Do all jobs do this? They seem to think we have no life outside of them

[Franksidebottom12]

It's community care.. luckily today is my last day for a while!
I get £9.90 an hour for it which I don't think is high enough for any job, but worst of all zero travel time and no pay for travel. Drivers get 30p a mile or something (which isn't great) but if you're on a bicycle like I am, zero.

Anyway this isn't the first time it's happened but tonight I was meant to start at 7pm. I had a phone call 10 minutes ago, she just said "Hi this is the office, you're gonna have to start at 5 tonight instead as X person is off sick."

Erm, no I'm not. Not with 7 hours notice. I tell you when I can start, not the other way round. I told them the earliest I will get there is for 6, as I have already made plans with being told I would start at 7.
She didn't even ask me if I would be able to start earlier, she just told me, "You're going to have to."

I had this with them a few months ago. I was supposed to finish for 7pm. The coordinator back then phoned me up and said "I'm going to have to put extra work on you tonight (meaning I'd finish at 9 instead).

Again, I said no I can't, it's too short notice. Despite this, I checked my rota and he'd done it anyway. I did the hours but phoned the senior management to complain.

These places seem to think you've no life outside of them and can 'just do' a few hours extra with almost zero notice.
Is this the standard in jobs? How can people ever make plans?

Of course this isn't standard

Unfortunately it's more common in low paid roles, as they're often unskilled and therefore can easily replace staff that leave due to the poor treatment

They've got such a cheek. I know with community care you finish when you finish, but you usually have a good idea of what time you'll be done for. It's the cheek they have, expecting people to drop everything last minute for them.
It's a shame it's like this.

A lot of places will try it on. But it's poor practice and not standard. Can you find something else??

Look for white collar office work. Better HR, less treated like shit or you'll just leave. Gain seniority. High pay. More respect.

Care is a dead end low paid low respect role. That isn't your problem though. The more that quit and do healthier, better paid work, the more likely they are to improve conditions. The best thing you can do is quit and don't keep sending them the message that someone will always be desperate enough to do the work.

Yeah, luckily i was only bank staff with them. I see it in care homes too, they had a 17 year old girl working in the kitchen on a 70 hour week as she didn't feel able to say no. I hope things will improve but there will always be people who say yes to them

It's absolutely not the norm - if I need my staff to work extra hours I ASK, never demand, and I will usually do everything in my power to give them 48 hours notice. If they can't do it, oh well, I'll figure something else out. I respect my employees right to have a life outside of work.

I'd genuinely think about looking for another job if I were you, your management sound rubbish.

Very fortunately I'm also in a professional role (although teachers are constantly expected to do extras!) But you're definitely right.
It's such a shame...it's an honour to care for these people who are suffering with dementia or physical illness. People are living longer and longer and one day we'll need that care too. Both of my Grandmas have had dementia.
But despite this it is seen as some sort of crappy job and certainly treated like so.

Having been I care almost 20years I've found it's very much the norm. Whether you're working in a care home or for an agency. The money's rubbish and the management even worse. I left residential care because we were expected to work miracles with no staff, very low morale and challenging clients. There was never so much as a thank you. Agency work has been the same.
I'm retraining starting next month. The job is so rewarding and such a privilege to look after those who can't look after themselves. Totally ruined by uncaring management and the pay.
Not everyone wants to work a 9-5 in an office 🙄

Not the norm and not acceptable. They’ve doing it because you’re complying though. You did the hours and complained after-head office won’t care, neither will your immediate manager because you’ve solved their problem by working the extra hours. Change will only come when you make it a problem by leaving at the original time agreed. When service users complain and it may affect them being paid-that’s when they’ll sort it.

On your shoes I would not have compromised with an attitude like that from management. I would have stuck to 7.00,start. There should not be any ,'you're are going to have to' attitudes from managers when you are getting that level of pay for a very challenging job. My response would be ...you're going to have to find someone else or do it yourself.
Problems come up with staff absences but that manner and tone in a manager is appalling. She/he needs a course in people managing skills. I suspect they try you first because you have been accommodating.
You have needed skills in a very demanding low paid role. Stick to your guns about rotas. Don't help anymore until said manager realizes you add on hours only sometimes and it is an enormous favour to management and she makes her requests accordingly, remembering in tone and manner that it is a request not an order.
There is a great shortage of care staff precisely because of low pay and attitudes like your manager. I would be looking for a care job elsewhere. 💐

I think it's the norm with many retail jobs, I have a friend who is always being messed around, with rota changes at the last minute. They expect them to keep checking it for changes. She's always being told to stop over her shift times too. As other people have said, they know they can get away with treating people badly as they can just replace them.

Care work outside of NHS is always like that. Ive worked in care my entire adult life and worked in care homes/community where they would rota me on on annual leave even if I was on holiday and phone and text to ask me why I wasn't in work and got written warnings for it despite agreed leave and being out of the country. Id regularly be rota'd on for 70 hour weeks as the other seniors would be off or ill and id have to cover it. I left it for the NHS 8 years ago and would never return to private care companies.

It's also white collar jobs that expect unpaid, last minute overtime. I've always made it clear that it is not a frequent occurrence. I act my wage - so if you want more, you pay more.

I've just logged in and for whatever reason I've had all my work cancelled for this evening. Is that punishment because I didn't start exactly when they wanted, you're all right I shouldn't even have compromised. So I've lost about 25 quid for tonight now. Very Lucky it isn't my main income

Funnily they want 4 weeks notice if we dare change our availability. Even though it's a 0 hours contract.

That's crap. If you fancy a similar role but better pay/treatment (although I realise its manager-dependent) then I recommend joining the NHS Homefirst bank.

Thank you i will have a look!

My job management tell us to not do over your hours
teachers: you need to work quicker to prep the class
also teachers: here’s 4863 pages of work for the kids that need laminating or cutting (in the 15 mins we get AM and PM when kids not in class)

mental

I think they guilt carers into it especially, no one likes to think of anyone getting left. If hospital in your area use NHS professionals I do bank work with them and enjoy it as shifts more on my terms.

Yes and no. In my white collar office job we work whatever hours are needed to make the deadline. So if something takes longer then planned and a real, hard deadline is tomorrow (not an arbitrary deadline) you just have to find a way to get it done even if you work all night. No one is telling me what time to show up or when to do that work though. So I can pause and deal with school pickup or bedtime and such and then get back to it.

your scheduler is strong-arming you because it is the only way they can get the work covered with not enough staff. That doesn’t make it right. That scheduler though is also often someone in a difficult position who has been told by their boss to find a way to get people in these spots and if you don’t you are bad at your job. That is despite the fact that the real problem is not enough staff and poor planning on the part of management in taking on work.