Should I stop working extra hours?

[SpookySpoon22]

I am contracted to work 16 hours a week over 3 days but due to workload I often work at least an extra hour a day. I don't want to do this as it interferes with family life. However, as I don't work many hours, I feel bad complaining about this and also find it hard to finish on time as there is so much work. It's not that I'm asked to do extra; more that I feel duty-bound due to the nature of the work and there is too much to do. WIBU to stop doing this unpaid extra work and letting work pile up or is it just expected in most roles, even ones like mine that are not particularly well paid (despite having a fair amount of responsibility)? Part of me thinks I've been a mug but the other part feels guilty for only working part-time, despite having a demanding home life.

Don't feel guilty for 'only' working part time, that's what you're paid for, you wouldn't expect a full timer to work Saturdays if they weren't being paid to!

Do your best during the hours you're paid, and flag to your manager that the workload is beyond your capacity and you can no longer do extra unless it's a rare exception.

I work part time because that's what I needed when I was employed, even though all children are at school so I could work more. But that's what they're got budget to pay me for, so I only do overtime maybe every couple of months when we're hitting a crunch deadline.

I worked many many many over hours. Like 1000s - and in the end it wasn’t appreciated or worth it.
Don‘t do it unless it is giving you something concrete like enjoyment, fulfilment in some way or just money that you need.

I did this for years, as did the rest of the team. I worked out I was doing the equivalent of 1.5 extra days a week unpaid.

I needed extra money so got a second (evening) job. It was great that someone was willing to pay for my time that I’d been giving away for free.

I need to be quite strict with my main employer and highlight when things won’t get done because I don’t have time during my working hours. Management won’t recruit extra people because as far as they can see we have the same level of work we’ve always had.

Basically I’ve done myself a disservice by picking up the slack for free for so long. It’s come as expected now and there’s no way we can increase headcount.

Moral - nip it in the bud now. Of course stay late on occasions to help with really urgent things but don’t make it the norm.

Of course you shouldn’t do more than what you are paid for. If there is too much work, they should hire more people. By doing extra work for free you are doing disservice to yourself and the management is none the wiser about the issues. I work for the NHS and I am all for the sense of duty and doing your best but, my time is my time so the computer is turned off at 5 pm and I am off. And if I do have to work extra, I make sure I record TOIL (because we are not paid for the overtime).

Stop doing the extra, unpaid hours.

If the job can't be done in your 16 hours the employer should hire someone else.

Make it clear to your manager that there is an issue.

Keep notes of everything you do during your 16 hours to illustrate that there is no spare time left to do everything that they expect you to do.

That's the thing about many part-time jobs: the employer hires someone part-time to save money by the reality is that the workload itself would require more hours...

Don’t do it, you’re contracted for set hours and as long as you can demonstrate that you are working efficiently during those paid hours then you are doing what you’re employed to do. It’s different on some jobs where the contract states additional hours are required to discharge duties or when it’s not safe to clock off on time.

I am guilty of doing the same, am contacted for 25 hours probably average closer 33 plus. No overtime and am currently blocked from moving within the organisation. I am job hunting.

Thanks all - I think I just needed to hear it said. I seem to live in a perpetual state of guilt these days and never feel as if I'm doing enough in any area of my life even though I have a lot on my plate and don't get enough down time. I had some holiday recently and started to see things a bit more clearly. I decided that I wanted to start taking control over the small things I can including finishing work on time but then the second guessing kicked in. It's difficult when you know that work left undone affects people but if I keep working late, it affects my own people.

You would be unreasonable to just stop and let it pile up without saying a word. Just have a word with your boss and say you've been working extra each week and you can no longer do it, and you know that the work will pile up so you're just giving a heads up beforehand.

@ToothPickk I agree and am going to let them know that I won't be routinely doing this any more. I am also going to try and work more smartly to maximize how much I can do within my hours, even though this will mean I don't respond so quickly to the constant stream of emails that come my way.

I also agree, I don’t think you can just stop without telling them, it will reflect on you with work piling up. In my experience most jobs that aren’t retail etc mean people work to get the job done rather than to hours, ie if you’re paid by the hour or salaried.

When you're young and starting out in a career, extra hours can really help you get ahead. After some years though, that becomes impractical to balance alongside family / health / sanity and ought to fade out. Extra hours are still reasonable later in your career if they are for occasional emergencies, though only if you have some reciprocal flex for starting late / ducking out for an appointment yourself. Constant extra hours from workload need to be addressed differently, and you should discuss with your manager how to resolve them, otherwise you are getting resentful and burning out but nobody will even be aware of it. Frame it as prioritisation, "which bits should I leave as I don't have time for all of it?" / "can I pass X and Y tasks to someone else as I'm otherwise not getting time to finish Z, which is the top priority".

The most important question is have you actually told your manager about this? It is easy to sit there putting up with it and get the hump about it but speaking up can do wonders.

Tell your manager, he will either delegate the extra work to other colleagues or have a chat with you about working an extra hour a day but paid. Or if he’s a rubbish boss he will do nothing, if that’s the case, don’t do it!

Being part time doesn’t mean you should put up and shut up. It doesn’t matter if you work 6 hours a week or 60. If you aren’t happy with something you need to say something

Do you work in a school by any chance? If so sounds familiar.

My boss is definitely aware of the situation and acknowledges that I am often picking up the slack especially as other staff seem to go off sick a lot. I actually think she'll understand if I stop doing this, even though it'll make things pile up but other senior staff will still expect the work to be done as it impacts on the work they carry out. I just feel that due to the nature of the job, I don't have a choice as everything can feel urgent and vulnerable people are affected. However, I have my own vulnerable person at home who needs me, hence the reason I work part time. I don't want to say what I do as it could be outing but it's in healthcare not surprisingly.

You should get paid for the hours you work, so I would point out that in order to keep up you've regularly been working an extra hour a day. Why don't you negotiate a few extra hours in a week? eg could you manage an extra hour two days a week, or half an hour extra per day = 1.5hours per week? Or can you work an extra day once a month if you have a busier time of the month in order to completely catch up?

Either way you're not paid a lot, so doing extra unpaid is not helping you.

@Ariela but the thing is I don't want or need to do any extra hours. I specifically chose a job which fit in with my other caring duties. I get what you're saying though and I sort of wish I'd done this so that my extra hours had been paid. However, I now want to stop doing these extra hours, hence my AIBU.

Then you need to speak up

I have spoken up many times. I think I need to act now by no longer covering the issue by working unpaid extra hours.

I only check my emails twice a day. My team knows this. There is no such thing as an "urgent email" and they can call me if there is anything that requires my immediate input (which there never is). We often put too much pressure on answering emails right away. Nobody really cares or expects it.

Frankly I think everyone should do this, there would be some short term pain but it might make employers pay people properly. Work to rule could really change things in this country.

There are if people that moan about workload but then keep on doing extra for free!

You have spoken up so now you can act on it. Stop doing the extra hours and see what happens. If there is anyone you can email I’d say “I have been doing x amount of unpaid over time for X amount of months but due to commitments at home I am now no longer able too, so will have to leave at x time every day going forward”

then never do unpaid over time again

Exactly and if you put up and shut up then the cycle will keep happening. OP’s managers obviously aren’t doing anything about it but the only person to blame short term is OP by continuing to work over time unpaid then moaning about it x

It depends. How many folks mess about getting coffees, chatting by the water cooler, organising post work drinks, taking personal calls etc. work to rule works both ways.