To not want to do extra work at the weekend?

[Squeegle]

Every job I do recently seems to need extra work being done either at the weekend or at night simply in order to keep up. Technology (ie laptops) seem to have made this more normal, when I started at work (the 90s), you couldn’t access email or computer at home and so of course you could only work at work. I preferred it really, but need to keep up so keep on doing a few hours every weekend.

What do others think? Do your employers expect too much and you find you have to finish things at home? I’m working in marketing btw, and while no one says I have to do it, I simply wouldn’t get through everything if I didn’t. My last 3 places of work have all been the same, is this just what work is like these days?

I’m in the financial services sector. I have been known to work on weekends but it’s only if I’m up against it with deadlines. No one pressures me to do it, it’s more to do with my time management. On the other hand, if work loads are ok then some days in the week I have relatively easy days, leave early or WFH. It all balances out

I understand where you’re coming from! I check my work email every evening and often do a couple of hours at the weekend. However when I’m at work I also go to appointments, school meetings, plays, ring doctors etc so I think it is give and take.

I also find that two hours of laptop work at home is like 6 hours in the office.

So yes I think it’s the norm. And worse for some professions: teachers ....

I think we do need to fight against this tendency. If people can't do their work in their allotted hours, unless they are clearly slacking, then the employer should be employing more people so the job can be done! Not putting overt or tacit pressure on people to work out of their hours, usually for no recompense.

I appreciate it's not easy to fight, and I appreciate I've not been in that position, but if possible I think people need to say 'Look, I am flat out but I cannot do the work in this time. Is there some way we can reallocate or get some more manpower on this, as it's not productive to work like this'. Or even to say 'OK, how can I timesheet these hours I'm doing outside of core times so that I can be paid for them'. And to back up, there are plenty of studies showing that over 40 hours does not add to productivity because people just do poor quality work because they are over-stressed, and also are more likely to leave your business.

As I said, I know that is easier said that done!

I understand what you mean. But unfortunately it is just the way of the world we are in. I work in advertising so I am constantly on 'alert'. I check my e-mails and social media more times than I care to admit. Some of our brands are only one tweet away from utter destruction so everyone has to stay on the ball.

That said, I always do factor in appointments and various life-bits into my work schedule so there is a bit of give and take with my role.

Yep. I don’t want to work outside of my working hours but for my role and rank, their needs to be a level of flexibility. I was ill last year and my boss was amazing and I will always remember how supportive he was. I work in the sector that runs 24/7 365 so I do need to be available, even if I’m not on call.

Flexibility is key. My boss actively encourages me to leave the premise and go to the gym during the working day and personal appointments etc are fine (as long as they don’t impact on pre-booked work ‘stuff’.

I do get narky if my staff team email me about work stuff on their days off and I tell them so! They need time for r and r and as my best resource, they need down time.

For me, swings and roundabouts

Totally totally agree - secondary teacher here. Only managed to get prepared for new specs by doing 5-6 hours on a Sunday. Absolutely hate it! Don't mind doing 50 hour weeks but despise weekend work!

I agree with Echobelly. There are some roles where there is no alternative to 'working' round the clock, like some PR jobs as mentioned above, but most jobs shouldn't require more than the normal full-time hours, and if they do, more than one person should be allocated to that job.

I’m a teacher. I work every weekend and most evenings. I also tend to work in the holidays, but not to the same extent as I’m mentally exhausted when they roll around.
It’s 100% expected in education that you work out of directed hours, and everyone I talk to who leaves teaching says that they were shocked that they also had to work outside of hours.

This is one of the reasons I set up on my own, if I'm gonna be disturbed morning noon and night I would rather see the result for myself (the pay at the end of the contract) than have zero recognition from employers.

I guess it does seem to be the way that the world is going, but I definitely don’t think it’s right. I enjoy what I do but feel more and more that there are just not enough people employed to do what needs doing and so those of us who are there need to do the work of two people! Not healthy though. I need some time off! My employer is flexible, however it feels that this comes at a cost

Agree with echobelly.

It is not expected of me to do work out of hours but I have done.

Recent events at work have made me say 'fuck it' . I am trying
my hardest not to look at my emails ( on phone) out of hours.

They had been an expectancy by some people I provide a service for to be there out of hours , weekends and even when I am on annual leave.

These people know the procedure if anything arises urgently out of hours and who to contact if I am on annual leave.

It also annoys me that when people receive my out of office they expect an immediate response as soon as I am back !

I’m a teacher and it’s standad.
I’m always shocked that it happens in other jobs though. As you say the internet and laptops have made this possible. We were always promised that technology would bring us more leisure time, not eat into it.

I also dislike the idea that people should be available to their employers 24/7, regardless of contracted hours. I think it's really only acceptable if employees are paid appropriately: if you are in a low-waged job and are constantly being interrupted in your time off, or expected to work outside your contracted hours (because there is too much work, or because your managers are dicks who expect their every whim to be obeyed) then you might want to consider whether or not your employer is breaking the law by paying you what works out at a lot less than minimum wage. EG if you are paid minimum wage for 35 hours work per week but you are actually spending 50/60 hours a week on work tasks, then you are being underpaid quite a lot.

Remember when technology was going to save us all time so we could spend less time working and more living?

In the company I work for my team has almost halved in size in recent years, as technology (emails and mobile phones in my case) allows one person to cover a much larger workload as a lot of the day to day faff is now obsolete and we can spend more time concentrating on the core parts of the job. So even though the work is now much quicker, I'm working the same ridiculous hours as people in my job did 20 years ago and my company just doesn't have to pay out so much in wages.

In the meantime, even though the unemployment rate has dropped, other people are struggling to get enough hours to earn enough to live on. Something has gone badly wrong somewhere.