New job wants me to volunteer on my days off

[SilverNewMoon]

Where do I stand on this? I work 5 days, 45 hours over the week. They want me to regularly work the two days off with no recompense, no overtime payment or days off in lieu. It's a place mainly run by volunteers so I feel pressured. Any advice?

Don’t

Are the people pressuring you to volunteer also full time staff who volunteer on their days off? Just wondering if we have a pot/kettle/black mindset or just people who have no other life other than their workplace.

"No, I already work 5 days - I need a work/life balance."

The people pressuring are directors of the business, so they own it but consider themselves volunteers somehow

Another for 'don't'.

Set out clear boundaries. There's a reason you're paid and the volunteers are not, and I expect that's to do with responsibility and accountability.

Your days off are for you to rest and recuperate so you are more effective in your paid role.

Good grief, they want you to work 7 days a week?!

Is this ‘volunteering’ doing the same as your regular job, or is it doing something different?

Don’t do it. You need and are entitled to weekly rest.

Work 7 days a week? They are having a laugh

I wouldn't..

Is this working for a charity, OP?

If so, helping with fundraisers (such as Race for Life if working for Cancer Research UK, often is staffed by those who work for Cancer Research UK but volunteering at the weekend) is expected.

Well you’d love to do that but you can’t because of your iron-clad other commitments that take up all of the 2 days off.

Who is the "they" that is pressurising you, and how does the pressure manifest itself? Is someone actually asking you outright to do it or do you just feel like there's general disapproval about the fact that you don't?

I used to work at a charity in a paid role where some of my colleagues used to come in at weekends and help out with various fundraising activities on a voluntary basis. They were, without a doubt, much more passionate about the whole cause than I was, but there was also an element of "oh, look at how selfless and giving I am" about it, as evidenced by how many pictures of them being all charitable used to appear on their social media afterwards.

In any case, you simply mustn't be pressganged. When exactly do they expect you to have a life of your own?

"They want me to regularly work the two days off with no recompense"

Yeah I bet they do.

The directors of the company are asking me to do it. No it's not a charity but I can't say what it is exactly as it will be outing.

That is a route to burnout, also compassion fatigue if it's a role with certain risk factors which may well be present in an organisation which has volunteers. I'm pretty sure there is also a law about numbers of days off per 14 days, averaged over a longer period. So they could ask you temporarily to work extra if they were particularly busy but not regularly working 7 days a week. I'm not quite sure how it would work if you were officially volunteering instead of working those days but just don't! Were you a volunteer before you took on this paid role?

As directors, and it being their business, they'll likely to want (expect) others to be as passionate etc about the business as they are. But you're an employee.
Are the directors paid? Or do they receive stock options etc?

In any case, politely, but firmly, say no thanks, I need my days off to rest and recuperate for my full-time working week.

Err, no. That's a ridiculous ask.

No I wasn't a volunteer, but the company is mainly run by volunteers with a passion. I took this job for the role itself rather than a passion for what the company does, but now thinking that may have been a mistake.

Also, was this told to you when you took the job?

And do other do this or are expected too?

No it's not a charity but I can't say what it is exactly as it will be outing.

But it may make the difference between saying if it is unreasonable or not, if we know the sector (don't have to know the exact organisation)

I assume the directors profit from the money made by the company (it makes quite a lot) but they're considered volunteers.

We're entitled to a certain number of paid days off work a year to volunteer. Say if they introduce that policy you'll do it via that route :o

When I took the job I was told I 'may' have work some weekends but I can take days off in the week. However, the person who told me that has left the company.

If they want you to work weekends you should get TOIL to be taken during the week. Start insisting.

No. It's an illegal request for a start. Talk to Acas.

I don't think the parallels with my charity role are irrelevant even if you're in a different sector. At the charity, they relied heavily on volunteers who were passionate about the cause, and they tended to recruit paid staff from people who had already done volunteering for them, with the expectation that they would still want to come in for the fundraising stuff in their own time. Like you, I was there for the role and wasn't especially passionate about the cause, and it did make it untenable in the end, because I wasn't really into all the extra-curricular activities and I wasn't interested in giving up my free time.

In your case, if it's the directors who are pushing you into this and they can't understand why you might want any days off, I can't see how you can stay in the job, sorry.