To not want to work a 24-hour day because "it's fun"?

[KentishMama]

Probably a bit outing, so will keep it brief.

I work for a super cool trendy startup in a pretty senior role. My boss decided that the entire team should do a Hackathon style event where we try to solve a couple of big business problems in teams... Overnight. The "event" starts at 4 pm (after we've already been at work since 8:30) and ends at 10 am the next morning. After that, we can "have the rest of the day off."

But what about sleep? "Oh, there'll be coffee. And if anyone needs a power nap there are a couple of sofas."

I really don't want to do this - I'm usually asleep by 9:30 and don't cope with late nights, and won't see DC for 36 hours if I do this... But I know that I'll be told I'm setting a poor example for my team and that this is meant as a team bonding kind of thing.

AIBU?

I don't know the UK legalities or culture, but in the US, you are not allowed to have a life or family if you're in a software startup. The culture is incredibly toxic and assumes you put work above everything else in life. So YANBU, this is no way to live. But this is the culture, and if you want to prosper in that type of environment, 7 day work-weeks and 12 hour days are pretty much the expectation. As I said, I don't know the legality of this in the UK, but it sounds like your boss wants to create this kind of culture.

Not read the thread but this is crazy!

Are there no laws on how many hours you can work in one go?

I understand how hard it is for you as you are in a senior role - so you should be willing to work 24 hours without a break?! Fuck that!

Hope it gets sorted for all of you. Your boss sounds like an idiot. And only out for himself.

If you haven't opted out of the working time directive then I'm pretty sure he can't make you!

Just say no and use the words "health and safety risk" and "abusive". If Mr Boss doesn't get the point he is a total fool.

Having pulled all nighters and worked long hours when younger I know that it's counter productive. The best work is done when people have a good work life balance and rest. Working long hours leads to more and more because you make mistakes when tired and then they need correcting.

Somewhere I worked once decided they would import a social care support model that involved having individual named staff on call 24 hours a day. They got quite far with the planning before legal pointed out that unlike the US this wasn't legal in the UK and it was dropped.
This needs squashing sooner rather than later.

Is your boss doing it (with a tonne of coke up his nose?)

Can you kill it with H+S / risk assessment queries?,

What MiniMum97 said. Read 'Why We Sleep' by Matthew Walker and make your boss read it too. Life changing.

Shouldn't you also be thinking about you team...they also might not want to lose their sleep to have fun.

If you do this, won't it set precedent to fulfill other silly, 'fun' work commitments

Poor you OP - this sounds like my idea of hell. I also hate it when you are in a position which means if you don't do it, they make you feel you are letting the team down. I went on one of those Assessment Centres a while ago - it was completely relentless and I drove home in the evening with - literally - a red fog around my eyes. Just fall asleep and let them all get on with it!!

Everyone talking as if boss is male but OP has said 'he' is in fact a she.

By the by anyway. It's a wanky idea and you owe it to your team to put a stop to it.

Okay I can't be bothered trft = but OP as a manager I think you need to step up and say no to this on behalf of younger/ less senior staff.

There is no reason at all for operational purposes to do a night shift.

I am a former night/ shift worker - I worked in journalism and did sometimes have to think quite hard at 4am - its fucking horrendous. My brain was like porridge -

You are not being properly compensated for the night shift in any case. You will feel sick as dogs after a full nights work - and will be 'jet lagged' and unable to function for a few days.

Normal night shifts start in the evening in any case - not after a day of work.

Please stand up to this idiot.

I bet there are other people who are thinking the same way as you OP, but are too scared to speak out because they are young, starting out on their careers and don't want to rock the boat.

You have kids, they might have them too, or other caring responsibilities, or a dog that needs walking, a cat that needs feeding.

If you don't want to pull the all nighter and say so it might give them the courage to say no too.

I can see why a 20 something no kids could think this a good idea - but the reality is even in start up these days there are families - you have a responsibility to them first and its not selling yourself as a great place to work to demand 24hr working with no leeway. As a one off with plenty of notice and NOT after a full days work go for it but on a voluntary basis - although to be fair at a senior level there is prob less leeway than lower down to skive off

My view - get some sleep pods in and bagsy one - promise OH a takeaway and a night off next week

This sounds like a really stupid idea. Just say no. Some hipster boss with his head in too many training manuals who thinks he works for Google.
I was going to mention the working time directive but someone else already did but the get out clause is that it's 'optional' so therefore I think the working time directive does not cover it or you if you were to do it, so only if it wasn't optional then it would be against it or illegal.
I'm not 100% sure on that though.
But nope just say no and don't get your team involved as I'm sure some of them won't be able to do it due to childcare issues and it's a bonkers idea. Ok it might not do your career much good but more important is the health and safety of you and your staff than some bonkers management idea.

PS someone also could have a medical condition which makes 24 hour working difficult.

why not say , why don`t we have a brainstorming hour to look at the problem then go home and sleep on it then come back the next to debate the answer

I guess stay then go for a "power nap" a very long one...

Nip this in the bud. I can 100% guarantee that no one wants to do this fun activity. It's akin to "team building" weekends (unpaid) that achieve nothing but resentment and contempt for whoever thought of it.

Crazy.

You can't opt out of the rest requirements of the EWTD, only the 48hrs limit. That's a common misconception.

Quite correct but probably not best way to get out of it as your boss might not think favourably you bringing it up.

I can see why you don’t want to do this for all sorts of reasons.

If it was me however I’d probably do it, I’m emergency services and have worked countless 18 hour shifts, as senior management I don’t often have to now but 12 hour shifts fairly frequent as well as nights, weekends etc.

I worked somewhere that "made" us do this, by the time of the presentation, we were all united - against the bosses. They kept throwing these so called fun changes, curve balls into the mix, yeah highly amusing for them, but not for us. Great for team building, we had a united enemy - think it may have backfired, there was a lot of animosity against the bosses and a general lack of respect for them, as they obviously had zero respect for us.

These are just the sort of woke people who tell you they have a vast social conscience and ostentatiously tell you they're voting for St. Jeremy The Self-Righteous to end exploitation, then propose a "fun" 26 hour work stint with the promise you get most of Friday off (where you collapse in your bed by noon Friday and are too knackered to do anything but sleep through to 8am Saturday). If this isn't exploitation, what is?

Tories, whatever else you say about us, aren't such complete and utter fucking hypocrites.