In thinking I shouldn't have to do extra unpaid hours in a PT job to keep up with the FT members of staff ?

[Euclase]

I'm contracted on 22.5 hours a week, and for the last 9 months so I don't fall behind I'm expected to answer emails and take calls on my personal mobile from my boss and other staff on site.

When I raised this issue at my Appraisal I was told "well we do pay you higher than X, so I think it's only fair you do that bit more." (X is my colleague who does a similar job but not entirely the same !)

I realise I made a rod for my own back in answering emails and taking phonecalls but it just seemed easier to do it than deal with the mess upon my return.

I've clocked up over the last 5 weeks alone I've done more than 30 each week and when raised with my boss "I should work more productively" ....

There is NOTHING in my contract about being on call or anything like that.

I've since found out my job previously wasn't done by one part time member of staff it was a full time one that was restructured when the company had a lot of redundancies.

Part time jobs are thin in the ground where I am so it's not just a case of moving jobs.Upon talking to a few friends at the weekend it seem to be the expected norm that PT workers have to do more hours as a general rule (unpaid) and I should just accept it.

Your Thoughts ?

Hmm...I find some people work their hours and some work over irrespective of ft or pt.
You're expected to answer calls and emails on days off. What happens if you're non contactable? Eg I honestly don't mind people contacting me on my days off and if I can help I do. But I make no guarantees that they will be able to get hold of me iyswim.

Do you know if the fulltime employees work just their hours, or if they take calls and do emails outside of their contracted hours?

t might not just be you.

My colleague works the same pattern as you.
She also deals with emails and phone calls on her days off.
In terms of email she logs in once or perhaps twice a day and answers anything that is urgent. The rest she doesn?t look at.
Phone calls she lets go to voicemail ? she ensures that she has a message indicating she is not at work that day and referring to a colleague. She only responds to things that are urgent and can?t be managed by someone else.

She does both these things so that she is not playing catchup when she goes back into work, and also partly in acknowledgement that she was granted part time working by the company and this is part of what she does to ensure that her job is done in part time hours.
I doubt she spends more than an hour extra a week though (and not normally more than 10 minutes).

Would taking an approach like the one above work for you?

I am asked NOT to work beyond my hours, though I do ocassionally check my emails and answer emergency queries on my days off.

Mine is a job share though, so between us, it's a full time role, which does put a different spin on things.

It also depends on the company, I work for a large establishment and the HR department are excellent. Recently we've been told to work to rule because all roles are being reassessed... working to rule is not fun either, because mostly we WANT to do a bit extra to get the job done. Being expected to rankles and makes you want to do what you're paid for and no more.

YANBU. An extra 8 hours on a 22.5 hr contract is a LOT.

What are your full time colleagues doing? Are they also doing unpaid overtime?

An extra 30 what each week over five weeks? Emails and calls? How long did that take? Do you prioritise and respond only to urgent ones?

As others have said, it depends on what the FT people are doing. I think there can be an attitude amongst PT people that their hours are fixed and sacrosanct, while FT people in the same company frequently do evening and weekend work. That's not fair either.

It does sound as though there's an issue with the managements' expectations of the role, having reduced it to PT.

What I'd do is go through your job description and write a work plan, indicating how much time you'll spend on each element each week - based on what you know to be the priorities and the actual time tasks take. Identify those areas where there is a big discrepancy between what should be the case and what is. If you can think of possible solutions e.g. asking someone else to take on part of a particular task, all the better. Take that plan to your manager, ask them to comment upon it (they may see priorities differently and may genuinely think you work inefficiently), discuss the discrepancies and agree it with you.

That gives you a baseline that you can measure reality against, taking discrepancies back to your manager to resolve. It puts the ball in their court, as they can see that, if they are expecting you to do x, y and z, there isn't also time available for you to do w and if they really want you to do w, they need to tell you what else not to do to make space.

Btw, when writing a work plan, don't forget to start with the obligatory, 'being an employee' stuff, so staff mtgs, mtgs with your manager, training courses etc. You can work out an average amount of time per week across a month or year, and subtract that from your total hours at the start, so you know what you have left to play with.

Sorry, 30 hours each week, so 7.5 or a full day extra.

re the comment comparing you to your colleague, they can expect you to work at a highr level; do more skilled or responsible tasks but, if they actually expect you to do more hours, they need to put that in your contract.

Do you think you work efficiently? Are you able to share tasks, explain clearly and delegate, or do you try to do things yourself because you think it's easier than discussing it, or the only way to get it done properly? If that's the case, you need to discuss the lack of relevant skills amongst colleagues with your manager and you may need to learn to let go.

Don't take the calls or emails? Leave a message on your phone saying you can get back to people on what ever days you work.

Or put a claim in for the hours you work at home and inform your boss about what you are doing.

Also email staff and remind them that you are able to deal with any issues on your working days which are xx and xx.

So you are working 30% more hours than you are being paid for? They are trying to get away with paying you PT hours but still having a FT worker.

I think you need to go back to your boss and say that you will only be contactable outside your working hours in exceptional circumstances. That do you to your personal circumstances, you simply cannot give them so much unpaid time. However, you are willing to support them during this transition, by training and supporting your colleagues so they will be able to resolve problems themselves and writing support documentation etc. as necessary. That way you sound helpful and proactive.

It sounds as though you are managing your workload while you are in work, but that your manager doesn't want to leave work on hold during your days off. If he wants issues dealt with immediately then he needs tos to either train up an existing member of staff or turn your role into a full time jobshare or renegotiate your contract with you so that there is an on-call element, for which you then get paid (I'd suggest a flat rate for every day you are on-call, plus overtime for the time you actually work on-call).

Given the fact that this post was originally full time, it strikes me that the company is hoping to get away with full time work in part time hours (and salary).

It is worth going through the job plan in the way described. Make sure you cover everything that you have ended up taking on, especially stuff not in your original contract.

Tell them you've got another job on your days off and you won't be available.

Thank you for the tips.

I do have an out of office that I set and do it, but colleagues send it anyway knowing I'll look. That's my fault.

Today I have received 4 calls already and have ignored them.

Some of the full time staff do more hours (namely the line managers) but others at my level don't as ("I'm not paid enough to care" but that's not my look out.

Off to do a structured plan I think, we do have a HR department so I think I'll go down that route. We are supposed to as a company get any overtime approved and can take it back in lieu(company won't pay it out) within 2 weeks or you loose it permanently. The first few months I blamed myself and thought I must be working wrong and inefficiently, so changed my work pattern.

However if I take that time back that I've worked in the last two weeks then I'm further behind

This is why I wouldn't take on a part time job. i've had my fingers burned in the past.

All the time you continue to do the extra work, your employer will continue to pile it on. Why wouldn't they?

Stop answering the phone and emails and if your boss complains, then say you are not paid to work on these days so won't be available on future.

Mind, you need to be sure that you are working efficiently for your paid days, so they can't accuse you of having extra work because you are not productive.