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

[Deadcatbounce]

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

People I work with who are part time all put their out of office on saying something along the lines of "My working days are Monday to Wednesday and I will receive your email upon my return, if it is regarding an urgent matter please contact XYZ"
Polite but gives this correct vibe of, don't bother me I'm not here!

You need to remind your boss and HIS boss that you're on a 3 day week and you'll be submitting your overtime and where should it go ?!

You need to email your boss and colleagues to remind them that since you've had your hours reduced, you now work Monday-Wednesday. Ignore all meetings/ emails/reminders/phone calls on the Thursday- Sunday. You shouldn't be offering your extra time for free, now your boundaries are blurred and they expect too much in an unappreciated manner. Only you can set your boundaries.

Throw it bank at the managers? Tell them you’re working 5 days a week and ask if they would like to reinstate you as full time. Tell them you’ll need to look for other work the other two days to keep your head above water financially

OP if god forbid anything were to happen to you, you would be replaced in a heartbeat. Stop doing the overtime. Don't attend a meeting booked on your day off. You are not a mug are you?

Set the boundary and say no. When I did 3 days a week, my working days were in my email signature and I set an out of office reply when I wasn’t in. I did agree to cover meetings on my off days if there was a business need but made it clear I would be swapping days, not adding extra ones.

Nobody asked me to work on my days off once it became clear I wouldn’t.

OP, I used to be terrible at saying 'no' to unreasonable work demands. It was hard because, like you I suspect, I work in a profession where very long hours are the norm.

Now I'm great at it. I still sometimes end up doing things over and above my intended hours, but it feels more like my choice rather than an imposition. I now work for myself, but the issues are the same - here are a few things I have done/do FWIW:

• say what I can do, not what I can't do eg respond to unreasonable meeting requests with 'I can do this Monday', and to unreasonable work requests with 'I can have this back to you by Tuesday next week'.

• if pushed, ask which day they want me to swap to a non working day. So 'Yes, I can do this now, and then I'll swap next Friday to a non-working day'.

• if pushed, tell them what else I have on and say what I'll reprioritise and, where possible, push the obligation for sorting out the reshuffle onto the person asking for the extra work ' Sure I can do that. It would mean pushing work on the X file. Will you speak with Jenny about that reshuffle?'

• don't explain or apologise. Just don't. Say what you will or won't do.

• if really pushed, snap and say something like 'John, I'm on 3 days a week. You have stopped buying all of my time. Happy to go back to full time, just let me know when that's in the cards'.

When I worked at my last place full time I also worked 15-20 hours extra a week also for no extra pay, sometimes at home till midnight - I left as I just was not paid enough for that shit, I now have a better life work balance!