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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Fired for not working the weekend

116 replies

ThinkAboutItTomorrow · 04/07/2015 09:59

My workplace is changing beyond recognition and it makes me so sad.
A colleague wants to fire someone because she said no to working the weekend. This would be unpaid overtime on top of an intense week. For many it's the norm.
It's not a shift job, it's an office. Official 37.5 hour week, mon - fri 9-5.30. The team probably average 50-60 hour weeks with some regularly working through the night.
PreDD I did similar(not so much all night but crazy travel and long hours) and now I'm managing 50 hour week averages but I always knew it was my choice. And felt that if I said no the company would be ok with that eg We had people say they didn't want promotion because they just had kids and wanted to coast for a while. Fine, their choice.
Now though I am told saying no to working through the weekend is against our values and he wants to fire her.

Help me get perspective, AIBU to think that's not my values and I don't want to be part of it? I don't like the colleague who is saying this so I maybe bei g biased

OP posts:
Original poster
ThinkAboutItTomorrow · 04/07/2015 10:28

I agree with inefficient. I think he is over promising like crazy to the client and expecting the team to jump in and deliver.

I'm the one who would have to do the firing as I'm technically in charge but he's gone over my head to theCEO.

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RooftopCat · 04/07/2015 10:29

Sounds like Finance - long hours at half-year and year-end reporting times. But everyone knows the deadlines and expects it - generally it's not suddenly thrown at them. And then there is flexibility after it quietens down.
She should have been given more warning.

goshhhhhh · 04/07/2015 10:31

Well if he fires her you will be even more short staffed. Also your reputation will get around & it will be hard to recruit good people so you will be stuck in this cycle.

Original poster
ThinkAboutItTomorrow · 04/07/2015 10:33

Yellowdinosaur the bit I really don't like is that the consequence ocher saying no is the rest of the team work more. For that I'm pissed off with her. The work will get done but others will lose even more weekend. That is not fair or acceptable so I will be having a strong conversation with her. But I just hate the idea of suck up the hours or you are out. Sends such a bad message when we are trying to curb the all nighters. At least I am.

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Doobigetta · 04/07/2015 10:34

Don't agree that a high salary means the company owns you. I had no choice but to opt out of the working time directive- it was a condition of my contract- but I still say no to overtime that's more than a couple of hours on a regular basis. Do you work for a big 4 consultancy, OP? It sounds grim.

Original poster
ThinkAboutItTomorrow · 04/07/2015 10:35

Not finance so not planned and unlikely to ease off until we hire more.

And yes, short staffed and someone else on the team quit yesterday(though she assured me it wasn't the hours)

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HermioneWeasley · 04/07/2015 10:39

Sounds like the kind of work where people know this is how it goes. Doesn't make it right, but she's possibly a bit naive. Did she offer any solutions - for example, I have to be a bridesmaid at my sisters wedding tomorrow, but I'll work Sunday afternoon and come in at 6 on Monday?

Oliversmumsarmy · 04/07/2015 10:40

Is all the work necessary. I ask this because dh had to visit an overseas office where the staff were working in one particular office till2-3am regularly and weekends. Dh and his team had to over haul the way the staff were working, a lot was of people duplicating work and 3 people doing the same thing at times just to check the first person got it right. Eventually the manager was fired as after putting in place all the measures so people could go home at 5.30pm she started introducing more stuff and the times people were able to leave started to creep up again.

Dh believes that if you have to work ridiculous hours either you are crap at your job and shouldn't be doing it or the systems in place are rubbish or you need more people to do the job.

Presumably you get your £80k + because of your expertise otherwise it is like only being qualified for a £40k job but doing double the hours.

Icimoi · 04/07/2015 10:40

So what are they doing about hiring more people? This project is really not sustainable if it is so dependent on people doing stupid working hours.

GlitzAndGigglesx · 04/07/2015 10:41

I had a manager who used to threaten some of us with our jobs because we refused to stay an extra 2 or 3 hours each day. The job is tiring and a lot of us have kids so can't just commit to extra hours at short notice. The fool ended up getting sacked himself for gross misconduct

WayneRooneysHair · 04/07/2015 10:42

£80k or not I wouldn't be working weekends, particularly not at such short notice.

lastnightiwenttomanderley · 04/07/2015 10:43

OP - I was with you until you said that you were pissed off with her as others would have to pick.it up. I work in a high pressure, big deadline industry. Running a business on the basis of people working over the weekend is, IMO, totally wrong and if we don't stand up to it, things will never change. Occasionally deadlines pop up or circumstances change. As senior staff, I see my role as making the right calls and managing expectations. If the shit hit the fan, I might ask staff if they are willing to work overtime, but fully accept that they can say no. It's the company's responsibility to manage our resourcing and I see too many of our peers who are hugely profitable but only because they flog their staff.
Your colleague is wrong but sounds like there may be a general cultural issue that needs addressing?

Mistigri · 04/07/2015 10:44

Your company sounds shockingly badly managed.

I presume management are in all weekend if it's that urgent?

I earn a decent salary and will work evenings/ at weekends on occasion, but if it were to be expected regularly I would put my foot down. It's not an efficient way of working - it leads to reduced efficiency, poor quality work and avoidable errors.

airforsharon · 04/07/2015 10:44

For that I'm pissed off with her. The work will get done but others will lose even more weekend

You're directing your anger at the wrong person. I completely agree with Olivers, expecting staff to work 12 hour + days, 7 days a week implies crap management/use of resources etc.

Working your staff into the ground and causing resentment and exhaustion is counter-productive and leads to an inefficient workforce and more time off due to stress/illness. I hope your colleague (who as you admit HAS been working overtime regularly) sticks to her guns on this and refuses to be bullied.

Original poster
ThinkAboutItTomorrow · 04/07/2015 10:46

I have 8 people joining in the second half of the year, contracts signed etc which is about 25% more staff. It's just taking longer to get them in than hoped.
I agree in part to efficiency and project management being at fault but it's also what we have promised the client. They buy us because we deliver to stupid timelines. Not on my projects though. I sell expertise not just graft.

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ghostyslovesheep · 04/07/2015 10:47

I'd be on to ACAS or my union sharpish - your work place sounds awful :(

Charlesroi · 04/07/2015 10:48

I'd want to know why this guy isn't getting fired for being an under-delivering fuck up. It's not her fault others have to work all weekend - it's down to rubbish planning and promising what you can't guarantee to deliver. There's no excuse for having to routinely work such long hours.

Original poster
ThinkAboutItTomorrow · 04/07/2015 10:50

Yes, the colleague who is driving this will work the longest hours of all. He doesn't least practice what he preaches.

It's mostly the bonus to blame. Huge carrot of a bonus for sales results drives him to say yes to anything the client needs.

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mimishimmi · 04/07/2015 10:53

Someone who is superambitious is not going to slog it out with long hours for free ... they're going to only work for what they get rewarded/compensated for and then work on their own stuff on their own time.

If you're understaffed and something went tits up, it's probably got a lot to do with the prevailing work culture.

Original poster
ThinkAboutItTomorrow · 04/07/2015 10:53

He won't be fired though because the CEO is exactly the same. And is hugely successful for it.

I might get managed out if I stick up for her and fight for a better balance and culture.

Or I may well leave before that

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TiredButFine · 04/07/2015 10:53

If you want to "save" her job, have a word with her about how short notice weekends are the norm, and have a word with him about how bad it will be if he has to replace her what with all the dumb deadlines he's committed you to.

Icimoi · 04/07/2015 10:54

A friend of mine worked in an office with a similar culture. The senior partner (female) totally condemned a younger woman for being a complete amateur and uncommitted to the work. The younger woman's crime? She insisted on going home to put her child to bed after a 10 hour day before coming back to the office and working another 4 hours.

Viviennemary · 04/07/2015 10:54

At £80K I would imagine some companies think they practically own the workers. Depends what the contract says whether or not she can be dismissed for not working the weekend. And if you've been there less than two years seems these days you can be fired for almost anything or nothing. If you all get together perhaps something might be done about flexibility but one person or their own is unlikely to be successful unless backed by colleagues or union.

SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 04/07/2015 11:00

Do people work effectively during all those hours? Confused

I get that some jobs expect extra work at certain times (probably most do, in fact) - but tired, mentally exhausted people aren't working at the top of their ability are they?

If you let people have their due days off, they may well get so much more done Monday to Friday, when they feel refreshed.

Original poster
ThinkAboutItTomorrow · 04/07/2015 11:01

Tiredbutfine that's what I would do under normal circumstances. But he is screaming for her head.

I just don't know if I'm kidding myself and for our salary and jo type I should just accept this or if it's wortha trying to change.
As office head I try to set the balance by leaving for bath and bed at 5.30 (and then going back to my laptop at 8.30) but even I'm starting to feel like a shirker.

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