To ask, how hard do you work at your job?

[Countrymouse1]

Curious as to how hard you find your job?

Do you do a lot of unpaid extra hours, work through lunch? Is your workload manageable?

What is the most stressful thing about your role?

I am going through a rough time with my work situation, and am eternally grateful to MNetters for just being there with me when I was panicking (a LOT) about it all this morning and over the last few days. I am sorting that with my doctor and going to find a new job. I need to do some serious thinking about what move will be right for me, my confidence is a bit low, and want to make a good decision and see what the norm is for levels of job stress.

Ok, I work pretty hard, give it my all when I'm there, hardy ever take sick leave, will change hours at short notice to cover opening/ closing.
I do that willingly, but will not work through lunch / breaks unless exceptional circumstances. ( If a colleague has had to go due to illness/ emergency).
I used to work through lunch & breaks but it became expected.

You have breaks. Im lucky to find time for the toilet. I work for the nhs. Wouldnt swap my job for anything!

I generally believe if you are having to work lots of unpaid extra hours then there is a problem. It is either a problem with your time management in which case you need to improve that, or there is a problem with the expectations being placed on you by managers. In which case you need to get better at saying no (I know this is easier said then done!).

I have worked lots of extra time and realized that it doesn't get me anywhere and nobody will thank me for it. I now only work extra if it is a very specific short term goal our something I really want to do.

Funnily enough despite working less hours then lots of people in my team I am still the most productive.

I only work thru lunch and breaks when its unavoidable - I work in a shop, and big deliveries mean sacrifice to time sometimes. Other days there isn't as much to do, so it evens out. I do work pretty hard and come home tired every day.

I'm in education management, and work through lunch/ after hours/ weekends unpaid as a matter of course. It's par for the job, in my experience, in many, if not most management positions.

There is a culture of getting in early where I work. 30 mins before time and working through lunch hour too. It's heads down and non stop work.

I worked in a job for a year and really busted my gut. I worked evenings and weekends and was told that this was a job with opportunity for fast progression.

When I had my review I got no raise at all and a so spent the next year doing absolute minimum for which I got a 25% raise . But it was too late. I had lost interest in the company and role and went on maternity leave shortly after never to return.

I only work the hours I'm contracted (I wouldn't be expected to do any more, or come in early or whatever). 35 hour week full time, and I never ever work through my lunch. I'll occasionally take it late if I'm dealing with something important, but I'd still take the full hour.

I work hard when the work is there, but the nature of my job relies on people turning up for appointments. Plus we tend to be less busy in the run up to Christmas, so there are periods where I'm less occupied. I'm excellent at looking busy though

I don't do any unpaid hours, never work through lunch and my workload is manageable.

Sadly, the most stressful thing about my job is my utterly utterly sullen, bitchy, underhand, passive aggressive and selfish colleagues. It really affects me, especially at the moment. I've had a shit year, am unwell and I find that it's getting me down. Normally I'd be able to handle their behaviour and brush it off, rise above it. But with everything else, I can't shake it off.

I should add, I used to work in a different department in the same organisation and it was a lot different; you were expected to start early or stay late, and rarely got the time back. I had to get out after a point.

I work 7.30am thorough to 6pm, rarely take lunch or break, and usually take work home - work 2-3 hours a night three nights a week plus 5-6 hours on a Sunday. None of the overtime is paid, but it is the bare minimum I need to do to get my job done properly.
Do I think I should have to work this hard? No, but all my colleagues work similar hours and I would have to leave the profession to get better hours.

I work in primary care. I work hard. But I'm in training so I have a lot to learn and areas I need to develop. I usually have a ten minute lunch, means I get through my lists, but I always make myself an am and pm brew and can snaffle something when reviewing results.

I usually work through lunch, partly because I work in the middle of nowhere and there is bugger all to do. I will not compromise on leaving on time, I have DC to collect but do often work evenings for no extra reward.

I do work very hard, I manage a large team and often do 2 roles at once. My company is useless, no benefits, no money and no clue. Once I get the rest of my professional qualification early next year and this job title on my CV for a decent length of time, I'm off!

On the whole, I love what I do, I just want to do it somewhere with better pay and conditions where I'm not bled dry.

I work very hard. Im not overworked, but the job I do is difficult and tiring. Every day is different, but equally exhausting.

The most stressful parts are always the disclosures. I can deal with the kicking off, its the things im told that keep me up at night.

When I had a job, I worked many extra hours (quite often working over 12 hours a day, sometimes up to sixteen) and always worked through lunch and breaks.

I wasn't particularly effective. Then I had a breakdown. Now I don't have a job.

MissMill you are a teacher then yes?

I work from home so I pick and choose how hard I work and during the day it's not particularly hard work but it can be frustrating and tiring (its with kids)
Evenings I start work again about 6-10 in another home based role and do this 3-4 times a week up to 7 nights a week. It's head down, non stop, tidy up, fall into bed.

My job is way below my capabilities, so I cruise through what I have to do.
I do work through my lunch hour as we normally have children in and I like helping them.
That said, my boss knows I work through and is more than happy for me to finish early, which I do most days. All my work is done, I don't leave things.

I work plenty of extra hours.

Am working now...

Not sure why!

I work v hard.

12-14 hr days regularly.
Technically my role is 30 hrs/week, in reality 40-50hrs - as it's a 'profession' there's no extra pay.
Huge responsibility.
Main bugbear is paperwork and pointless box-ticking which is getting worse year on year and IMO does not contribute to the quality of what I do.
Unpaid continuous education - unresourced as well, so has to happen in my own time. Which generates childcare costs on top of course costs.
Pay is good but not a fraction of what the DailyFail would have you believe.

My job is the most rewarding in the world.
I love what I do.

I should probably have my head examined….

I work hard, rarely take a lunch break, work from home in the evenings, and having negotiated shorter hours, work the extra anyway. And love it. Great team, lovely colleagues and volunteers, and the pressure is self-imposed. I've come to the conclusion that I prefer working for a small organisation- ok, there's a shoestring budget and we all do 3 jobs, but there's none of the corporate crap and endless meetings and hierarchies you get in a big firm.

There is an expectation that you'll work extra hours where I work. I never take a lunchbreak (frowned upon if you do) and do have to work extra. My manager mentioned in a meeting that we would get requests at 5pm, expecting to be completed by 9am the next day. Which is great considerjng my contracted hours following a formal flexible working request were agreed at 9am till 4.30pm . It's an awful culture to work in where you have to work many more hours than you're contracted too just to get an average appraisal rating..

I work 55hrs per week on average but I am paid for 32. I work through my lunch hour as well.
My job is very stressful but very rewarding. The pay is reasonable but not fantastic. Having the "long" holidays off helps - couldn't cope without it tbh! I wonder what my job is...

I am a nanny. I flit between barely working (icecream on the beach with friends/and rushing around like a blue arsed fly with a screaming baby, tidying, cooking and generally trying to get everything done in 5 minutes)

I don't get a lunch break - I sit down when the baby has a nap but generally have jobs to do - Cook/iron/sort things out.

I get paid overtime and generally work an extra 25 hours a month.

The most stressful thing about your role - tired cranky baby when cooking dinner or washing up

I feel very lucky to be given the opportunity to work hours that suit school hours.

Well I'm paid for school friendly hours in what should be a full time job so spend my evenings working for free and I'm also available on my phone, iPad and company laptop at their becon call.

Only ray of light is nearing the end of school years where I will ask (and receive) full time hours with pay but until then I am putting the ground work in.

They are aware how much extra they gain and are brilliant when I have to take time off for DC sickness, non pupil days.

I love my job very much but it is very full on and some times stressful although learning to say no does help