to think no one should be regularly working beyond their paid and contracted hours

[Lydiaatthebarre]

I was talking to a neighbour yesterday who said she was exhausted because she rarely gets home from work before 8.30 - 9.00 in the evening. Apparently her contracted hours are 9am - 6pm but 'nobody only works their paid hours, we all end up staying on for an extra hour or two".

AIBU to think that this increasing practise of expecting employees to give up hours of their time, free of charge, is totally wrong and a really backward step?

I'm not talking about a bit of give and take now and again, but a regular practise that seems to exist in many workplaces.

Teacher here. Contracted 32.5 hrs per week.
Actual? At the moment I'm averaging approx 55 hrs a week and that is leaving stuff undone. It's a fucking joke.

In teaching there was an attempt about 20 years ago to quantify hours, it soon fizzled out because it would have meant so many extra-curricular things wouldn't happen.

Laughtong...nhs worker here... i treated myself to a trip to the toilet today at 2am. First time since i started work. Dh (lawyer) started on 15 k and i owe more if worked full time working weekends and evenings. Working life is madat the moment

Some of us don’t have contracted hours, my contract says office hours or as necessary.

If I need to travel, I’ve yet to do a trip that involves getting a flight at noon, arriving before 5.30pm and then coming home a few days later during the day.

More like up at 4.30am, h’row at 6.30, fly at 9, arrive at 4pm local time, work a few hours, get some sleep, work next day, airport by 6pm home by 10pm - if everything is on time.
But I am paid a sensible salary for being flexible so it goes with the territory.

”You do realise that you can't be forced to work OT don't you?”

Without reading someone’s contract there is no way you can tell them whether or not overtime (paid or otherwise) is or isn’t compulsory.

Of course employers take advantage

But some roles you simply can’t switch off when your work day should finish

I work most days at least half an hour over tomorrow I am leaving an hour early (after training)

@SputnikBear

That’s not true of the teachers I know. You must have got a bad deal at your school. In our district, they’re paid for 8-4 and classes are 8.50 to 3pm. Then for half a day a week they get time away from teaching to do lesson prep etc. Then they often do marking etc whilst students are quietly getting on with work. And the lesson prep they use the same ones and only update when. The curriculum changes.

I’ve never worked beyond my contracted hours. I have just never started the habit so the employer never expects it of me.

I can’t at the minute or I wouldn’t be able to collect my children from childcare.

It’s in my contract that I may be required to do unpaid hours to complete the work load should business needs require it.

I just have core hours to cover, but as others have said sometimes there is no way I'm walking out the door at X just because its my stated time, today I have had some database scripts that have been a bugger to sort out and finally got the handle on them 20 mins before I am due to finish, stayed an extra hour to complete the scripts, sometimes I will give up and walk out, other times I know I'm close etc and just finish it so its less on my to do list.

I get paid handsomely for my role and I get the perks of just doing a no show if I feel like it (providing my work is progressing obviously), for some roles its kind of necessary as it makes your job better in the long run, but as others have said it does depend on the role you do, wage and employer, its not always the case that the employer needs to hire more staff

I do work more hours by having short lunches or turn up early most days in exchange of some flexibility when I need - usually childcare related.

I work way over my hours every week. For some reason they get me to do timesheets for the hours in my contract and all time is booked to one code (unless on leave). It's a work of fiction each week. However, I reckon I am paid more than enough to be practically bought by them and I love my job so not worried.

Just left work having done 35 hours over M -W, which is my weekly contracted hours. This is expected - it’s a busy time and I’ll provably rack up 60 this week.

Usually in my industry this would be balanced with some give and take. However currently my manager appears to have read ‘Patronising Professional Adults for Dummies’ and has been telling us off for getting in 5 minutes late on days when it’s not so busy. Which has completely eroded my good will and happiness to work 12 hour days. It’s utterly shit and made worse by the fact I’m gunning for promotion so don’t think I can say anything

I have contracted hours (PT) and I am paid hourly, not salaried. If I work extra I get paid for it.

My role is very junior though (wage reflects this) and the work I do doesn't need to be done within a certain time frame. It just needs to be done.

I love my job

I love my job too, but I'm out of that door at 5pm. Everyone else who works there is too. The PPs comments about company loyalty to staff are spot on.

And I love my husband. I also want time with him .

This is one of my biggest bugbears. There is just no way I'd work free hours for an employer who expects it (and it's part of the reason I left teaching). If I want to volunteer there are plenty of charities or other worthy causes I can give my time to. Just no.

I love my job too, but I'm out of that door at 5pm. Everyone else who works there is too. The PPs comments about company loyalty to staff are spot on.

I think it just shows that it's not as black and white as the OP tired to suggest, in my industry it would be very weird for everyone to clock out at X time for example, just as it is strange for you and others to stay a couple of hours here and there.

It doesn't fall neatly into unscrupulous employers needing to hire more staff as some have tried to insinuate.

NHS HCP here, sometimes in my role I just can't leave or take a break. Most places have people in my role 24/7 but not where I work. The problem is that neither I, nor the rest of the team want to work nights again so we're sort of avoiding the issue. I don't really feel well recompensed for my level of expertise either. I do however love my job and colleagues, so it could be worse.

I don’t know anyone who only works contracted hours and doesn’t have some flexibility around working pattern.
I regularly work 55-60 hours a week but know if I want time off there is never a problem. I manage my own diary so might have a Friday afternoon and Monday morning off every so often for a long weekend away. I allow same flex for my staff. We have a peaks and troughs type work pattern and people are expected to manage their own workload/ hours. I always say to my teams that if they count the minutes then so will I. I can’t abide anyone telling me their owed 2 hours and thirty six minutes - I’d start looking at exactly what they’re using their time for and I’d start managing their diary with them.
My husband works in excess of 70 hours a week every week. On holidays and at weekends he does a couple of hours a day usually and is always contactable. He gets reasonable rewards for that though.

What should our doctor daughter do? Get to 8am, having worked since 7:30pm the previous evening without a break and walk out leaving the patient with sepsis having to wait for antibiotics and not handing over the other very sick patients? During the day should she just leave with patients not having pain medicine written up, blood tests not sent off and discharge letters not completed? That’s not going to go down well! Luckily she, and many other junior doctors are prepared to work many additional hours without pay to ensure their patients are safe.

It’s one thing to stick to your hours if you work on a supermarket till but many jobs you just can’t leave.

I work for the NHS. Am I supposed to cancel operations? It's not great, but we do it for our patients.

Forgot to add, I'm supposed to finish at 17:30. I've had more than one midnight finish. Some cases don't finish until 4am or later.

I don't do this and when they asked me if I'd had a situation when I had to work over, I just said No. They were stumped, but I may as well set out my stall early on. I got the job....which is a nightmare but even if i worked 4 x my hours the workload would never be cleared due to senior and it issues, so I'm not doing it.
By doing so it would become the norm, expected and it would reduce my hourly rate which isnt high anyway.

Since become freelance / self employed 6 weeks ago I’m ploughing through the same work much faster. Much much faster. Working at home means I’m so much faster!

This is standard practice in professional roles. That's why lawyers, bankers etc get paid so much. They are contracted 9 to 5 but in reality they spend so much time working that they sleep at the office. Literally.any of the top law firms have rooms with beds to accommodate their employees.

I'm a TA and I work my hours and that's it. Sure I'll cover somebody else if needed but I will get the time back later or be allowed to leave earlier on another night.

I gave up killing myself for someone else's benefit when I left teaching.