer place if no one worked overtime, through lunch breaks or took work home with them?

60 replies

AKMD · 20/04/2011 10:37

I was in a meeting yesterday and found myself in a 'who-has-it-the-hardest' match with a colleague in another department talking about how we work all hours, take work home, stay late, come in on annual leave, never have a lunch break blah blah blah. Very sad, I know Blush AIBU to think that if everyone stopped doing things like this then we could practically solve the no-jobs issue overnight and all be a lot healthier, happier and generally better than we are now?

OP posts:
HarrietJones · 20/04/2011 10:40

But then they'd have to pay more people & no one wants to do that :(

Dh changed jobs to avoid all that and his work/life balance is so much better (bank balance isn't though!)

YANBU

HerRoyalHighnessPrincessCervix · 20/04/2011 10:40

so don't then.

bucaneve · 20/04/2011 10:40

Yes, definitely :)

I don't think it would work in RL though, I mean what if there was some kind of emergency just before going on your lunch break, you'd still have to deal with it wouldn't you?

Hammy02 · 20/04/2011 10:41

I know what you mean, especially the 'who has it the hardest' competition that so many people seem to thrive on. Unfortunately, many workplaces have this attitude hard-wired into their culture. Where I used to work, a girl I worked with used to always comment on how I 'swanned in' at 8:58 when I started work at 9! We didn't work for a charity, we worked at an organisation making a fortune in profits. I wasn't bothered about a promotion, just doing my job.

TechnoKitten · 20/04/2011 10:43

Wouldn't be possible for many jobs, mine included. I often don't get a lunch break or end up eating lunch at 4pm. I try not to take work home but sometimes it's impossible not to - it has to get done somehow!

Nice idea, completely impractical though.

Amateurish · 20/04/2011 10:48

My experience of people working late, no lunch break etc is that it's all about the people, and not the job.

Eggphemia · 20/04/2011 10:49

The whole of Higher Education would fall apart.

munstersmum · 20/04/2011 10:50

When I get to a position of influence Grin Grin, the 5 day working week will be replaced by the 4 day working week. Companies will still be as busy so 20% jobs increase (dodgy maths?) & unemployment will be dramatically cut. You will only get 80% of your gross pay but taxes will come down as benefits slashed.
...wanders off to play with fairies at bottom of garden

Original poster
AKMD · 20/04/2011 10:51

HRH I've called a crisis meeting of senior people for the first week of May so we can hash through priorities and show that it's an 'either/or' situation unless we get more people in both our departments. There will soon be 3 people doing my job, hoorah! My director has already said I can have more people, which is great. The guy I was talking with at the meeting yesterday has already put his foot down and doing a 9-5 strike. So it's coming :)

OP posts:
thefurryone · 20/04/2011 10:51

Totally agree with you, I really don't understand how so many otherwise intelligent people are quite happy to basically give their time away free to their large corporate profit making employers for little or no extra reward.

Next time you get into one of those 'who has it the hardest competitions' why not point out that they clearly do because they don't have the sense to use their free time doing things that they enjoy prefering instead to work for free.

thefurryone · 20/04/2011 10:55

technokitten is the real problem with your work load not that your employers don't actually employ enough people to do the amount of work there is in your business? If costs don't allow for this then they are not charging the appropriate amount for the services provided.

Ripeberry · 20/04/2011 10:56

Maybe they enjoy being a wage slave? I don't understand those people who work overtime and don't actually get paid for it. Now THEY are stupid!

ChateauRouge · 20/04/2011 11:01

Let's hope you never need surgery then!
(ODPs don't get overtime, and you can't just clock out halfway through a procedure)

BarefootShirl · 20/04/2011 11:08

I just hope OP doesn't go self-employed - the concept of working hours goes straight out of the window when you need to finish the job otherwise you don't earn!

HerRoyalHighnessPrincessCervix · 20/04/2011 11:09

i shall elaborate.

yes, there are jobs where you don't get breaks, jobs where you are expected to do preparation in your own time and jobs where you can't just leave on the dot.

there are also jobs where you can arrive and leave at a set time and have a lunch break.

When you decide to apply for a job you do some research, you learn about the role and if you want to just do a job, have a break, leave on time and not think about it at home you choose whether or not you want a particular role or career.

There is no point in choosing to do a job, then moaning because you have to do it.

notrightnow · 20/04/2011 11:14

"I don't understand those people who work overtime and don't actually get paid for it. Now THEY are stupid!"

There is a fundamental difference between jobs where you are paid by the hour for the time you work, and jobs where you are paid to do a job, and must do it until it is done.

I'm not stupid; I'm carrying out my work in a professional manner if I stay late to finish a task, or check my emails while I'm away so that the quality of service I provide does not suffer. If I wanted to leave on the dot I'd work in a shop, but I know that doesn't lead to good job satisfaction for me, so I'd rather put in the extra time and do the work I do now.

Anyway, it sounds as though the OP and her colleagues are doing the right thing if this isn't just about a culture of overwork, but rather structural problems within her dept.

thefurryone · 20/04/2011 11:32

But notrightnow all you are doing is choosing to give your time to your employer free of charge, you can dress this up as much as you like with regards to how you like to think that it's because you care but I would place a rather substantial bet on the employer that you give this time to not giving you the same level of consideration if the time came for redundancies to be made, or if you faced circumstances in which you could no longer perform to the same standard.

You have a contract with your employer and you chose to give more than your side of the contract allowing your employer to make extra profit for which they don't have to pay you.

flyingcloud · 20/04/2011 11:41

I think employers are playing on this now too (certainly ime) - using the tactic of it's an employers market, so if you're not prepare to do the work someone else out there will.

TheseThingsAreGoodThings · 20/04/2011 11:52

"I don't understand those people who work overtime and don't actually get paid for it. Now THEY are stupid!"

Depends if you in in for a job or a career. If you want to climb up the greasy pole or if you do not.

I did work lots of extra time and I have been rewarded by promotions and significant pay rises

thefurryone · 20/04/2011 11:56

TheseThingsAreGoodThings you just took a gamble and it paid off you could quite easily have ended up in a situation where you put all of that extra time and effort in and received absolutely no reward.

Also is it not quite a sad reflection that people equate wanting to have a career with needing to be exploited by employers for free labour?

TheseThingsAreGoodThings · 20/04/2011 12:04

thefurryone - I do not feel exploited

I loved my job and I worked hard

I do not see my work life as a battle between me and my employer!

thefurryone · 20/04/2011 12:30

If you provide labour and don't get paid for it and as a result your company makes an extra profit you are being exploited whether you recognise this or not is another matter entirely.

thefurryone · 20/04/2011 12:40

Actually, I take that back recognising whether or not you are being exploited is not another matter entirely, it is in fact the basic problem.

So many people now think that it is totally normal to work unpaid overtime and go above and beyond the terms and conditions that this is no longer recognised as the exploitation that it is. A simple example, if you have five people working in a particular role, they each work 8 hours free a week, the company is saved from employing and paying another employee! You save your company money and receive none of the reward for this.

notrightnow · 20/04/2011 12:42

Well, actually I don't work for a profit making enterprise, so that's not really relevant. Although I have worked extra time in the past for profit making companies because I cared about the product, and because I was interested (self-interested too!) in the success of the company, so yes, gave 110%.

If you don't want to give your employer 'free labour' that's fine. You can choose your paid by the hour job and live your own life in the rest of your time. I don't have a problem with you doing so. But don't assume that I am 'dressing up' my motivations for working more than my allotted hours, or assume that I am stupid because I choose to put additional effort into my work. I'm quite clear on why I chose this working life, and am happy to have done so.

tyler80 · 20/04/2011 12:42

I do agree with whoever said it can be more down to the person than the job. Not saying everyone is like this but have certainly met some martyrs in my time. They like to be the last to leave, take work home etc, but there's no pressure to do so and if they worked in the time that they spent telling the rest of the world how busy they are they'd be less busy!

Don't get me started on those who value quantity over quality, or people who think the last to leave is working hardest. I leave work at 4 everyday but then I start at 7.30 when some of my colleagues start at 9