The ‘who is the most overworked’ competition

[Busybusybusy88]

I’m talking about in a work context. If a colleague repeatedly tells you how many hours they’re working, ‘I worked til the early hours all this week’ but you haven’t (maybe an hour later if needed to finish things off) - does it make you feel guilty, or do you just think they are unable to manage their time?

No matter where I work (currently large corporate, all working from home, no set hours as such, just get the work done!) I always seem to come across colleagues who insist on telling everyone how hard they are working, how over worked they are. Being online during their annual leave because they’re just so busy. Sending you emails at midnight when they could have written it, saved it and pressed send at 8am as it’s not like anyone will reply before then anyway.

Particularly if they are someone fairly senior, I think it can be damaging for more junior/younger colleagues who feel that’s the expectation.

AIBU?

I hate it when a colleague says they’ve been working so hard and yet barely done their hours, let alone (unpaid) overtime.

Or if they say they are so busy and don’t have a minute to think yet they waltz in, spend time faffing around, make tea, chat...

I used to work with someone like that. Who would spend all day, every day telling everyone who would listen just how busy they were. If they spent half this time actually doing work, instead of complaining about being so busy, they would get all the work done.

They actually got managed out of the job because they were considered to be inefficient. So they're plan to be indispensable by being always present actually back fired on them.

Generally I find people like that either work hard in the most bizarrely inefficient ways or spend hours “at work” while having a fag every 10 minutes, constantly popping out for coffee/to the shop, while also taking their full lunch

You're being ridiculous about the email thing. Why go to to the bother of saving it to send in the morning send it whenever you write it and the person can respond at their own convenience, that's the point of an email rather than a phone call.

I do think some companies have a negative culture where it's seen as virtuous to basically act like a slave and work all the hours you possibly can which is rubbish. If it's necessary to work so many hours, especially on your annual leave then that's just reflective of poor management and lack of staff.

Everyone I have ever met who does this has been a shirker during actual working hours.

The ones that shout the loudest about it are usually the ones who do the least. Presenteesim is rife in many industries. We all know faffers!

No I don't feel guilty. I think they're a martyr, bite my tongue and ignore. If they were to ask my opinion I would offer it, but they're so intent on the acquisition of brownie points they never do.

What delays them is their utmost commitment to doing jobs that are not theirs. Stay in your lane colleague

I hate it when colleagues tell clients that they’ll stay over the weekend to get something done for them (not normal or expected in my industry). I don’t know what their aim is, guilt tripping the client? Showing off how hard their willing to work for them?

I work shit crazy hours but the only person that I moan to it about is my manager. I’m very conscious that it needs to change and shouldn’t be our normal. I don’t want junior staff to think it is!

@IMNOTSHOUTING

You're being ridiculous about the email thing. Why go to to the bother of saving it to send in the morning send it whenever you write it and the person can respond at their own convenience, that's the point of an email rather than a phone call.

I do think some companies have a negative culture where it's seen as virtuous to basically act like a slave and work all the hours you possibly can which is rubbish. If it's necessary to work so many hours, especially on your annual leave then that's just reflective of poor management and lack of staff.

I take your point - but it’s quite soul destroying to log off at 6, only to log back in at 8am the next day to a full inbox of emails someone has fired off at midnight!!

I think this year of working from home has made it all the worse - people can mess about during the day and then work in the middle of the night, which looks like they’re working so hard when they’re probably not managing their time well.

If we were all in the office these people wouldn’t be there late at night!

@Chimeraforce

No I don't feel guilty. I think they're a martyr, bite my tongue and ignore. If they were to ask my opinion I would offer it, but they're so intent on the acquisition of brownie points they never do.

What delays them is their utmost commitment to doing jobs that are not theirs. Stay in your lane colleague

Exactly this. Busy with the wrong things!

@PinkPlantCase

I hate it when colleagues tell clients that they’ll stay over the weekend to get something done for them (not normal or expected in my industry). I don’t know what their aim is, guilt tripping the client? Showing off how hard their willing to work for them?

I work shit crazy hours but the only person that I moan to it about is my manager. I’m very conscious that it needs to change and shouldn’t be our normal. I don’t want junior staff to think it is!

Yes to the client thing - I see this a lot and it drives me mad.

And don’t get me wrong, I’m in a senior position and there’s been occasions when I’ve had no choice but to work late to finish something off (usually because someone was late giving feedback or something!) but I never like to broadcast it - I would discuss with manager as you say but never to wider team or subordinates!

does it make you feel guilty, or do you just think they are unable to manage their time?

not everyone in the same company has the same workload. I work in a place where some people have way too much and cannot handle it without doing excessive regular overtime whilst other have very little to do.

Really depends what the issue is but workload are often distributed unfairly.

What delays them is their utmost commitment to doing jobs that are not theirs. Stay in your lane colleague

OMG I can be like this. My role has changed so much since the summer, sometimes I need to remind myself what I’m actually supposed to be doing/worrying about. However I do stick to working hard during working hours and don’t complain

A former colleague who was always ‘busy’ would have got more done if she hadn’t spent the first hour of the day telling us how tired she was from working so hard and keeping an audible running tally of the time off in lieu she was building up.

@IMNOTSHOUTING

You're being ridiculous about the email thing. Why go to to the bother of saving it to send in the morning send it whenever you write it and the person can respond at their own convenience, that's the point of an email rather than a phone call.

I do think some companies have a negative culture where it's seen as virtuous to basically act like a slave and work all the hours you possibly can which is rubbish. If it's necessary to work so many hours, especially on your annual leave then that's just reflective of poor management and lack of staff.

The company I used to work for was taken to tribunal for this very thing. The bitch won too. I attended the case and she fake cried about how emails were being sent at 7pm instead of 4pm and it was ruining her mental health.

Turns out she had form and had made up spurious tribunal claims about 3 previous employers, almost like a full time career. It came out during the tribunal that she was bipolar and refused her doctors recommendation to take meds but apparently that didn't make any difference to her mental welfare, it was all our fault for pinging emails after her shift.

I have encountered all the types of colleague mentioned upthread. All definitely true. The other side to this is that there are people who are actually doing 4 people's jobs (due to budget cuts and not replacing staff) and also people who try and protect themselves by saying how busy they are in an attempt to avoid redundancy.

In my experience, usually the "busy" people are inefficient somehow but this is not always the case.

What about those of us who are just that same overworked though?

As the only one in my team with a young child I am not able to work until 7pm without even thinking about it the same way that my colleagues do. When my child is here I also do take my hour lunch break as she should have that time with me rather than me constantly telling her I'm working.

But my workload is that of at least 1.5-2 people. I have weeks where there is an hour a day out of meetings, with the same workload as if I was working solidly 9-5. If I have 1 day annual leave I end up logging off the evening before at 5:30pm then logging back on after 8pm and working until midnight to get everything done.

I am vocal about how much I have to do and make a point of sending out of hours emails when I write them so that senior management can see my situation. There is another employee between myself and my line manager who I have regular catch ups with and she is terrible at supporting when I tell her I am overwhelmed and need help. I can't do everything in a day and I don't trust her to vouch for me with senior management if they complain about me being late with bits of work.

If that makes me a martyr then so be it. But in reality I am working myself sick and shouldn't have to hide that. I'm protecting myself and my reputation with the wider business.

My colleague who works loads of hours is utterly crap. She does nothing at all but chat fir the first few hours then pops to the shop or for coffee. Then chats some more telling everyone how late she is going to have to stay. She also has no life out of work

I work with someone who makes in her calendar all the additional hours she has done so we can all see it. Only she is the most inefficient person in the whole team!!

My team was exceptionally busy - but didn't complain- and some other people seem to really resent the fact we are busy.

One person lists out all the busy stuff she has to do which essentially could be done in an hour but take her ages. I asked her to do something yesterday and she asked to do a video call about it. I said no out put it an email!! I've no time for waffle.

and some people are terribly overworked (I am one of them) because my workload has gone through the roof without putting more staff into place. I have soo much more to do than I can handle whilst some colleagues in other teams are having a very easy ride. If I have to do a couple of hours overtime every day, should I not mention it?

Fwiw, I have just been signed off with stress. What do you suggest those who are being squeezed like lemons should do???

I should say the times when I’ve been the most over worked I’ve probably appeared the most withdrawn with colleagues and NOT shouted about it at every meeting.

I know people handle things in different ways. By all means make senior management aware if workloads are unfair etc but don’t make colleagues feel bad about it if they’re all working hard too.

I work late at night and early morning because I'm often doing childcare during the day. Repeated nursery closures this year have left me with no other option.

It happens in so many different types of workplaces. I used to waitress and always tried to be as efficient as possible. Instead of standing round twiddling my thumbs waiting for tables to finish a course I would do some prep for the following day (getting the breakfast plates set, wrapping cutlery, setting tables away from guests etc.) all the while, keeping a constant eye on my guests.
By the time it came to closing down I was ready and the next shift had everything done for them, me having completed all their set up. Never was mine done for me unless I was working the night before. Ever. And yet when speaking to them, they were so tired. Has soooo much work to do. They were clearly tun off their feet because they didn't get finished until midnight whereas I left the previous night at 10pm. (A quick glance in the book told me they had half the tables I did!)

I learned years ago though, that looking busy nets you more recognition than actually getting the work done on time. If you get ahead, you haven't been given enough work, clearly!

I don't have this any more thankfully. I agree about things such as not sending emails until the next morning.

Yes, I feel busy and overworked in recent months, but long ago realised that complaining about it doesn’t help.

The ‘busiest’ person I ever met used to spend hours scrolling through her spreadsheet of tasks and exclaiming that she had so much to do, and not doing it. She got the sack, in the end.