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Original poster

Anyone work excessive overtime for free?

101 replies

Itsjustlife · 10/12/2018 14:38

Last month there was a very busy period at work, I worked many hours extra.
Firstly I wasn't asked if i could do this i was put in a position where i had to. I get paid (salary) for 35 hours a week however worked in excess of 70 for 3 consecutive weeks. This was also away from home.
Its now a quiet time in the build up to xmas and have suggested getting some of the time back. The response has been its part of the job and not how the company operates so in fact NO!
I see this as unreasonable. Does anyone else do this? i have a strong CV and would pick up another job. This situation at work looks like it will not change and extra will be required going forward

OP posts:
Pandamodium · 10/12/2018 15:17

Yup I'm not a professional either I'm a carer.

It's that or risking vulnerable service users welfare, we just aren't given enough time. Think 5 minutes to travel 10 miles (I'm in the countryside) to do a 20 minute call.

I'm not alone it's a massive issue.

DaffydownClock · 10/12/2018 15:18

I did an average of 15 hours unpaid overtime a week for 10 years and it wrecked my health. Working in the Third Sector you're answerable to the trustee board and your funders and neither care a toss for you or your staff. You're also disposable with few rights and little comeback- the board decided someone on a lower salary could do my job better so they 'restructured' for the fourth time in 10yrs and lo! my post no longer existed.

Polarbearflavour · 10/12/2018 15:19

Never never never!

In previous jobs I had flexitime so I could get TOIL. In my current job, overtime is paid.

I’m never going to be a high earner but my new job will be paying above the average UK wage and with flexi.

There was a great article in the Sunday Times magazine about men in the City who earn loads of money and work long hours but are utterly miserable and their health has suffered.

A job is just a job, a means to an end. If you earn six figures I can see why would you would work unpaid overtime. But most people merely have jobs, not careers.

No matter how much overtime you do, the company would happily drop you if they had to.

Pachyderm1 · 10/12/2018 15:21

So common in my profession that it’s odd if you don’t work unpaid overtime. But a lot depends on context. Are you paid hourly, or a salary? Does your contract say you may have to work more than your contracted hours?

bringincrazyback · 10/12/2018 15:24

OP, it's not just life. You're being exploited and I would strongly encourage you to find work elsewhere if you can. I've worked for a company with a similar mindset to what you describe, and eventually left because of it. It makes my blood boil when businesses try to make staff feel they have no alternative but to do extra work for no extra money, and there's too much of it about these days.

BackforGood · 10/12/2018 15:32

Does depend totally on your role, your salary and your contract.

If you are being paid NMW, or even NLW, or, quite frankly, any hourly rate, then YANBU and I would have clarified when they asked me to stay late / wfh / accrue the time, how I logged it for TOIL or what the overtime rates were.
If you are in a salaried profession then it wouldn't be strange for it to be in your contract that you work the hours to get the role done, rather than a stated number of hours.

MattFreisCheekyDimples · 10/12/2018 15:34

Hmm, it depends on a lot of things. Is your salary good enough to reflect the fact that you're expected to suck it up uncomplainingly when this occurs? What about other things: perks, status, prospects? Is this likely to happen often or even be the default norm? Are you happy there in other senses? Do you like your job role, your boss, your team? Is it likely to be the same story in a different job, i.e. is it the norm in your field? Personally, I would take a dim view of the fact that the flexibility doesn't cut the other way now that things are quieter. I can see it might be inappropriate to be working out every last half hour of TOIL if you're in a professional level post, but a bit of slack to spend the afternoon Christmas shopping after a period of manic unpaid overtime doesn't seem unreasonable to me at all.

Original poster
Itsjustlife · 10/12/2018 15:34

Another not when a job is costed for our customer they charge my services at £350 a day, so when I work weekend the employer receives 100% of that

OP posts:
Letsmoveondude · 10/12/2018 15:38

I don’t think it’s irregular to work unpaid overtime, we’re freelancers and everybody tries to get unpaid OT through.

proseccoaficcionado · 10/12/2018 15:47

I am a lawyer (admittedly doing it for 5 years now). I will never forget my first year when I actually SLEPT at work because it made no sense to go home.

I was shattered, poorly paid but I learned A LOT.

Now I don't do it anymore. I take work wisely and prioritise my family. While I'm at work I give 110% but when I'm done I'm done. If I do extra time it means something's gone to shit really bad and needs fixing but thankfully that only happens once a year or so.

Alfie190 · 10/12/2018 15:53

It depends what you do. I am in a profession and it has been this way, i.e. you work whatever hours are required, no overtime, ever since I started work 26 years ago. I do command a high salary now, but have not always but it has still always been the case.

MrsDrudge · 10/12/2018 16:28

Routine as a nurse practitioner. And TOIL always promised but never enough staff to cover for this. I accept this as part of the profession I chose.
However, unless it affected another persons health or wellbeing there is no way I would work that amount of unpaid overtime.

Sonders · 10/12/2018 16:46

It's pretty routine in my industry and it was one of the worst causes for my poor mental health. There was absolutely no need for it either, just poor planning by senior staff.

It's the exact same people who preach 'mental health awareness' but seem to think the fix is obviously alcohol and table football - knobs.

plaidlife · 10/12/2018 18:30

Social work ran a toil system but you rarely had the time to take the toil and I think after 3 weeks you couldn't collect anymore where I worked.
DH in business has always just worked the hours needed.

TheFallenMadonna · 10/12/2018 18:35

Just feel he need to point out that teachers do not do unpaid overtime because our contracts (if STPCD) say that we are contracted to work 1265 hours under the direction of the headteacher plus (unspecified) additional hours necessary to meet the requirements of the job. Whether those are reasonable requirements are definitely up for debate, but it is not overtime.

Amibeingnaive · 10/12/2018 23:48

In professional services this is not only the norm, but the expectation.

Pringlecat · 10/12/2018 23:54

You mention your employer charging for your services, so presumably you are a professional of some sort - lawyer, accountant, etc. In which case, excessive unpaid overtime is normal, especially for qualified people. What does your contract actually say? And do your colleagues work similarly insane hours?

DramaAlpaca · 10/12/2018 23:57

It's standard & expected at my level in my profession. I wish it wasn't & I'd love to be paid overtime, but it ain't going to happen.

alltoomuchrightnow · 11/12/2018 00:00

I could have written this.
I'm in retail, in a new job, so in probation period. On just slightly more than minimum wage.
Put in a position where I have to do it. Get paid no extra for all the extra hours. Since September I reckon they've had equivalent to 30-40 hours extra, unpaid, from me.
I have spoken to HR but they're the ones been giving me the extra! eg I'll say it's my hometime but they just say it has to be done (are shortstaffed -not my fault! I' m having to work alone in my department and do the work of about ten people. I wrote a thread about this as one time I finished late, working for free as usual, to find my car was locked in the car park. I had to leave it there overnight!)
I am becoming v resentful and nearly quit a few times but can't afford to that at this time of year. And I know after Christmas it will be quieter. But I am seething. And I've been told I have to do it and won't be paid for it, before anyone asks.. the answer is always 'you know it's peak time. You know we are short staffed'

IWouldPreferNotTo · 11/12/2018 00:19

This is the thing I don't get.

By any measure I'm in your professional services class. My employer bills me out and I get some of what they make, or I'm a self employed contractor billing for a certain rate.

However, what I've never done is work for free knowing my employer is billing me. I might have worked 70 hour weeks, spent weeks away from home but I sure as shit wasn't letting my employer bill £1K a day and me work it for free.

HelenaDove · 11/12/2018 00:22

@alltoomuchrightnow can i have a link to your thread

payperview · 11/12/2018 00:33

Yes, because I'm a teacher.

maddening · 11/12/2018 00:34

My last job was relentless, for the last 3 years I did 15-18 hours extra every week - which works out 6.months extra work unpaid for every year - left in the end as it was too much! New job pays better and is 9-5 - got my life work balance back!

alltoomuchrightnow · 11/12/2018 00:38

(Helena my thread mentions working half hour late but it's actually got worse since then, it's usually an hour or so a day they get extra from me)