To not work over my contracted hours

[ILovePud]

I posted similar in a response to another thread but I was probably going off at a bit of a tangent so I'm starting a new thread as I'm interested in other's opinions. I don't work over the hours I am paid for, I hate the culture of expectation that people work over their hours. I think working longer hours perpetuates the myths that the amount of work expected to be done can be done within the hours allocated for it (by some employers at least) and I think it disadvantages those with caring commitments. I also think working longer hours than I am contracted to do would put those whom I manage under pressure to do the same. I genuinely work as hard as I can when I am in work and think that's enough. If there is a real emergency then I will stay late but I claim the time back. What do others think?

YANBU. Where I work if you give an inch they take a few hundred miles!

It depends. If you turn up at 8.59am and leave at 5.31pm, and literally have your head down working throughout, no chatting, no quick internet browsing, and most importantly you meet all of your targets / client expectations / dont leave anyone else to pick up the slack, then perhaps YANBU.

But I think rightly or wrongly that employers expect more of employees now and certainly in my profession (law) you simply wouldn't be able to meet your targets / do what was expected if you adhered to contractual hours. So if you left at 5.30pm on the dot, you'd never be promoted, wouldn't be well thought of etc. You probably wouldn't be seen as a team player. So I'm sitting on the fence really, depends what you do, what the 'norm' is (whether you agree with that or not).

yanbu but then I hate my job and dream of redundancy so working to rule is one step closer

yanbu
I don't quite 'get' why long hours are expected in some professions.

I'm with Mandy on this. For me, it comes down to conscience. I just wouldn't be able to get it done and let down colleagues and students. But some weeks I stick to it because I'm tired or the kids need more from me etc. I have a fairly autonomous job and I can do things from home if need be.

why feel concience? seriously you're just a number and when it's over they won't give a shit. Erm I wonder why I hate my job

I am a practice nurse and I try very hard to work my contracted hours. The surgery is understaffed and there is an embargo on new staff. I learnt a long time ago, if you work over your hours, some employers will take advantage. I manage my day and make sure my last appointment is at least 20 minutes before the end of my shift. Obviously, if there is an emergency I will stay but I don't get any thanks. There was a time when nursing was enough, but the older and more cynical I get, I realise that it's all about targets and getting the patients in and out as quickly as possible.

I don't see why I should work for no pay. There is little or no good will anymore. The budget has been cut and cut and I even have to provide my own uniform and pens!

Moan over

If you love what you do and want a career rather than just a job, you go the extra mile. In fact, you don't even notice it, because you're absorbed in the work.

Well I work in a primary school office. If you don't turn up on time to pick up your kids shall I just leave them hanging around the school gates waiting for you, after all I'm only paid until 3.30? (I usually stay until about 5.30 carrying out all of the admi I couldn't do whilst looking after sick kids sent into school)

It depends what you mean. Are we talking about you being expected to stay/arrive early for an hour every day, or are we talking ten or twenty minutes here and there and an occasional extra few hours?

It also depends on how high your pay is, even if you are on an hourly rate IMO. In my workplace, those of us who are paid the least do do extra when the job calls for it, but we will also be the first to be told to leave by the more senior people who are paid significantly more.

I don't think that as a manager you working extra put those that you manage under pressure to work more, your pay is likely to affect your level of responsibility, as is theirs.

I have a conscience because I want to do my job well and make a difference and not let people down. Realised years ago it won't make me popular, get promoted or get any thanks! In fact I've got to go and get dp to help me install a Wordpress site now. If I get resentfully I just step back a bit.

YANBU, just don't expect promotion and you can't necessarily expect interesting tasks or projects.

I'm in a highly competitive but fairly poorly paid intellectual-type industry and my contract states '9 to 5 plus any additional hours which may be required'. So that's it then!

In my field there is a fair bit of ill-feeling towards those who turn up at 8.59am and have their coats on at 4.59pm.

I work in a very busy, stressful environment and it is not the sort of job where you can just leave on time if you haven't finished that day's work. It won't wait until tomorrow, for example.

So those who do leave "on time" are dropping their colleagues in it and get a reputation for not being team players. They are also not likely to be promoted etc.

So it's difficult to say if YABU without knowing what you do. If your job is one where people stay late for no good reason, just trying to impress the management, then YANBU.

But if you are in a well paid, professional role, then I think clock-watching isn't ideal.

YANBU. Says she, who has done 3 hours unpaid overtime so far today.

Obviously it depends on your job.

I gave worked in a shop that closed at 5pm. And we were paid until 5pm. But there were a selection of cleaning tasks that could only be completed when the shop was closed, 5minutes minimum, up to 15mins.

So when the area manager asked why the shop appeared closed at 4.50pm, I suggested that they pay me for the hours I ACTUALLY worked

YANBU but it really depends on how your employer and colleagues view it - if some colleagues do the same as you then stick to your guns, safety in numbers so to speak. Be prepared for repercussions if it's expected to work extra time and most colleagues do or be prepared to fight your corner to the letter. You need to arrive and leave at set times, as agreed by your contract, due to your caring responsibilities and you do that, even making emergency arrangements when a work emergency arises and work hard when you are there. This makes you a reliable (at the very least) employee and if fault is found with this then it could possibly be Discrimination (in law).

I hope your question is only hypothetical and you're not receiving grief directly or indirectly. It's hard enough without that too.

It does depend on the job, I have worked on project led jobs where the work has deadlines that need to be completed whether in the office or at home, the salary reflected this, whereas the admin staff worked there 9 to 5 and their salary reflected that.

YANBU. Nothing worse than those martyred colleagues at their desks till midnight sweating it out at the coal face. And expecting everyone else to do the same.

Fairyliz, I always pick my kids up on time because I leave work on time . I feel really shocked that you have to work an extra 2hrs unpaid a day! That is a huge proportion of unpaid work. It strikes me that the school need to review their safeguarding arrangements if the (massive) goodwill of their admin staff is the only thing that stands between them and primary age children being left alone.

I work as much as it takes to get the job done. My employer is very understanding with stuff like flexi time, having to go to parents' evening or assembly or sports day, arriving after the school drop and leaving in time for school pick-up, working from home when kids are ill - all the things that make the life of a working parent a bit easier. So in exchange I work as long as it takes. It's only fair.

I agree in principle but in reality it is difficult - I work far longer than the hours I am paid for, but I enjoy my work and get a lot of satisfaction from it and there are (honestly) no other jobs that would give me the same autonomy and job satisfaction as the one I have - we live in an incredibly rural area with very few job opportunities.

In my last job my line manager didn't like his team working overtime. He was always in on time (usually 20-30 mins early) and he always left bang on time. He had two compelling reasons. The first one was that anything that we did while tired usually needed as much time to fix the following morning as we had spent doing the overtime (we produced statistical analysis, so easy to get horribly wrong if not concentrating fully). The second was that the internal clients that we worked for often tended to be a bit lazy and last minute about things and, if they were allowed to, they would happily give us a couple of hours worth of requests to be given back to them first thing the following morning, most of which they didn't really need. Knowing that we would be finishing on time helped to focus their minds on both scheduling and content.

Once I had DC I couldn't stay late anyway, I used to go in early if I knew I had a busy day ahead as H could do the nursery drop off, but I definitely couldn't stay late.

YANBU if you can do it. Unfortunately I'm in a job where I regularly do 1-3 hours overtime (unpaid!) daily. The NHS, in case you wondered. I don't do it for promotion or presenteeism. It simply needs doing. Yeah, I do hate it sometimes. Mostly I love it.

YANBU. It is kind of expected that we will work beyond our hours in my industry, and if I have to go to conferences or meetings or meals out of hours, then I do. But I leave on time every day. And I have been promoted three times in the past four years, so I can't be doing much wrong.

I'd love to say YANBU, for all the reasons you articulate

However...some jobs just don't fit into 36 hours a week, no matter how diligent or good you are. That's just how it is, and if you want a career rather than a job, you have to do what's necessary to get the work done.

And this thread reminds me I need to log into my work laptop and stop mucking around on MN...