If you are asked to work at the weekend, what would you expect to be paid?

[ommmmmmG]

I mean if your job - and the industry you work in - is normally Monday to Friday office hours?

I have recently been asked to work over 2 weekends, one of them involved an entire Saturday from 9am to past 11pm, most of which was actual work, the rest being on standby (but i couldn't do anything or go anywhere between bouts of work), followed by a 6 hour stint the next day.

And last weekend I agreed to work on an urgent and highly strategic project that took me a total of 7 hours over the two days.

My understanding when accepting the work was that i'd get paid double time for all those hours, plus some time off to recover. But my boss is now disputing this, citing project profitability, probably because he's realised just how much he has to pay me.

Who is being unreasonable? What would you expect for this sort of work?

What did your contract say?

Double pay plus time off is excessive. My staff would get either paid normal time OR time off in lieu.

Not both and definitely not double time

My understanding when accepting the work was that i'd get paid double time for all those hours, plus some time off to recover.

What is your understanding based on, were you offered double time or does your contract state that? If not, I'd expect normal time or TOIL, definitely not double plus TOIL!

What would I want? Time and a half. What would I get? A day off in lieu - probably. Because right now I work for a nice company.

Generally where I've worked the contract states that I must do get my job done, regardless of hours. Uses some kind of 'reasonably expected' phrase that basically means suck it up.

You need to read your contract, double pay and leui time back is excessive. If that was the case, I’d be offering to work every weekend

when I was in retail (but contracted to work Mon-Fri) overtime was paid at time and a half for Saturdays, double time for Sundays and bank holidays.

What other people would expect is entirely irrelevant. What you expect should be based on the policy/contract relevant in your company. If it says double time plus time off in lieu, then although that would be exceptionally generous, that's exactly what you should get. If it doesn't say that, there's no reason to expect it.

Depends what your contract says. I’d expect TOIL. Double time and time off seems hugely generous to me.

We would get TOIL

”My understanding when accepting the work was that i'd get paid double time for all those hours, plus some time off to recover.”

Presumably you came to that understanding for a reason- what was it?

I'd just take a day in lieu for each weekend day working

In a previous life, I would have hoped to get a day off in lieu. The guys who worked for me got time and a third on Sat and time and a half on Sunday.
DH gets nothing.
Double time, plus TOIL would be massive! Basically triple time....

TOIL only.

But if you were told double time and TOIL then that's what you should get - although it does seem excessive.

It depends on your contract, I think mine is time and a half but it has to be agreed by a higher manager first so time to check before I do any.

We only get TOIL for weekend working.

I have to do approx 9 Saturdays a year, I usually work 08:45-17:15 Mon-Fri, so get a weekday off instead for each Saturday worked.

Staff on lower grades get paid overtime at 1.5x their hourly rate but that doesn't apply to managers. Double time is paid for bank holidays or unsociable hours but that is almost never required.

In most of the public sector the standard is time and a half as overtime (sometimes double if overnight or on bank holidays) or time off in lieu (if you are management grade you only get the time off in lieu option). In plenty of industries there's a general expectation you just do it with no payback at all... but as others have said it really depends on your company policy?

My very short contract says nothing about overtime. It's a small company (50 people) and the understanding was a verbal arrangement based on previous weekend work.

But I hear you, double time plus TOIL is a lot.

Boss is calling me later. I'll see how he feels about time and a half...

I'd get nothing. It's expected to work out of hours if needed (lawyer).

I'd expect TOIL

My contract clearly outlines the hours that are 'ordinary' which is 8-8 Mon-Fri and 8-6 Sat. If I agreed to any overtime during 'ordinary' hours I wouldn't expect more than my hourly rate of pay.

Anything outside of 'ordinary' hours I'd agree beforehand on the rates of pay. Sometimes I've negotiated triple time because their need for me to do the work is surplus to mine and not an area of responsibility for me. More often than not we settle on either time and a half or double time.

Crucially getting it agreed ahead of time is important because you have virtually no negotiating position after the event unless you politely and subtly imply it's the last time you can be expected to pick up extra work because the financial compensation isn't worth the personal time lost.

Hope my perspective helps...

I would be paid time and a half plus a premium which equates to double time. I wouldn’t bother otherwise.

I expect to be paid actual money to work at the weekend not do it for exposure as I was offered recently by some toss pot. I've been doing this for 30 years. I don't need exposure.

ItsAllGone19 yes that's it really.

It's completely outside my normal hours. I don't get paid enough to do it for nothing, but I'm good at my job, which is why they asked me to do it. If I didn't do it, I don't know who they'd ask. I'm annoyed that my boss is now going back on what was originally agreed (and for which there is a precedent, as I've done weekend work before)

Also, given the importance of these particular projects, I do feel justified in being paid well for them - the benefit to the company in terms of reputation and business development is potentially very high.

I work for an organisation that has a 24/7 call out rota. In some cases, the rota’ed staff are not enough, and other staff are called out. This was me last weekend. I will get single time plus a call out fee. If it were a bank holiday I’d also get a that many hours in lieu. If it was Christmas I’d also get double time. Staff on rota get the same, but not the call out fee; they get a stipend for being on rota whether they need to work or not.

Extra work (evenings or weekends) to ensure project milestones are met are part and parcel of my job. I get TOIL, flexible working hours and the ability to WFH so it all balances out and is fair to both parties. No salaried staff get paid overtime, only those on hourly rates or shift work.

If you were told double time and TOIL I would have had it confirmed in writing before the weekend!!!!!

If it's overtime after a normal day we get TOIL.
If it's out of hours or weekends we get a generous call out hourly rate.