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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be fed up of doing a 2 full extra days of work for free a week

108 replies

Deadcatbounce · 09/10/2020 18:33

I took a pay cut and went down to 3 days a week earlier this year , will be or rest of this year at least , tend to do 4 days min to Thurs just to keep up but don't work Friday.

I'm finding constant meetings and email requests for work now on a Friday so I am doing 5 days plus sometimes a day at the weekend all unpaid

I'm not.getting irritated as it seems to have become the norm, I know I am.lucky yo have a job but equally.dont take the piss

OP posts:
Invisimamma · 09/10/2020 18:38

Yanbu.

Ask for your objectives/targets to reflect that you now work 3 days.

Be really strict on not working your non-working days. Block them out of your diary as not available.

Keep track of the hours you're working and ask for time back or overtime for anything over your 3 days.

Depends on your industry how well this will go down, but don't roll over and accept it.

Howlooseisyourgoose · 09/10/2020 18:39

You need to block out your diary as Out of Office and decline decline decline. They are massively taking advantage of you!!

bonjonbovi · 09/10/2020 18:41

Don’t work Thursdays or Friday. Tell your manager to cover for you on the meetings on your day off.

Whilst you let them take the piss and work for free, they’ll take you up on it. They have no motivation to stop you working extra.

Shoppingwithmother · 09/10/2020 18:41

Just work on the days you are paid to. As long as you are getting on with your work properly, there should be no need to work all through Thursday to keep up. If there is, then there are 2 options- they give you less work, or they employ you for Thursday as well.
As for the meetings, you need to point out that you don’t work Fridays any more, so if they want you at the meetings they need to have them on a day when you are working.

BlueJava · 09/10/2020 18:42

Exactly as PP have said - you need to agree your new objectives with your new boss and put on your OOO. Otherwise you may as well go back to full time (at least you'd get paid for it!)

tectonicplates · 09/10/2020 18:42

Time to start putting your foot down. Do your colleagues actually realise what your working days are, though? I'd send out an email saying "Just a reminder that my working days are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Do not schedule my meetings for Fridays as I do not work on this day". You should also set up an autoreply on your email every Wednesday night which says you will reply on Monday.

And sorry to say it, but by working on Thursdays and weekends, you are exacerbating the problem by showing you're at work when you're not supposed to be and not being paid for it. If you give out the message that you're happy to work in your days off, then people will treat you as such. So it's you who needs to take control of this.

Original poster
Deadcatbounce · 09/10/2020 18:42

I don't mind working 4 days but Friday and weekend no, had a meeting put in diary today by my boss, then 2 hours of work after , said at meeting I nearly.missed this meeting as I don't work Fridays as you know but it popped up as a reminder on my.laptop....cue o sorry , and then asking for 2 hours of work this afternoon, pretty pissed off

OP posts:
WhereverIGoddamnLike · 09/10/2020 18:43

Turn off phone, mute all work online. Dont engage with them on your days off. Work the days you're paid for. End of.

GreyishDays · 09/10/2020 18:44

Why did you go to the meeting?

PaulinePetrovaPosey · 09/10/2020 18:45

Surely you just say 'I'm afraid I don't with those days, can we do this on a Monday'.

What happens when you say that, or similar? If you're staying mute YABU for expecting other people to know or remember your schedule when you don't appear to yourself.

cunningartificer · 09/10/2020 18:46

If you do it, there’s no incentive for your work to change. Try negotiating working from home for the fourth day, if you want to and feel it’s necessary, and keep Fridays sacrosanct. Out of office email alert is a good idea with ideally a reference to the next person to contact if it’s urgent.

MiniMum97 · 09/10/2020 18:47

You need to set your boundaries. If you are not being paid to work you don't work. Full stop. You decline meetings and turn off your phone or laptop or whatever on non working days.

WhentheDealGoesDown1 · 09/10/2020 18:47

If you have worked extra they should pay you for it, I used to be part time but occasionally worked extra days if they asked nicely, I just put an overtime form in and was paid time.

Umbridge34 · 09/10/2020 18:47

If you're paid for 3 days then you should only work 3 days. Not minding about doing extra in one day but not on another gives mixed messages. You need to be firm and just stick to your days.
I realise there are industries where working beyond your hours is expected but its years of people just doing it and not complaining thats created this expectation.

BarryTheKestrel · 09/10/2020 18:48

Just stop turning up to meetings they schedule, or put in a request for overtime for all the extra hours you've worked. Stop working for free. Value your time more. They agreed to the change of hours, they need to honour it.

I work weds-Fri. There is an important meeting once a month on a Tuesday so on that week i swap a day to work the Tuesday. I reject any meeting invite outside of my working hours. They'd love it if i just did whatever they want, whenever they want, but unless they are paying me and it's within my contracted hours, it's simply not happening.

Original poster
Deadcatbounce · 09/10/2020 18:49

It's my boss who knows my working days who.is the offender

OP posts:
Terrace58 · 09/10/2020 18:50

You need to talk to your boss. There are a few options
They can increase your days
They can be explicit that you are working x hours a week and give you flexibility on when those happen. So that Friday meeting and work mean you can stop early on Monday.
They can pay you hourly (this is what my employer is doing. I’m normally generously salaried, but I asked for an hours reduction and they agreed. I get paid for whatever portion of the week I work. Most weekS that is my target stated hours. If they need more and I agree, it could be up to full time.

Original poster
Deadcatbounce · 09/10/2020 18:50

And I was put on 3 days a week in March I didn't ask for it

OP posts:
Shoppingwithmother · 09/10/2020 18:51

Well you should mind working on Thursdays as you are not being paid to do it. As PP has said, by doing this you are exacerbating the problem. You are doing this in two ways - firstly by appearing to be happy to work when you are not being paid. Secondly, if you consistently work on extra days to get the amount of work you are given done, then the message that it’s too much work to do in 3 days will never get across. To get the message across you either need to tell them, or let a backlog build up, at which point they will realise.

WhereverIGoddamnLike · 09/10/2020 18:52

It doesnt matter if it's your boss. Just dont do it. You're off; you could be out climing a mountain that day! He wont know. You're not working so dont work.

MostlyHappyMummy · 09/10/2020 18:52

Struggling to understand why you’re happy to be paid for 3 days and do 5-6 days work

ReadtheData · 09/10/2020 18:53

OP, what are you doing? This is madness!! You're not a charity, why are you giving away your time for free?? Are they giving you bonuses or overtime for this?

Don't log in or check your emails on a Thurs or Fri, at all, decline all meetings on these days, no ifs or buts. If you give just a little bit here and there, they will constantly take more. This will not change. You have to say no to everything. Go out for a walk and leave your phone at home when these meetings are on so you won't be tempted. Set your out of office.

They are massively taking advantage. I think this is the cheekiest work-related thing I've ever read on here! Absolute madness...

RedskyAtnight · 09/10/2020 18:53

Is it normal for staff to work a lot of time out of hours at your workplace (i.e. are the full time people working evenings and weekends routinely)?

If it's not, then turn off all modes of communication so that work cannot contact you on your off days. If it is, talk to your manager and say, for example, that you don't mind picking up odd things on Thursdays but you can't work Fridays or weekends. And then switch off methods of communication as above.

WhentheDealGoesDown1 · 09/10/2020 18:54

If they are not going to pay you, completely switch off from work and don’t contact them at all when you are not on a working day

Stripyhoglets1 · 09/10/2020 18:55

Switch laptop and work phone off completely Thursday and Friday. If they insist you work some take time off in lieu the following week.
Or you will be work g for nothing for ever.

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