Working late. Is it the norm now ? How sad.

[Oblomov]

I posted on two threads yesterday about dh's who work later than their contracted hours.
Barney2 's dh works "(7am) and not home until late (gone 7pm" - so thats a 12 hr day then. And he always says yes to another extra job, if asked. Fillyfonk said "the company won't go into liquidation", if he says no. I agree with Fillyfonk.
Rabsters dh works "9 - 5.30, yet he seems to work 8.30 - 6 most days" so thats an extra hour every day.7 hours a week. A DAY A WEEK. That he does. FOR NOTHING.
Cod said "stop naggin". McDreamy,heifer, HonoriaGlossop, all basically / pretty much said that it was the norm thesedays.
And everyone is saying, this is the norm. REALLY ?
What I am asking, is not what time your dh gets home. Because everyone's is different, they work different hours, have diffrerent length commutes.
I am asking why people think it is o.k. to regularly do more than your contracted hours. I.e do an extra DAY for free, every week.
Last week, there was a post about a lady who had been made redundant, after giving so much. Aloha posted that "But I say never, ever consider yourself as working for anyone else, whether you work full time or part time, always put yourself and your own interests above those of your company. Because you can bet that the company will NEVER put your interests above their financial ones." I agree with her.
No company gives a sh*t about any employee. So if Aloha's argument is right ( and I beleive it is), why give ONE day PER WEEK, extra, for nothing.
If you think that this is the norm these days, for people to do extra hours, I think it is VERY SAD.
My dh has a new job as an Operations Manager. He doesn't take a full lunch. He regularly gives extra 1/2, 3/4 , 1 and 1/2 hrs extra. His men get paid overtime. But he doesn't. He says it is expected. I think, he thinks, that I am naieve. I am not naieve, I know people do it. I just think, that the work / life balance has become totally out-of-proportion. And I think its WRONG.
Maybe its just me, then ?

Edam if you are willing to put up with it, then do so. As long as you are happy.

However if you are one of the 3 sour faced, moaning, never happy people that I work with then for the love of everything sweet and good DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

Tell the right people, look for another job, just stop making everybody else who are actually happy with what they are doing miserable.

What do you all expect to happen if you don't do something about it?

maisemor, it was Cod, having a snipe. She should be flattered. But she clearly isn't. Can't see what her problem is, myself. If they read the OP properly and my subsequent posts, there is no smugness, how can someone complaining that their dh works too many hours, be smug. Doesn't make sense.

Oblomov - I don't think you are smug.

But the work/income versus family time balance is just full of potential pitfalls (mostly economic ones) and it is bound to raise sensitivities

it is really not just in this country, crikey you guys should try Japan. or the US. or Korea (dh works for a Korean company) and you would soon realise the UK working culture is not so bad after all

Anna888 thank you. I wasn't being smug. I know that. They haven't read my posts properly.

I know exactly where you're coming from Oblomov. My DH has earns above average but not megabucks. He has to meet a ridiculously high chargeable hours target which he manages to do by getting into the office at 7am each morning.

I am willing to bet that because through his hard work and dedication he manages to hit his target that it will be increased for the following year, even though the number of physical hours in the day remains the same! Which means that he will have to work even harder and longer...

Mumbelchun, exactly. I'm measured on results not on the hours I'm there. And Cod, I earn decent money too, so what, I'm not expected to work stupid hours for it but I am expected to achieve what's asked of me.

Curiouscat, I work in Bucks, where London salaries are paid but provincial working hours attitudes (mostly) prevail.

The best thing I was told when I was 7 months pregnant and working my bottom off with no support was that 'they're never gonna thank you for it'.

I'd been asking for help for two months and knew I had to train someone up for when I was on maternity leave, they did nothing about it. The day my colleague made that statement I asked to pull my leave forward, first I was told no so I said I knew I was entitled to do so and I'd have to go ahead with or without her permission as I felt I was putting myself and my baby under too much strain.

She eventually gave in and tried to put me in a more comfortable role for the rest of the week which actually lasted 25mins before she realized they couldn't cope without me. The day I left, I was replaced by 3 members of staff to compensate!!! I'm very proud of my loyalty and hard work but have to say that this experience has definately changed me.

i don't think this is a new phenomenon - bfeore the 70s when there wasn't enough work to do, so there were pay & time cuts at work, the normal working week was 5 1/2 days, often 8 am to 6 pm. my dad clearly remembers leaving home at 7 am & returning at 7 pm, he was overjoyed when the standard week reduced to 35 - 40 hours a week. now we are back in a time of full employment, the work is there to be done & we don't have enough people in the country to do it - so those who work do more & we rely on immigrants to cover the shortage.
although i love the idea of extended family time, it is a modern concept & whilst many of us wish for it, few of us will attain it

But Harpsi, I think the US model is deeply flawed too. They only get 10 days or something annual leave, which is shite. And just because other places are supposedly worse, I don't see why we shouldn't question UK working culture.

I think it is normal to work over the hours in white-collar jobs

My job used to entail 8am till 8pm regularly .. occasionally right through the night, sometimes right through the weekends .. no overtime ..only as I got more senior was I more able to set my own hours and would work 9 till 6 and put in a couple of hours at home in the evening

If everybody does it and you have deadlines then you have to do it

DH has the best job .. white collar .. works on a clock (for some antiquated reason) .. leaves home at 9 .. is in by 10, home by 7.20 most nights .. if he works over contracted he can claim back time off

I h'am now retired

oh no I am not saying it is right, but we have to compete with these working cultures in a global market. and the UK working culture is, imo and ime, a pretty good compromise in terms of economic competitiveness and work/life balance

But, according to economic theory working longer hours doesn't necessarily give us competitive advantage - that's all about scarcity power and trade agreements, not about 10 hour days.

Haven't read the whole thread but my DH was in a job where he did more extra hours than I could count. He worked 9-6pm, drove home then usually worked at the kitchen table until round about midnight. Weekends the phone would ring a number of times and he'd have to drop everything and work. He hardly took any time off for holidays but if he did the phone would ring. He ended up doing some work apparently whilst I was in hospital after having DS by c/section. His salary didn't come anywhere near reflecting the amount of work he did.

The end result was that he became very ill. He now works from home 4 days a week, 9-5pm and he will never ever contemplate doing anything with extra hours on a regular basis.

I was under the impression that salaried people didnt have hours as such

If your earning the money your alluding to I think it would be reasonble to work over bring work home

if you are a wage earner eg paid by the hour then of course you want to get paid for those hours or go home

ASk teachers how much they get and how many hours they work based on your equation for free

Haven't read the whole thread as is very long.

My dh (as I said on the thread the op was referring to) is out of the house from 6.0am to 7.30-8pm. The reason he's out soooo late isn't the actual contracted working hours it's the travelling time!

He works 8.30-5.30 but we live in swindon and he works in london. Yes, we could live nearer, we could even live in london but house prices are so that we would have to downsize considerably. Also as dh is a contractor, he goes where the work is so it makes sense for us to have a base and him travel as he isn't specific to an area.

I don't always think that it's just an overtime and no pay thing or they don't want to be at home. My dh phones our son to speak to him every night to ask him how his day is in order to keep an ongoing relatinship with him.

I don't like it but he gets paid very well for what he does and is extremly specialised so alternative employment is not an option.

Sniff- it was when I worked out that I was earning less than half the hourly rate of my 15 yr old shelf-stacking pupils that I began to wonder whether it was worth it...

And it ranged between £2.50 and £3.50 an hour, depending on the week, in 2003.

Maisie, I didn't say I worked long hours at the moment. I was talking generically. Have done in the past, don't right now, but that's because I'm self employed. In my industry, if I wanted to be an employee, I'd find it very hard to work contracted hours.

see, my dh doesn't get paid very well. i mean, it's ok, but we're not exactly rolling in it!

If it is me you are talking to Edam (my name is not Maisie on here or in RL ) then I don't know what you expect from me with your message. It seems to me that we agree!!??

It sounds to me that you were not happy with the hours before so you did something about it. You did not just sit there and whinge about it, and expect somebody else to do something about it.

I can whinge until I die, I am probably still never going to win the lottery, especially not until I start playing it. If you see what I mean.

(I do play the lottery by the way, because I believe that me and my hubby are meant to win it, and be rich, and live in a big house, ahhhh....can see myself elegantly skiing in the Alpes before crashing into a tree )

duchesse I am shocked truly Its laughable how much we value the people who educate our children

What a great thread. I didnt realise dh does an extra day a week for free - will have to tell him!

What Aloha says is so true - at dh's work, he had to talk the management around to not sacking / making redundant a guy whose dad was termilnally ill and who he was going to visit daily. It was impacting on his work, and despite working long hours and weekends, they were going to get rid of him as soon as he stopped being productive. Makes you sick

btw, I teach. I work 8.00 - 5 daily, and take work home (which isnt a lot compared to most other teachers) but get 12 WEEKS HOLIDAY! YAY!!!!! also, I do it for the kids, not my employer. duchesse you must have worked a long time ago - 19k is less than the starting wage now..

Mamacool, your post echoed my own situation when pg, do we work for the same company?!

I was crazy when pg at work. I was due on 14th October, and had decided I'd start my maternity leave on the 5th because that would mean I'd be at work to cover their busiest time. I had been panicking as they had not sorted out somebody to cover my role, and anothe team member was pg, due six weeks before me, so there were losing half their staff!
In the end they gave me a complete dumpty to train, and after a week of pulling my hair out, I was very stressed. My blood pressure rocketed at the next antenatal visit they signed me off work. That was at the end of August. It never returned to normal, I still went into work the odd hour here and there to make sure I was up to date and had written very thorough notes. I ended up finishing in September and using all my holidays to take me up to October and start my maternity leave. I had my baby by section on the 6th October.
When I went back to work, it was just in time for the yearly review. They gave me a shite payrise because they said I'd been away half the year, despite the fact I'd worked my ass off for six months!!