Anyone work excessive overtime for free?

[Itsjustlife]

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

It depends on so many factors.

As a teacher, my work was never done, but I saw it as (wanker emoji) a service to the children, so it didn't really bother me.

So if I was doing social work, education, nursing etc - sure.

To make some other fucker rich? No thanks. That's a mug's game.

Also, it really depends on the salary. For 20-30k? No fucking way. You can get easier jobs in that salary range. If I'm earning 50+, I just think it comes with the territory and you kind of have to expect to be beholden to your job.

I think the poster who said your employer has saved themselves a second salary has hit the nail on the head.

These sorts of practices only become "the norm" because you accept them and do them. It's not the norm at all - I don't know anyone who does anywhere near that much extra.

Those saying they have a big salary - try halving it, because that's what working 70 hours in a 35 hour week means - and then see if you still think you're being paid lots and lots and it's all totally reasonable.

Where I work, we have flexitime, but you can only hold a max of 24

Nope. I'll do the odd bit here and there as needed (eg, when a server dies and its critical - or help with a particular problem and won;tg go until its fixed etc) - and in teturn its "no questions asked" if i need time off for drs, dentist, etc

I always think of it two ways

1. you signed a contract, and SO DID THE EMPLOYER - they say they will pay me x amount for doing certain duties between mon-fri 9-5. so that's what they pay me for an dis expected.

1. if i turned round to them and said i wanted to go part-time, they sure as heck would pro-rata my salary - they wouldn't pay me the full 40hours!

so no - i won't give them time for free.

plus work is just means to an end - i don't go because i want to, i go because i need to.

I’d be pissed off working more hours than I should. I start at 9.30, I finish at 5.30.
If the company is short staffed it’s their own incompetence that has got them their ‘not my problem cheif’ And then walk out. You’ve done your hours.
If it was a profession like doctor/solicitor then that’s very different.
Your health is your wealth.

eg, when a server dies and its critical

Assuming you're working with computers and not in a cafeteria of some sorts...

Yes pretty much every week. Also a lawyer and I can see others up thread say no, but I think it really depends on what area of Law you practice in (in my area it is fairly standard).

The old definition of a profession was that you got a salary and you worked until the job was done. There was no expectation of overtime pay.

I do think a lot of people kind of relish overtime because it makes them feel very important and necessary and as if the office/world would fall apart without their presence.

In reality, the managers are saying what a great worker you are to your face and laughing all the way to the bank behind your back.

It's not normal. It shouldnt be expected whatever the industry. I live in Denmark where you work 37 hours and thats it. If you need to do more then youre seen as incapable which is v v bad. If theres too much work then it's your boss' problem to sort.

Not anymore I learnt not to. In your position they've had the equivalent of two of you for the price of one for three weeks, halving your hourly rate. If that means you're not getting nmw are they breaking the law?

Average for me is around 55-60 hours but I have autonomy to juggle those mainly and can take time during the day to walk the dog but work later etc. When I’m working away it’s longer and can go to 14 hour days for four days plus travelling either side. No overtime but I’ll take some of the hours back over Christmas.
My husband does an average of a 65 hour week. Sometimes longer. No overtime payment. He can work on phone when doing other things sometimes though - his is more about responsibility and decisions rather than physical presence.

I am paid an average salary and have worked about 50 hrs of overtime in the last 3 weeks. They have specific rules about what you can take as time off in lieu(toil ) and now of my over time fits that I do work from homeme once a week though so I plan to take it easy on those days for a few weeks after Christmas. I can do that as most of my deadlines which have caused the issue will have passed so it will be less busy but I won't get back.all the overtime at all

redexpat sounds like they have the right idea.

I used to live in Korea where a 70 hour work week is considered normal. Start at 8, finish at 8 (maybe, but later is totally normal), come in on Saturday too, and in the evenings, enforced drinking with your boss til 1 in the morning (if you're lucky and it finishes that early) at least twice a month, but in some companies (Hyundai is notorious for it), three times a week isn't weird either. Some companies make you do weekend camping/skiing trips too.

I get it in Korea. There is no choice. If you leave, you'll just have the same in another company because all companies are like that. In the UK, I don't get it. It just smacks of bad management, companies employing one person instead of two, and people wanting to feel important.

I worked for years for an employer like this (I would have left, but was unsuccessful in finding another job). Work was relentless, and I was not highly paid, barely more than minimum wage. It became the norm to come to the office on Saturdays, then the expectation was that people would come in on Sundays. We were promised rewards in the form of 'development opportunities' which never came. But it only worked one way. It was impossible to take our annual leave as we were too short staffed. And if you asked for time off to attend a medical appointment they demanded a letter from the GP practice to confirm that you attended, and weren't just pretending to get an hour off. When eventually the strain made me physically ill, I was rewarded with a disciplinary from my employer. So I stopped doing it. And I still got the same salary at the end of the month.

Senior staff obviously often work long hours too, but the difference is where they have flexibility. And a two hour meeting to discuss work over dinner is still work, but not the sort of relentless work of sitting glued to your computer screen with a phone ringing and a customer shouting at you.

In retail that’s normal once you reach management, you’re actually earning less than minimum wage some months 😄

As a Nurse, yes, I can safely say I work a lot of extra unpaid hours. We are meant to get time back but the reality is that there is never anytime to take it as there is a chronic staff shortage.

As an accountant in public practice it's expected you work 3000 hours a year. As a working parent with responsibilities for two DC with autism I started to track my time spent on their doctor appointments and school appointments so HR could see how tight my schedule was. 60 hours a week was a light week and in the weeks before filings I would regularly work 120 hours. A lot of it was busy work. I would spend hours on Mn because I would spend hours on conference calls. When I had tried to change the process so we could all go home earlier it was ferociously challenged so I went to Mn and chatted away while blowing the hours by.

I now work for a broker dealer and I'm the CFO of their fintech division. I'm in around 8:30am, which is late for my field, out when the last trade settles at about 6pm. I have stayed later this year wth the office move I was coordinating but it wasn't anything crazy. My boss is in at 7am and leaves shortly after 4pm.

Investment banking seems to work this way. You are seen as un motivated if you don't consistenrly work way over basic hours and there is no leeway on getting time back or flexibliliy if you need time off or in lieu. I prefer Marketing, there are mad patches but the rest of the time, real flexibility on hours & working from home.

No way. I'm a salaried professional, on a standard 35 hr/week contract. I have weeks I work significantly more than this (and my contract has some woolly clause about any additional hours needed to get my job done), but through out the company it's accepted that you'll manage your own time, and in periods of down time I work shorter hours, take time out for example for school activities etc, might even have the odd half day and not put it through as holiday. It's a very flexible approach based on a 'manage your own time' approach with a real recognition for work:life balance. I make sure I have childcare in place to support me in busy periods and am recognised and rewarded appropriately in annual reviews and salary/bonus rewards, but it's only because of the flexibility in the quieter times that I'm able manage working full time with two under 5s.

I’m a director grade in an international corporate role. When I returned from maternity leave many years ago (DT’s were six months old) I returned full time but on the condition that I left work no later than 4.30 each day so I could collect DT’s from nursery. DH is a GP and dropped DT’s off in the morning on his way to work. I stuck to my 4.30 finish ever since and it hasn’t hurt my career.

Early Years...yes, all the sodding time.

(End of term exhaustion)

Hisaishi That did make me laugh.

Regardless of your pay scale, if your employer can both expect you to work unpaid overtime as well as freaking out if you want to leave an hour early one day (work load permitting) then that’s a problem with your management’a attitude and I would not be happy working in that kind of culture.

I'd agree with this ^
In my team, we theoretically can take back hours in TOIL but you always end up with loads wiped out at the end of the year because there's just not enough chance to take it. However our manager understands that everyone goes above and beyond, and encourages all of us to arrive late / duck out early / take a break if there is something you want to be at (dc's Nativities, etc). It makes all the difference.

I used to all the time when I worked for the NHS. I now don't have to, though I'm doing the same job for the same money and get way more holiday.

I've got my life back.

I don't work overtime but I work unsociable hours and I am expected to pick up the phone for a 'quick chat' up until 10pm.
In return I get as much flexibility as I want and don't need to be in the office every day.

Yes, but there is give and take where I work. So I do a lot of extra hours (I am also paid v well imho) but if I need to wfh or take time off I can do so with zero fuss.