To think employers want too much nowadays

[Jobbbbbbz]

NC as job related.

Do you think employers want too much nowadays? It’s not a 9-5 anymore is it? It’s a 8-6 and then a bit/lot of evening work.

Plus it’s the stress of high expectations. Maybe I’m remembering things wrong, but I’m sure a job used to be a job and as long as you were showing improvements each year that was enough. Seems like expectations have become exponential nowadays. Sound like a right old fart 💨

I think teaching has become like this. People I know who taught in the 90s/00s say it’s ridiculous now compared to then. Like it’s become unacceptable to work 9-3.30, do some prep then have a life. It’s not as if it’s made children get better results or enjoy their school experience more.

And yes, pay care workers more.

This is one of the downsides of office work tbf. I get paid 1.5x my hourly rate after eight hours and 3x on a weekend. Unsurprisingly, my bosses aren't too keen on people doing loads of extra hours!

Funnily enough I am finding things to be totally different to what you express OP. I am 50's and in a technical management role, I worked my way through the ranks and did whatever was required really - if that meant setting off to Cornwall from London on a Sunday night with 24 hours notice I just did it.

Now I am managing the people who are in the role I used to do. They totally work to rule, there is literally no leeway. The job itself is not 9-5 (client facing and software related Go Lives?) but they make it 9-5. I just wish I (and my colleagues back then) had the gumption they do now. Whilst it is terrifically frustrating at times that it causes blockers and stagnation in a project they do not care, their hours are their hours and they are doing no more than that. It seems to have completely changed to when I was younger. I totally respect them for valuing themselves so much that they realise there is a legitimate work life balance.

[quote DoorWasAJar]@sst1234 People can see that we’re not living in a meritocracy, why should poor people kill themselves for minimum wage? Treat workers with contempt and you’re obviously not going to get their best efforts.[/quote]
True. Although targets and poor treatment are not one and the same. Unrealistic targets are bad and a product of a failing organization that just says ‘work harder’ rather than fixing whatever problem lies at the heart of it.

In my industry I'm finding the opposite. Gone are the days that people start early or work late, work-life balance is important. Staff are asking for better benefits (flexible working, health insurance, extra holiday, etc) otherwise they're going elsewhere to other companies that offer these things.

Frontline operations, public transport.

I do my shift and go home. 8 hours, with a 30 minute unpaid break.

I do get emails on my iPad at all hours, but it stays in my work bag until I get it out during my shift. I don't look at work stuff at home. OK, there's the WhatsApp group, but I can mute notifications on that.

Yep there’s always a few who try and go above and beyond, work extra hours and get promoted. That then sets the standard for promotions and anyone just doing the 8-5 hours seems a slacker. Been like that for 15 years in my industry….I’ve given up caring

Forgot to add on the overtime, we have it written into our contracts we can’t be paid for overtime and sometimes it’s expected 😡

There's a polar divide.
A growing number of jobs require people with very specific skills. Whom companies are fighting to keep. Flexible working is the most valued benefit AND works out cheaper for the companies...keeping people who could otherwise earn 5-10K more elsewhere. Tech, finance, more of a push towards balance.

However the above in TOTAL is still a smaller amount compared to 'low skilled' jobs that anybody can do who are being pushed the other way, as well as public service (teachers, nurses) which were once decent jobs but now...

@Waddlegoose

Yep there’s always a few who try and go above and beyond, work extra hours and get promoted. That then sets the standard for promotions and anyone just doing the 8-5 hours seems a slacker. Been like that for 15 years in my industry….I’ve given up caring

This is similar to my previous workplace where there were several drivers who rushed about breaking the speed limits and loaded their trucks on their break (not allowed).

Whenever somebody had to cover their round that person would invariably struggle and the transport office would utter the immortal words "well, the usual driver manages just fine."

Also @DoorWasAJar you're choosing the right thing to retrain in. Lots of opportunity available as long as your brain's wired the right way and you're willing to put in hours of unpaid work in the early years.

I don’t know, I feel I am picking up the work of people who use any excuse to to not deliver or work their job spec. And yes, the problem is a management one not addressing it but it takes a long time to address (due to employment law) so in the meantime someone still has to deliver and as I care about doing a good job and delivering, I end up working extra hours. I couldn’t take pride in my work if I wasn’t doing my best but unfortunately my best means making up for others ‘not best’!

@Waddlegoose

Yep there’s always a few who try and go above and beyond, work extra hours and get promoted. That then sets the standard for promotions and anyone just doing the 8-5 hours seems a slacker. Been like that for 15 years in my industry….I’ve given up caring

Interesting conundrum. Sometimes more hours= more experience enabling one to be promoted earlier than normal (rather than other people's promotion being delayed, if it makes sense). In my industry(tech) the quicker you build your skills, the earlier you can jump between companies for massive payrises. Everyone wants mid-level talent, nobody wants to train entry-level so you'll be in demand. HOWEVER you reach a certain point where your understanding crystallizes.. at that point many coast.

Don't quite know what it's like in other industries. In finance there was an expectation of everyone working lots, they're trying to make it better now but...

I’m seeing some of our staff go above and beyond and not being rewarded while others complain about having to do their actual jobs. We have a lot of targets to meet. Suffice to say the good and experienced workers are all going to the competition with better pay and better benefits. I keep waiting for it it equal out. If companies are putting pressure on people they need to have rewards, financial or otherwise, to keep their staff.

Teacher workload is insane. New directives all the time. I never used to get why colleagues would complain about workload when I was single and child free; I just got on with whatever needed doing, irrespective of how long it took. These days, having promised myself and my family I will not work at home until DC are asleep at night, my nights are looong. I often fall asleep at my laptop or marking books. And there is no way that you can put a task off until later in the week, or similar; the planning, marking and content creation/ resource making has to be done in time for the next day's lessons. Working to rule, or directed time, doesn't exist.

I never work beyond my contracted hours. Any calls/emails on the days when I am off are ignored.

I would change jobs if I were you.

I despise the "bring your whole self to work". I'm not being paid to reveal my whole self to a bunch of slack-jawed wage slaves. My sexuality, marital status, partner etc is private.

Oh god yes. I work in a supermarket which is great I clock in, clock out and that's that. My dh is a managing QS works mon-fri 9-5 but then most evenings will be atleast a couple hours more.

My biggest problem was when the entire office went for drinks after work and team building at weekends. I just wanted to work my paid hours and go home. Maybe because they were tech companies which were dominated by young people and men so there was a heavy emphasis on socialising, which is not what work is for imo. I declined every single time and after a while I got told I wasn’t a team player and sacked.

Yanbu. I’m in a situation at the moment that I’ve ended up working through my unpaid lunch and working past my finish time. This last week has been hell. I’ve spoken to my boss, wether he does anything, I don’t know. My work is organised within its time frame and then something comes up, almost deliberate and with no consideration to my having to go home.

My partner works in IT and doesn't get overtime, but may have to do some for big launches etc.

Being an "unskilled" worker, that type of workplace culture has never sat right with me. I have an agreed hourly rate, despite how comparatively low that may be, and for every hour of my life I give to my job, I expect to be compensated for it.

Maybe if I was on six figures a year I could understand not getting paid overtime, or working 12 hour days with a commute each way. But for £30k a year? I'll stick to my hourly rate thanks.

This is similar to my previous workplace where there were several drivers who rushed about breaking the speed limits and loaded their trucks on their break (not allowed).

Whenever somebody had to cover their round that person would invariably struggle and the transport office would utter the immortal words "well, the usual driver manages just fine."

Yanbu but I am now in a job that is no way my dream job but it suits my family commitments, I log off on time and I don't think about work till the next day.

I have slogged before and done all the hours and they made us redundant so fast about 9 months into covid (for no real reason as they have since employed new people in our old roles, obviously waiting the legal 6 months till they did!) that I will no longer be a slave to work. I do my hours that I get paid for and that's it. They want more hours they need to pay me for more hours. I will not do it to get on in work anymore.

@Jobbbbbbz

NC as job related.

Do you think employers want too much nowadays? It’s not a 9-5 anymore is it? It’s a 8-6 and then a bit/lot of evening work.

Plus it’s the stress of high expectations. Maybe I’m remembering things wrong, but I’m sure a job used to be a job and as long as you were showing improvements each year that was enough. Seems like expectations have become exponential nowadays. Sound like a right old fart 💨

I think so too OP. I work in BigLaw and just had an argument with my manager about taking a 30 minute break during a 10 hour shift. She responded to me as if I was being unreasonable which I have never dealt with before, at any job ever. I am getting old too but I do think work is generally a lot more stressful than it used to be.

No way am I ever going above and beyond for any bosses ever again after years of doing extra and getting no recognition or thanks for it!!