To think everyone works outside their paid hours ?

[relax2]

Evening all

Now I know we're in tough times with regards to jobs etc but I recently took a new job because in my last job I was working long hours and my work life balance was rubbish for my family.
So now in new job and it's starting to go the same way. I have a constant stream of work to do with little let up and in order not to feel stressed or get behind I end up doing some in my own time. The more people I speak to the more "normal" this seems that many people do this but I feel it's not right.
I'm allowed to accrue TOIL but not if I work at home in the evenings as our company doesn't want us doing it but then if I don't I'll always be behind!!

Do most people end up working in their own time? Just interested

There are different expectations in different industries and at different levels. If you're on minimum wage, nope. You work your hours, then you stop. If you're on £100k, you work as many hours as it takes. In between, it varies.

Oh yes of course - I'm on just over minimum wage so not a lot at all but I manage my own diary etc and there is clear targets and outcomes to meet (which are a little unrealistic) and my manager does agree with me and says not to work in my own time I just don't see how i can't without being massively behind!

If you're on minimum wage, nope. You work your hours, then you stop.

Not if you're on a 0 hours contract and want hours next week. It's just as expected in those types of jobs too. I've done plenty of them. Handover times in care homes - unpaid. Set up and close down times in restaurants/bars/shops - unpaid. Moan about it or refuse and no hours for you next week.

I think I'm very lucky in my current job as I only work my contracted hours and I'm not expected to work longer. The company is in a location outside a big city that is not served by public transport so the company pays for private busses from the city to bring the employees to the office. The busses arrive in the morning just before 9 and leave at 10 past 6 every evening. Most people use the Busses to get to work so we only work the contracted hours and the company knows they can't expect you to stay later as you would essentially be stranded in the middle of nowhere if you stayed longer in the evening. They also don't give us access to work from home as they don't want to pay for all the laptops that staff would need to do it and don't want us to have access to work systems via private devices.

I do which I don’t think is always right but I get paid quite a lot and enjoy my job. I have a workload planner and my boss swears I’m at 96% but some of the time I’m allocated for stuff isn’t realistic. But when colleagues have raised it they get told its correct, and then there are mutterings about if they are managing their workload effectively.

I don’t want to say anything as I don’t want to be seen as someone who isn’t managing my workload.

Everyone where I work is overworked, doing long days, no lunch time, etc, doing bits at weekends.

I certainly wouldn’t be happy if I was earning near minimum wage. Problem is the more you do, the more you get given.

I’m in 2 split management roles and I knew it was going to be a total nightmare when I took them but I needed to boost my career. I’m supposed to share being on (operational) call with someone else but I do 70% of it, I do work in the evenings and weekends sometimes, I will answer emails and texts or anything urgent but I also refuse to let it impact my life too much. I was working 60-70 hours last year and it nearly killed me! It’s not worth sacrificing your personal life for work

If you are really behind you need to look at your workload management skills.
I try to manage mine in tranches - I set aside specific time to do something and if I need more time to finish it, I will allocate time to back to it later and make sure other things get done instead of having a huge backlog. I make lists and tick things off, use a diary to manage my time and I don’t say ‘yes’ to everything I am asked to do. Also delegate things to others

I think it depends on the industry; in my job we have crisis that happen and I don’t mind working extra then but I’ve become firm about not doing extra hours for my everyday work as I find that working extra hours allows managers to over load us and pretend that they aren’t because we’re all “managing” even when we’re not.
My profession has a high burnout rate and it’s one of the ways of protecting myself I’ve found

@relax2 yes - speaking as someone who finished working at 8pm tonight and don’t officially accrue any TOIL or anything.

These days I work my hours except for regularly skipping the half hour lunch break I should be having. I used to work extra but now I’m a widowed parent the rest of my time is for my DCs, and very occasionally even for me 😅

I’ve been with the same company for 12 years and my boss knows I get a lot done in the hours I’m there. I’d love to be simultaneously full time at work and full time at home but I imagine many of us would.

I know company culture and just sheer workload can make it really hard to stick to hours. I do need to find a way of taking a short break during my work day.

I am a manager, I don't and I don't allow my team to either but our organisation is very much about work life balance and this is not true of every company or industry. Very occasionally someone might be five minutes late leaving, but anymore than that is given back as time or is paid and there is no expectation of it.

I used to work stupid hours and had no time for anything else. But I was diagnosed with a chronic condition where fatigue is an issue and I just can't do it anymore. I find that my team are efficient and if anyone is struggling to complete their work we look at why, is there too much work or do they need some training, help with prioritisation etc.

I would be willing to stay back if something came up but that is because there is no expectation of it.

I don't work outside my paid hours and on the odd occasions my boss asks me to do extra I am paid for it. I'm a PT administrator.

I forget about work as soon as I leave.

I think it depends - even some office jobs you can't do anything at home, not even access your work email because its all on secure servers etc.

I'm on flexi so can claim all the hours i work.

I would never work if i wasn't going to get paid for the time, just push back when they give you work that you don't have capacity for

Set up and close down times in restaurants/bars/shops - unpaid

Not in any restaurants/bars/shops I've worked in and there have been a few over my time. Care homes - I've never worked in one so can't comment there.

My line of thought is that I dont get paid enough to work extra. Where I work now I can take time off in Lieu if I was to work late and I have. However, I would never need to work unpaid. I am just over NMW so not a high paid profession.

I make a point of not working outside my scheduled hours. I’m in a professional role but I put my foot down when I came back from maternity leave and I don’t care. I am extremely organised in work. I block off time for all my essential tasks and if you want to talk to me then schedule a meeting in my diary. I find some people who work extra hours can be kidding themselves about their productivity during the day. My husband is a prime example of this. Works longer hours but freely admits he doesn’t really get going every morning until about 10.30 by the time he has mooched around, had coffee and read a few mails.

This is why you should belong to a union.

No one should work unpaid, as it distorts reality. Your company obviously thinks you can do the job in the hours they pay you for, so will expect other employees to do the same.

You all need to stand together and explain that it's too much work. No one will ever thank you for putting in so much effort.

I’m a temp and I do a range of length of roles (from a few days to a few months) I’m always working though, plenty of work in my area so I know I’m lucky to have this option.

However I am a temp because I can’t work after hours. I just can’t do it. So I do get a bit frustrated when I am a few weeks or months into a role and extra work is being handed to me with the expectation of overtime. I can’t do overtime even if it was paid. So I have speak up (even as a temp) and say I can’t commit to that work being completed or I say tell them that one reason I’m a temp is that I need to keep to my pre-arranged hours.

I dread to think that I’ll have to go back to a regular job because of these reasons.

On minimum wage, turn up, do job, go home -bliss

I don't have anyone to delegate to, only me in my office doing my job. I like to think I'm good at managing things but it is something I'm going to look at .

To be honest maybe I do need to just not work outside my hours but then I get stressed worrying about the work load. I wonder if I just need to raise actually that I either work outside hours but claim it all back or end up playing catch up.
I don't actually think my company want us eating into our own time they're a great company but it's just unrealistic.

Generally not, no. I'm of a grade where it's expected in exceptional circumstances but I'm fortunate to work for an organisation that doesn't expect it as standard. I don't mind giving a bit extra here and there but that's because there's give and take - I get that back when I need it.

I genuinely do not understand why employees should have to routinely work over and above their paid hours just to prove they're worthy of employment. IME, the managers that expect this are the worst to work for.

I don't work a minute over my hours

I'm not on minimum wage. I earn just less than £30k so not vast amounts. I don't start work until 9 and will finish at 5 on the dot. Work does not come home with me and no way would my boss allow it!

I work 9am to 6:30 most days - and respond to emails at home until about 10pm each night. I sometime travel with work, if I’m not staying over those days are long - 5am to 10pm.

I sometimes take a half day off to make up for the travelling, but rarely😊

I’m a mug.

I work 30 hours a week for just over £20k, I don’t work a minute more. If I get behind then I get behind, I only do what I can do in the allotted time. if I get very behind then I go to my boss and say I’ve got too much on, what do you want me to focus on and what can be pushed back?

It’s a matter of principle, if I was on £60k+ I’d be more willing to work whatever hours to get the work done, but I feel at my level I’m paid to get what work done in 30 hours that I can, if I can’t get it done then they’ve given me too much work. The company I work for makes millions in profit every year so I don’t feel too bad.