Work situation - is this reasonable?

[Floofydawg]

I'm in a mid senior role in financial services. Work part time (4 days, not condensed) but still get a full time workload done. Am expected to travel around once a month for work which ends up in me doing more than my paid hours that week. I don't get that time back and I still have to get my work done.

Next Monday I've been asked to travel for a department wide 'away day' which will basically just be a talking shop. This would mean me leaving home at 6.30am and not getting back til around 8pm. I've said I'm not going and my manager is trying to pressure me. AIBU to stick to my guns?

Nice bit of MN stalking there - well done. I'm not quite sure why you have it in for me. What I spend my salary on is completely irrelevant to me doing unpaid work. And no, my DH doesn't earn £1m (but that isn't relevant to this conversation either). Feel free to continue to stick the boot in if it makes you feel good.

Having lived on both a high wage and low wage in my life, I know that you adjust to the income you are on. However no amount of income can pay you enough for the possibility of burnout. Even if they paid you the proper wage.

I wasn’t stalking. I looked at a post on handbags as I have the one mentioned!

Which has absolutely fuck all to do with the subject matter here but you decided to use to put the boot in anyway. Plus I don't know what your comment was on there but it was rude enough to be deleted.

@Str8talkin I'm not sure that doing 5 days work for 80% pay can quite be classified as lazy. I've had years of this shit, believe me. I worked my way up from the bottom and I deserve to be where I am. Lazy I am not.

I suspect you're nowhere near menopause age and have no idea of the impacts it can have. Either that or you're trolling me.

On the contrary. Senior people should be helping to break these toxic working practices and lead by example by showing more junior people that it's OK to have some boundaries.

Salaries (and overall packages) are role dependent in FS. The expectation of some flexibility (including situations like the one OP describes) is universal in FS.

Against the median wage in the UK, £65k is a very good salary. Shouldn't lose sight of that!

I think you should speak to your line manager about being paid condensed hours - if you are doing a full time job in 4 days you should still be paid a full time wage.

I should clarify re the hours. I don't work 35 hours over 4 days. I do however do a few extra hours. But I get my original FT workload done (only went PT at the start of this year). That's why I don't want to switch to a condensed week. I'd be contracted to do 35 hours.

You're either a bloke or you haven't reached the menopause yet. Newsflash: men don't suffer from menopause insomnia. Try living with constantly broken sleep and see how much your sorry ass can deal with.

Doesn’t sound like this is the job for you

Well folks today was the day and what a shitshow it was. Trains screwed because of 'weather', what should have been a 2 hr 15 train back turned into 4 hours. Very much looking forward to my half day off in lieu later this week, not sure when the actual work's gonna get done but that's a problem for future me.

Bleugh sounds awful. I’d take today off too

Don't let it be a problem for future you.

Let it be a problem for your manager.

"Hi manager, just to let you know I have a backlog of work at the moment following the team away day, my agreed time off in lieu and my part-time working pattern. By my current estimations I am going to be delayed by X number of days for the foreseeable future. Are you happy for me to work to these longer timescales or would you like to reduce my workload accordingly?"

I swear to God my manager has his head up his arse, he won't notice until things don't get done and it gets escalated to him. He lives in cloud cuckoo land.

Email him at least once a day about your workload then.

'Hi manager. I am currently running behind by X days due to the away day, my TOIL and my part-time working schedule. As I explained during our meeting on X date, I am no longer willing to continue to work for free on my days off to cover a full-time workload when I am only paid for part-time. I currently have the following projects. I only have time to do X number of them. Which of them do you propose to take off me and give to another member of staff? Or are there any which are not important and can be dropped altogether? I have checked your calendar and sent you a meeting request for Thursday so we can talk about this."

OP, if your manager won't deal with this situation, then escalate it above him. You don't have to just accept it.

Unfortunately I work in a culture right now where just about everyone is having to do more than their hours and more than their job. Everywhere is tight on resource. I don't mind doing a little extra but I have a boundary which I am keeping firmly to.

Just keep repeating "not my problem".

You are in your 50s and not interested in climbing the ladder. All you want is to not get fired, and it would be pretty much impossible for them to fire you just for refusing to do unpaid overtime.

The business either needs to hire more staff or do less work.

It's not your responsibility, or indeed that of your colleagues, to plug that gap. If they are happy to work for free than that's their call, but you are under no obligation, either moral or legal, to do likewise.

Your employer won't do anything about this until you make it their problem rather than yours to solve.

@MargotBamborough oh yeah I agree, and I will be sticking mainly to my hours but that does show me up as an outlier vs my peers. I don't really care any more though if I stand out. I'm already pretty invisible next to the keen 30 somethings - that was clear from the away day yesterday!

Ultimately you can decide what your own boundaries are but you can't control what other people's boundaries are.

If they're all fine with doing loads of unpaid overtime then all you can do is decide whether or not you are willing to live your life like that and act accordingly. In your situation, at your age, and on your salary, I would be quiet quitting.

I've been at the bottom of my salary band for as long as I can remember.

presumably they have had reason to keep you at the bottom of your band for so long?