How much work is too much???

[traineewoes]

Hi. I’ve just started my new graduate trainee job. My timetable this month has been very busy with lots of working days in a row. For example I’m due to be working 9 days in a row with 1 day off, then 7 days in a row with 1 day off, then 2 days in and 1 day off, then 6 days in and 1 day off etc etc. That type of pattern. My hours are fixed which makes it slightly easier- I do 8.30 until 5.15. These are contracted hours not overtime. I know that for trainee jobs part of it involves working long hard hours and it’s sort of a rites of passage I suppose and others have done so long before I am, but I guess I’m just wondering, how many days in a row is too much? I don’t think there’s a legal limit really but I suppose at what point should I suck it up and at what point should I flag it up? I don’t want to flag it up and seem precious if it’s just something that comes with the trainer territory and I need to suck it up a bit. And for others who have worked similarly long periods, do you have any advice to make it more manageable and easier all round? Any advice or knowledge would be appreciated!!!

I think its important to understand that these sorts of grad trainee hours paid off in the 80s and 90s as there was the possibility of fast progression and salaries that meant you could afford to buy a decent house and pay private school fees etc.

That's no longer necessarily the case, especially the housing part yet the employers and older, more senior staff have not yet cottoned on that its perfectly logical for people to be less willing to work so hard for less in return, and still try to expect it.

Be really cautious about what you give up. You won't necessarily get the return your predecessors got for all those hours.

I had a friend who got on the graduate scheme with a major bank. it was 20 years ago. He was starting in their NY office and had been informed they had sleeping pods in the office.

I remember working 60 hour weeks but this was nursing so not big bucks. At least you have the potential to earn huge amounts of cash some work like that and earn next to nothing. Embrace it and congratulate yourself on stating life near the top of the money food chain.

Yeah I knew this wasn’t health bc the hours are so short.

Don’t do it if you don’t want to. We’re seeing generational change everywhere - there just isn’t the appetite for this sort of work-life balance anymore. It’s ok if that’s you too.

It sounds as if you are not sure the job is right for you and these working hours expectations are part of that.

In my experience it's rare for your immediate peers to admit they're having a shit time and bricking themselves every day. They may be or they may not be. Newsflash: it is really common in professional jobs to feel like you can't do it at all in the early days.

Do you have a mentor? Someone outside your immediate management structure but who is more senior than you in the same industry - perhaps someone you think looks as if they are doing well?

Email someone like that and say you are looking for a mentor and would they be interested in meeting. Read a bit about what mentoring actually is. Ask your manager if you can have a monthly mentoring meeting during working hours. Have a coffee with them. It sounds as if you could do with some structured support.

Depends on if the employer has opted out of the European working times directive (if it’s still applicable post brexit)

The employer can’t. The employee can.

Op as someone who has struggled along with jobs honestly just have a think over whether this is for you. It’s nothing on you if it’s not, as you said there’ll be plenty of people snapping at your heels but it’s just it sounds like a lot and you sound like a change might be an idea

You are technically correct, but in practice no employee is going to suggest they opt out of the WT directive, the employer will have it in the contract and will generally expect the employee to agree. And if OP is in finance (which actually it doesn't sound like to me) then they have almost certainly been "asked" to opt out.