AIBU - to not want to work outside my contracted hours

[Clove76]

Bit of background - I’m a Speech and Language Therapist, work 3 days a week and find I’m unable to do my job in the hours I’m paid for. There’s just so much admin on top of the appointments to get done each day that I can’t help but have to do that bit extra to keep up (just basic documentation and reports, I’m certainly not doing tasks above and beyond what’s expected).

I’ve worked for 3 organisations now (including government and private) and it’s the same scenario in each.

I know for a fact I’m not the only one who’s having to do more to ‘keep up’, as I had considered perhaps I’m the problem and just too slow.

Husband who has been my sounding board on this (and whether to stay in my profession) thinks most professional jobs require a bit of extra time to get things done. I don’t want to believe that’s true. So I pose the question - what do you do for a job and how frequently do you work outside the agreed hours? Am I being unreasonable to expect that some weeks I could just get away with doing my contracted hours?

I’m just so annoyed because I think I could love my job if I just felt the admin side of it was awarded as much time as it needs. As it stands I don’t think I can stay in this job much longer and am considering taking a much lower paid job that I can guarantee only requires me to work within the stated hours. I want to be more present for my kids and husband and not feel constant guilt that I haven’t done something.

I'm in a completely different job but my contract states we have to work up to 10% extra if needed- in practice though we get overtime pay and only really work over unpaid if a call goes over or something or occasionally when it's quieter in the summer and there's no overtime.

I work as an accountant. I think there is a difference between working an hour or two here and there as a professional who wants to ensure the work is done well, and routinely working an extra 20 hours a week which would suggest the company needs more staff. I don't do it. If the company doesn't like it I'll work elsewhere.

The thing is work can be competitive, people working extra hours are not necessarily doing it to be professional or altruistic, they're doing it to get ahead. And this eventually creates a culture and expectation for everyone else.

Obviously there is a difference between the accounts being submitted a bit late (the horror!) and a drop in patient care. Would your manager be open to a discussion about allocated admin time?

I am a RN and I take the view that ,the more we manage cutting corners=poor patient care the less inclined management are to pay for safe staffing levels!
I claim every minute over my contracted hours and remind all staff to do the same !

I think most people I know do, I work probably an average of 5hrs over my contracted hrs. But I'm on 75k in a fairly senior role. I could do a 9-5 in admin and earn a third of that but my quality of life would be way worse! My job is quite flexible for appointments, late starts etc and I work from home most of the time. For me I feel the flex both ways is fair overall in my role. You've got to find a job that works for you, but most career jobs will require out of contracted hrs working in my experience.

For professional roles yes it is normal, and I don’t think that is wrong or needs to change (in private sector anyway). It’s a profession and most professions don’t go hand in hand with set working hours and not working a minute over. It just doesn’t work like that and pay, benefits and terms and conditions etc reflect that.

But being part time in a professional role is tough, as you will likely feel the squeeze of it more as you are trying to balance it in a bigger way with other life. Not many professions work well on a part time basis, the person concerned is likely to be under more pressure than if they were full time. Across a week your personal life is more (4 days) than your professional (3 days) so it’s not your main focus so felt more.

I went back full time for precisely that reason and have a better work/life balance for it overall.

OP you are working 3 days a week and you work have agreed to that, if you are regularly finding you need to do more than 1-2 hours more every single one of your working days and it’s an issue for you then I would raise it with your work and see if something can be juggled - or agree a different way for having condensed hours etc

I work in finance in a sw company

paid for 38 hours a week ( full
time) . Standard hours more like 50-60 often can be more ! And it’s been like that at all levels and all companies I’ve worked.

I would agree where there is an option of paid overtime, hit them where it hurts. Many / most jobs don’t have this as an option.

This is exactly why I left teaching. Although with teaching it’s generally expected you need to work a couple hours in addition to the 9-3 teaching day. However it really was more like an additional 3-5hours a day which is ridiculous.

I think most professional roles do involve some extra hours.

Rather than take a lower paid less rewarding job, I would think about how you can build in some time to do the admin - depends how much it is but you might just find it psychologically easier than trying to cram it in here and there. E.g. one day a week could you routinely work late while your DH deals with the kids?

How can your manager know your workload is unmanageable if you keep doing extra hours. Don't do it. Don't feel guilty for it doing it.

Graphic designer for a market research company here. I don't do any work outside of my contracted hours. My company (large global firm) has a big emphasis on work life balance and no one is expected to do more than they're paid for. As a result we have a load of staff who have been around forever. The average service for my team at the moment is about 15 years.

My team (nhs band 5s) very occasionally are asked to work extra but I give them time back for that and it’s very much an exception to the rule. I’m top of band 7 and work a bit over each week as and when needed, not excessively though imo.

I don't know anyone in professional jobs that only work their contracted hours. I think that's now the big difference between employment types (it used to be blue collar and white collar) now it's whether you clock in and out or you are salaried to "get the job done".

Generally at professional or managerial level it's the latter

I'm an SLT too. Been doing it for 20 years, I never need to work over unless exceptional circumstances and I've seen a lot of different people in the profession.

The level of admin varies in roles and some people really are better suited to it than others. Some people feel like they are endlessly drowning in admin and take forever and others fly through it easily and see tons of patients. You have to work to your strengths. Ward working (acute and rehab) is far better for seeing patients, quick notes and move on. No reports / minimum admin required. The lack of admin slowing them down really allows people to fly clinically.

If you're seeing 4 patients a day, you really should have plenty of time to do the admin. Are there other barriers here? Thinking time? Organisation? Distractions? If you're finding it the same across private and public settings - I say this gently but is this more about you than the job maybe? Are there skills you could develop further to help?

I'm a SLT and have been for 20 years. I've worked 3 ;days a week since having my kids.

I don't generally work over my hours. I was always told that if hides an unmet need, when it comes to bidding for more resources. If I do for some reason, I'll take the time back another day.

4 appointments a day seems ok for admin/write up time in paeds. I do similar (working with autism and complex needs) and sometimes need to squeeze a report in another day. But I have control over my diary, so I can block extra admin time out if I need it.

Just for background, I've worked in a few different places (NHS, local authority, employed directly by a school). I currently work for a private organisation.

If any SLT on here is local to Oxfordshire and looking for a new job opportunity, let me know as my organisation are recruiting and I can't say enough good things about them as an employer.

How much extra are you actually doing, OP?

I admit, I haven't read all the other suggestions, just your replies OP. I'm also a health professional, but in another area. I did my fair share of NHS work where there was never enough time to complete everything.

I then moved into private practice. 1 company had very good pay, so I didn't mind the odd extra work. The next company expected it- literally booking patients in 1-2hrs before I was contracted to work, then expected me to stay back too! Ridiculous. I now WFH and have flexible hours and can take TOIL if something going overtime.

OP- you said you work private now. I assume this is under another company? Could you hire your own rooms elsewhere and have your own client base? Self-employed? A friend is an osteopath and does this, but I don't know if can do this as a speech and language therapist?