How much unpaid overtime is acceptable

[Lemonwoe]

Just curious. At a salary of £40k, how much unpaid overtime would you expect to do?

1. I dont work for free

On a fte salary of £60k, I don't do any. If I wanted to work more hours I'd increase my part time hours.
(I do actually work more, but use TOIL and book any extra and take it back as and when).

I earn a bit less, civil service. I’ve always worked a bit of overtime, maybe an hour or so a day, the occasional weekend. There have been peak times or emergencies like the last year I’ve worked 10-15 hours overtime a week, never been paid.
We do get time off in lieu though and never any issues with family emergencies, personal appointments in work time etc.

I even charged my husband for making something for his shop (whole 25 min ya know)😂

For me it wouldn't be wage but a reason behind the overtime. I don't generally work for free as pp, but if it's an emergency I would probably be willing a bit.

Otherwise I would expect the hours to be taken off elsewhere

10hrs per week on average maybe

I am on 42k working full time and prob do around 8 hours a week unpaid.

I left my last job as I was on 37k but doing about 15 extra a week which was too much for the pay.

Depends on your role and the sector
A teacher on £25- 35k typically does 18 hours a week according to the Dfe (paid for 32 rounded- does 50)
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/855933/teacher_workload_survey_2019_main_report_amended.pdf

surely it depends on the job? hourly pay vs yearly pay?

There are some jobs where you are very much paid a yearly salary rather than for a set amount of hours. In my experience the more managerial you become, the more your pay isnt linked to hours worked but via job done

Some industries it is very much the norm that unpaid overtime is done, others where you would claim for 15 min late. Ive worked in jobs for example when your pay stops as the shop closes even though you would still have to ferry people out of the shop, cash up etc

Depends on your level of seniority. £40k would be a good small company upper management salary in some of the regions, and if not expect somebody that senior to log in at 9, off at 5 and not do a minute more (and I doubt they’d last long if they did.)

When I was earning that sort of money as an SEO civil servant, I’d typically do a couple of hours work past 5pm about twice a week, according to business need.

It really depends on whether you want to progress and if the extra work would count toward that. Or if its juat your employer ls way of saving money by understaffing.

My partner earns 53k and does an hour and half to 2hrs extra a day (while Wfh) plus would never claim any time owed for fortnightly travel and nights away. He's progressed quickly and is hoping for a step up soon. However I wouldn't feel this was acceptable to just expect. (also his role is health support related so it's been busy recently.)

I'm self employed so this isn't really something which applies in the same way to me.

None. Why should I?
I do sometimes work late, but take TOIL and take the time back on a quiet day later.

Try defending it from the other angle. Imagine you're an employer - demand your employee works for free and try justifying why they should do it?

15ish hours "overtime" as a teacher I guess... 🤷‍♀️ I assume it's expected as is likely the norm

I'm on 25k and currently wfh. I do about 7 or 8 hours a week over probably. If I was in the office I wouldn't though

Depends on where you are in your career I think. And what your career is. I’m now 10yrs qualified in a professional career and when I was starting out... probably until only a couple of years ago actually, I would do unlimited overtime. I once purchased fresh clothes from a 24hr Tesco at 3am and went back to my desk (I earned £26k at the time).

I probably do up to 3 hours over my contracted hours each week now, on £54k, but it’s because I’m at a point where I can delegate more.

It’s not a healthy way to work and I keep a close eye on the workload of my reports because I don’t want them to have to do what I did. But, I would still expect them to do extra hours out of work if an event really demanded it.

As a teacher, about 15-20 hours.

I'm on a little more, but all the way through my career I have been willing to do overtime for specific projects with a defined end date, but not just in general. We also get lieu time for late evening/weekend working and I can easily schedule appointments during workings mornings and make up time. On average over the year I probably do 2-3hrs extra a week. But... I'm good at my job and a very efficient person, I work with some colleagues who do need to do overtime just to manage their normal workload as they don't delegate well, take forever to make basic decisions, make pointless changes to documents etc. Also I know my value and I stick up for myself. The vast majority of managers will try and get the most work out of you as they can, it's up to you to decide reasonable boundaries and stick to them within what's reasonable in your industry. I'm very lucky my industry (medical communications) it's really hard to get good, experienced staff. In another more competitive (for employees) industry you may have to work more to compete for promotion etc with your peers.

I think it depends on the type of job not just the seniority. You could be quite new to a profession, e.g. accountancy and earning about £40k, , but you would be expected to work whatever hours are required (within reason) to get the job done.

Depends on the job. If a career end point and not wanting or able to progress not much, if in a sector with considerable progression available and putting in the extra expected to achieve it I would do whatever was required.

If on a £40k first year grad scheme with prospects a lot of overtime is reasonable, if you are 50 and it’s the last step on a career ladder far less so.

That’s about the same as my salary.

Theoretically, I am ‘salaried’, so I have to work to business needs.

Realistically, during very busy times when I have worked over my 9-5 Monday-Friday hours, I make sure I take TOIL. I don’t have to log anything.

PS I’m 38 and a mid-level PM. Working about and beyond (hours I mean) in my role will have no impact b

15 hours or so. Am on 4 days a week as a teacher.

[quote lostlife]Depends on your role and the sector
A teacher on £25- 35k typically does 18 hours a week according to the Dfe (paid for 32 rounded- does 50)
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/855933/teacher_workload_survey_2019_main_report_amended.pdf[/quote]
I’m a part time teacher and get (badly) paid for 9 hours per week. In reality I do around 15 hours. Over a month I take home £500 net for 60+ hours - less than minimum wage.

Depends on your role… teacher?

I work for the NHS. Contracted 27 hours per week. Generally do about 6 hours extra every week. No overtime pay, and TOIL is a fantasy as can never identify time I could take back. This year is worse than ever; got asked to work when I was on A/L as we had no senior cover.

At least 15 hours. This year quite a bit more.