Sulking because I'm not getting the day off

[NoMoreShit]

My love life has recently gone down the pan so emotions are raw & I'm feeling a bit 'woe is me'. As such, I'm perfectly prepared to be told I'm being U & it's just a case of me feeling like the world is against me at the moment. I know things will get better regarding the ex, time heals, just need to keep moving forwards & ride it out.

Current problem is work related.

I'm in a really demanding, professional job. However, life has always been really demanding: lone mum for 12 years, carer for my dad, no support, no child maintenance, always worked & spent 7 of the last 10 years back at uni on top of everything else. Over the last 3 years I finished the post grad, kids have got older & independent, needy parent died, mortgage ended & suddenly I have a life again. I cope really well with the demands of my job because, relatively speaking, it's a walk in the park compared to the juggling, chaos & slog of the previous 10 years. I get everything done within targets, my work is good quality, I help struggling colleagues & have an excellent reputation.

My problem is that work are moving to a 9 day fortnight because 'most' people work unpaid overtime to get through their workload. I won't be able to have the day off because I get my work done within my paid hours so I feel like I'm being punished for being efficient & good at organising my time. My workload is higher & more complex than most because I can manage it, so it not that others have more work to do. I'm also paid exactly the same as my colleagues so no recognition for my efforts there.

I just know that muggings here will be expected to pick up any slack & provide cover while my colleagues have their days off. It happens already with sickness & holidays. I'm already feeling resentful & the new working pattern hasn't even started yet.

Am I just being a miserable, self pitying twat? Or am I right to feel miffed.

ETA I'd be taking the day off. Decrease your work load by not covering for others.

I just do not understand what you mean and I have read all your posts OP.

How does reducing everyone else to 9 days mean they don’t work unpaid overtime anymore? What is happening to you? Are you really the only person in the organisation that works efficiently? According to who if so?

They are wrong, and all staff should be treated equal. Companies are battling for staff at the moment so pissing staff off unnecessarily is a stupid move.

Struggling to get my head round their logic at the 9 day fortnight overall, surely work will pile up if everyone has needed to work over on a 10 day fortnight ?

If they are rewarding people who work slower, then work slower. Or have I misunderstood?

If it helps OP my work moved from a standard 5 day week with flex, to a 9 day fortnight with flex and now to an 8 day fortnight with flex. Across all 3 scenarios we work the same number of hours as agreed within our contract, it’s just condensed. There’s no expectation of extra work, extra days etc. I love it, the day off each week means I have a day for personal/home admin or to chill out before the weekend starts. Will everyone at the company have the same day off each fortnight? Ours does which massively helps as there’s no expectation on that day for anyone to be online but with the flex element we have the option to reduce hours on other days in favour of working that day. I was nervous at first but Q&A’s, talking with leadership and HR helped to clear up any confusion. Talk to HR or your manager for clarity. Re the productivity I had the same concerns as each day I am doing longer hours (due to them being condensed) but you soon get used to it and now it’s the norm.

No one is being rewarded for working slower. All staff work the same hours, they’re just being given a choice in how to spread them.

It doesn’t even appear that the OP has been told she can’t do a nine day fortnight. She seems to have just got in a huff and decided that it’s not an option for her.

I genuinely still can't understand the set up sorry. But I'd speak to your line manager then HR for clarification.

What the others have said - your posts just aren’t making sense. Basically it’s a time off in lieu arrangement the company is setting up, so they’re getting to bank the additional o/t hours they work each day and take it on their tenth working day.

If you are not getting this is it because you don’t have enough work to do and therefore don’t work overtime? Or do you think your colleagues are swinging the lead and aren’t really working overtime, they’re just inefficient? If that’s the case then you need to slow down and be a bit less efficient too!

Have you actually been refused this 9 day fortnight? If so, on what grounds? You need to speak to HR and your union.

Unless you are getting paid very well and this is a unique role I think you should have a look for alternative employment. There seems to be a number of issues with your workplace. And I don't think you are moaning about nothing.
if it were me, the ccomplete lack of recognition and appreciation from the bosses would do my head in.
You are clearly an awesome person and if they can't see that go somewhere else. At my workplace you would be rewarded and promoted damn fast.

I'm a bit lost as to why it is an issue.

On the basics of a 9 day fortnight, it seems to me that some employers are doing this to give people free time as a perk, instead of pay increases.

Sounds like you have outgrown your job.

You didn't say what you do but is there another department or higher level and paying job you could move in to? Management role?

But she could - as has been pointed out, if she chooses to work an extra 45 minutes a day (or whatever it works out as) then she can also accrue the time to take the 10th day off.

Most professional jobs don't work in a way where you only have a certain number of tasks to complete in a day, and you can't do any more work until the next day.

I suspect there martyrdom going on for no reason.

Do you have the option to work condensed hours -
as this is what seems to be happening with your colleagues? Working an extra hour a day would give you a day off a fortnight or you could ask for every Friday to be a half day?
and as for ‘productivity’ just work the extra hour or two and do the same amount of work.
if they offer it to some they should offer it to all.
it’s tricky to measure though - being ‘at’ work doesn’t necessarily mean you’re being productive the whole time. I went from 5 days a week to 4 = targets stayed the same and I hit and exceeded them.
I moved to 3 days a week = same targets and I hit them again.
HR called me in to see what I was doing to hit full time targets working PT.
the answer? I was focussed, productive and happy.

Hi, I'm prepare to admit I don't understand this at all but what sort of line of work would have this kind of set up?
Do your colleagues get the 10th day off? If so did you want to have the 9th and the 10th day off? Again I just don't understand.

OP I assume you work 7.5 net hour days, what you need to do is maintain your productivity but do an extra 50 minutes a day so produce an extra 50 minutes of output. 9 days x 50 minutes = 7.5 hours. This way you do your hours over 9 days not 10.

Does everyone get x items per day and you do yours in the day and they have to stay longer to do them?

Then what happens day 10 when they are not there? Surely then day 10s items don't get done?
Most companies don't pay overtime to people who are just slow workers!

I'd just do a few more each day to get enough overtime banked to get day 10 off.

Why would he/she take his/her side over the colleagues though? Seems a majority of them will benefit.

Or you could talk to your employers about how this policy is counter-productive for people like you and put forward more sensible alternatives.

Ok so basically as they all work late they get one day a fortnight off to compensate and as you don’t work late you don’t? That’s the justification?

Can you not negotiate a raise if your work & productivity are superior?

maybe it’s time to change jobs x

"On the basics of a 9 day fortnight, it seems to me that some employers are doing this to give people free time as a perk, instead of pay increases."

Ha ha. Flexitime is usually offered as a way of never having to pay overtime (because you can in theory take the time back). Obviously, it's not ideal, many people will waste time to get their hours up and some can't take advantage of it because their personal life means they have to work standard hours.

Who says they aren't as effective? The Op obviously because she claims she works better, harder to faster than everyone else. How does she know that her colleagues aren't given a bigger workload than her with more complex issues? If Op works the overtime then she can have her day off.

"Most companies don't pay overtime to people who are just slow workers!"

You need to look at how flexitime works. You don't usually need your boss's permission to stay late and once you've stayed late a few times you can take the hours back another time. So yes, it can reward working slowly.

"If Op works the overtime then she can have her day off."

She may have commitments outside of the standard hours and not be able to do that. On top of the fact that she doesn't need to.
It's basically flexitime being offered to someone who can't take advantage of it.