To be sick of this, think it is utter bollocks and the next generation are actually bang on?

[Usunshine]

I’m in a professional role. Historically this career (like many others) is stay late, keep working, do absolutely everything you can for your job. I had a conversation with my manager in a 1:1 review meeting where he said I was doing fine, couple of bits to work on but all good and happy with performance etc. A normal review meeting really.

He then proceeded to say next I want to really mount the pressure, I want you to be feeling you have too much work and have to say to me ‘(Eric), I can’t take this on, it’s too much.’ I want you to almost feel like there’s so much on that you are non stop. That will mean next year we can talk about more money. It will mean late nights of course. We want to keep building more and more.

I have worked hard in my life. I’m late 30s and I’ve actually done the whole putting your life on hold to pass professional exams, worked late and weekends. I’ve done all that. I watch younger versions of me clocking off at bang on 5:30 and be called snowflakes by older members of the team. But I think good for them. For fucks sake why am I being told I have to have so much pressure I can’t manage the workload?! Why is that necessary? In my opinion the younger generation has it right. It’s not lazy logging off at half 5 to play tennis or go for a drink. It’s sensible. There’s no prizes for working yourself to the bone. Interested in others thoughts on this as I had a completely different view a few years ago.

Eric is an idiot. I completely understand that some roles require you to work extremely hard for long hours. However, it's one thing to work because you have so much to do, and another to tell you you need to purposefully take on so much you feel like you're burning out? WTF?

Very easy to meet this ask. Tomorrow at 5:30 you say I have too much on my plate Eric, I can’t do it all so I’m heading off and you tell me what I can drop /push to next month.

@Usunshine I like the concept a poster posted earlier, 'quietly quitting' and working more normal hours. I'm much older and used to work longer hours as we were promised to work longer at some parts of the year so we could finish earlier in others. Never happened because you ended up being forced to work later throughout!

Secondly, I used to also work like a dog but one Friday I left on time (6pm) to catch a train. On the Monday, boss gave me the silent treatment then pulled me into a room saying x/y wasn't done properly (it had been but there was a miscommunication) but he said I should have cancelled my train to do the work. I had a light bulb moment and said no way. Others weren't/wouldn't, so why was I?

I'm far happier now just doing what I need to do, hard but not mad hours

Same where I worked , the older crew were always being called to meetings after work and got used to it . Since they've retired the younger ( 30's ) have said no we're paid to 5pm and that's when we're leaving , and they do . I think good for them setting boundaries.
When the axe of redundancy swings it doesn't care how many extra hours you've worked we're all dispensable .

I'm not sure I'd have challenged his thinking in my 30s - but as I had young kids then, I'd be thinking to find another job as I didn't need extra work as my life was busy enough.

Now as a senior director in my late 40s I'd be actually livid if someone said that to me in a review and would call him out on it there and then. "Sorry, just to reiterate - you are telling me, actually admitting that because I'm good at my job as it is now my reward is to be given so much extra work that I burn out? Can you elucidate on your thinking here?"

Sounds like he has swallowed a 1980s corporate bullshit manual.

No, they don't, they tend to work well and smart.

Seems discriminatory to me. Nobody with caring responsibilities could do that job. Love the idea of asking him to put that in writing as part of his managerial direction.
Does Eric have children himself?

I’d be speed dialling HR. Eric is a dinosaur.

Try telling a nurse, doctor, police person, fire-fighting person that they should clock off on time

Eric sounds like a knob. Eric will likely change his mind in a year, there will be no extra money. You'll have given him a year of your life for nothing. Eric will then move on to the next victim.
How the hell is Eric finding this work?
Why wont he employ an extra person to do it?
OP go find another job.

He sounds like an idiot. Im an AHP and although I was very busy in A and E I always left on time as colleagues changing over were prompt.
I'd tell him you will be getting a payrise...in a different firm.

I'd be telling Eric, "no, we will be talking about more money now or you will be looking for another employee that will clock off on the dot as is now more common. One who will very likely cost you more money than you're attempting to avoid paying me".

Twats like him never know what they've got until it's gone.

If he is making it so plainly obvious that you will be getting no more money, why the fuck would you do as he demands. The fucking idiot.

A lot of work that involves long hours is usually the result of someone’s inefficiency.

Same!

My industry (education) has this work-til-you drop culture. I don't- I've been there, done it. I value my work-life balance. Unfortunately, the next generation are voting with their feet and leaving.the profession. I don't blame them.

As my grandad used to say "the graveyard is full of people who thought they were indispensable"!

Eric's going to find himself explaining this to HR sooner or later.

This kind of working culture was built on men having wives take up the slack.

This is clearly some kind of office wanker who thinks his work is of staggering importance but it probably isn't.

Even so, I'd like medical staff to work regular hours where possible as I don't want a tired, strung out doctor making bad decisions.

I do extra hours in my job sometimes when something needs doing - but it shouldn't be the norm. Good people get sick and burned out. Many people my age have senior jobs and also responsibilities for elderly relatives and children at the same time. We can't run workplaces on the basis that employees are automatons or on the assumption that they have a wife at home looking after all this for them.

This^

I used to work in HR. Believe me, if you dropped dead, you’d be replaced the next day,

As a 50 something let me share with you that what really matters in life is relationships ( family, friends) and hobbies. Yes, we need money to pay bills but there’s no point having a nice house or fancy stuff if you can’t appreciate it.

My job is taking the piss now with me. Not long hours, but workload. I’m about to tell my manager that I’m not doing it.

I couldn’t keep a straight face if someone said I had to ‘mount’ the pressure. Mental image of humping a pile of pressure!

I'd tell Eric to get my P45 ready.

Honestly I had a manager who was "musing' in a review that it has been noted that I go out for my lunch (1 hour unpaid) and seem to like going home on time... it wasn't even a very well paid job!
I left asap!

Employers aren't grateful for the extra work. Nor do they reward it. Very quickly it becomes the norm, the minimum standard expected.

I made the mistake of doing this in my previous role. My boss walked out one day. I was expected to do her job and mine. I was working all hours including through the night.

Did I get any reward for this? Did I heck as like!

It was a horrible organisation. Bullying was rife. Employees made to feel worthless.

One day a potential job dropped into my lap. I applied, got the job and handed in my notice. Employer was gobsmacked. It was like a piece of the furniture had got up and said 'I'm off'.

New employer pays me 50% more plus much better benefits. Any going above and beyond is noted and rewarded (in actual cash).

Resist this American working culture at all costs.

You get paid for the hours you work amd that's it. Otherwise you're accepting slave labour and you'll be dead before you hit retirement.

Work to live, not live to work. Otherwise you're wasting your one and only precious life, just to line someone else's pockets.

What's all this "if you pay me more, I'll work more hours"? Nonsense?

40 hours is more than enough work for anyone in a week as an employee. Anyone that accepts more time at the job is a mug and is contributing to an early death, divorced and lonely, miserable life in the end.

And yes, doctors, nurses and paramedics are included.

It's your choice to work there or not. If you don't like the way Eric is treating you then vote with your feet. He'll learn that this is not the way to keep good employees.

I tend to work 8:30-5 and try to live by 'your failure to plan is not my emergency'. Whether that's my manager not planning staffing levels or workloads appropriately or a colleague who didn't plan the work for an upcoming deadline and is now trying to get everyone on the project to work evenings.

Sometimes unexpected things come up and sometimes I fail to plan my own work, in which case I'll work the odd evening or Saturday, but too many people (colleagues and managers) now expect others to put in extra hours on a regular basis.