My coworker does unpaid overtime but I don’t want to

[Evangelineee]

Started the job a year and a half ago. It’s a team of 4, plus the manager. Two of my coworkers did the same job, whereas me and the other did something slightly different. The other two people, plus the manager would always be working in the evening. We only get paid until 6pm (it’s flexitime though so if you start earlier you can finish earlier but can’t start later than 10) but my coworker would be logged on at home at like 8pm. I never did that in my previous role, and it was never expected of me anyway because my job was slightly different to theirs.

One of these people left and I have taken on their role. There is a lot to do and there are time constraints and deadlines. My coworker who I am now working with never ever finishes when she should. She is off on Thursdays and even logs on then. My manager at first told her to stop doing this but she never listened so he doesn’t bother telling her anymore because she just does it anyway. However, she is now expecting me to do it, because the person who had this job before me also stayed later and they would work together. Now I log off and she does overtime on her own, but it isn’t paid. She keeps asking me if I can log back on later that evening. For a few days this week I have worked 30 minutes over to finish things off, which is fine. But I don’t really want to regularly be working at 8/9pm. I asked my manager whether this is expected of me, and he said absolutely not and mentioned in a meeting that no one should be working past their 7.5 hours. But now she’s making digs about team players and about how she is doing more work than “other people” meaning me!

Please could I have some suggestions on how to handle this?

The manager needs to speak to her and make things clear. Everything there is a comment I would say something like : my hours are 8 until 6. I don't work on days off and in the evening. She sounds an utter fool. It is totally up to her if she wants to work overtime but to expect others to is ridiculous

Ask how you submit overtime claims?

This is for your manager to handle. Does he hear the comments? They should be making it clear that overtime is not expected, the working day is x-y. Anyone choosing to do more is no more of a team player than someone doing their hours. Also by doing in paid overtime she is effectively making the problem on going. How could you ever prove you needed more people/time to manage the workload if there is no evidence of all the extra work she does? That does no one but the company purse strings a favour

Is it your manager making digs about you not working overtime?

Do you get 1:1s with your manager that are recorded? If so, raise it then that you feel you're getting mixed messages about the expectations and would like to clarify. Then follow this up with an email with your understanding of the convo and then refer back to it in the future.

now she’s making digs about team players and about how she is doing more work than “other people” meaning me!

"Some of us have a life outside work. It's important to maintain a good work/life balance"

Who is making the digs, your colleague or your manager?

No he doesn’t hear the comments. She knows that we are not supposed to do it but says she has to because there is jusg so much work to do that it’s impossible to finish it without working over. But she is annoyed and disappointed that I won’t help her with this and am basically leaving all of the leftover work at the end of the day to her. But I’m not… I’m leaving it until the following day. You can only do what you can do in a day, if it needs to go over then I will stay a bit but I want to be paid for it. Paid overtime isn’t a thing so I’m not doing it. But she keeps asking me every single day if I can help her out in the evening

Echo the posters above that you need to make your manager fully aware of the digs and requests she's making so they can clamp down on it. She probably thinks that because they've spoken to her before and she's carried on it doesn't matter but the comments to you and others are unacceptable.

Or, email her setting out you can't do unpaid overtime and it doesn't mean you're not a team player but it's important to maintain a worklife balance. So it would be better if the daily requests stopped. Cc your manager and I bet it'll stop then.

In the vast majority of jobs there will always be work that needs doing the next day, it’s totally normal not to finish every single task, this person is being ridiculous.

Speak to your manager and ask them to deal with this, they need to have a proper conversation with her about expectations, and that it’s unnecessary to do these extra hours or to expect other people to do them.

I think you need to say something directly to her when she makes digs. Polite but firm. And tell her you have spoken to your manager about it and he agrees with you. And as others say, remind her of work/life balance.

This.

Keep doing your hours, that's the paid allocation of the work you have to do. If the work can't be done within that allocated time frame, that's a problem for the company to evaluate. Your colleague is only masking that.

If you would consider overtime, have that discussion with your manager and have it made clear how those additional hours are paid. Overtime or banked for time off in lieu?

I'd be like a broken record with colleague "I work the hours I'm paid to work, why would you work unpaid?"

We had this in my department with someone working extra hours like a martyr and holding grudges against everyone who didn't. Then someone volunteered to work extra as paid overtime on a particularly busy week, and it all kicked off. Manager put a stop to it by holding a meeting and setting out the expectations - additional hours were discussed beforehand and authorised to be paid/toil, and had to be logged so the company could track the hours to see if there was a wider problem needing solved with regards to staff numbers. It was then positioned as a trial so we could accurately log the hours needed, and part of that was explicitly stopping any overtime some weeks, even unpaid, to compare the impact of just doing the work within the scheduled hours. Once martyr lost that bit of control, it soon stopped.

It really is a problem for leadership to solve OP, but it's rough if leadership are ineffective at handling it.

Make your manager aware about the digs.

I’ve worked in teams where there is a minority of people like this and it’s usually that they like to be martyrs, have nothing better to do outside of work, or are actually inefficient at the job which takes them longer to do.

As a pp said, practice saying in response about how you have a life outside work and the importance of a work/life balance.

Just point blank say that you have a life and a family etc outside of work and you're not working for free.

now she’s making digs about team players and about how she is doing more work than “other people” meaning me!

Is she actually doing more work?

If you are able to get the work done within your working hours, but she is having to work much longer to achieve the same - it's not you who is inefficient!

I would email her copying in your line manager.

Outline that you are working your paid hours and any requests for overtime should come from the manager and be suitably compensated but as you currently understand it there is no business need for overtime hours.

She needs to be told firmly to stop. She is asking a staffing issue if she HAS to work extra. The company is unlikely to fix it if they are getting the job done on the money they currently pay.

Tell her she needs to speak to her manager if she cannot manage her workload in the allotted time.

You cannot do unpaid overtime for “personal reasons”

This isn’t a lie. You don’t want to. That’s your personal reason.

If it was me I would be bringing it up in a team meeting in front of everyone. Ask if we can agree on team norms around expectations of overtime and an understanding on what is priority day 1 work (ie must be completed today) and what is acceptable to be carried over

She may want to be a martyr. You don’t have to be

Look colleague, I work hard at my job all day. I have absolutely no intention of working in the evenings. I have other things I like to do. Overtime is not expected or encouraged and I have discussed this is our manager. Please stop asking and making dogs when I say no. If she comments or asks again just say we’ve had this conversation and the answer is always going to be no. If you carry on I will have to speak to our manager again about this.

Digs not dogs!

She is in the wrong here.

Calculate how many hours a month she works for free, calculate what that is in terms of pay and tell her you have no intention of donating £x every month.

This. She is a fool if she is working and not getting paid. Don't be dragged down to her level.

Please make your manager aware.

Hmmm, I wonder why your predecessor left?
She sounds a nightmare. I'd tell her: you knock yourself out but I have a life and don't work for free!