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Original poster

Pah! The 'working late, lay down and die for company culture'...and the mum!

25 replies

CrookshanksinJimmyChoos · 18/09/2007 20:50

Am soooooo annoyed!

Sat there listening to snide comments made in team meeting today about how its noted if we stay later to finish the work required (work that can be carried on to the next day btw)and hints at how its sort of expected at our level to stay and get the work done...er hello??? Where does that leave us Mums (and Dads) needing to leave bang on time to get to nursery before it shuts???!!!

OP posts:
maisym · 18/09/2007 20:55

when I was preg with dd1 the people I worked with all worked late. When I left 'early' people couldn't believe it - but I got everything done well and soon others started to not work late all the time.

orangecat · 18/09/2007 21:06

Sooooooo annoying. I had loads of people get promoted above me when I returned to work and minimum pay rises (even though my team at points was the only one on target!). In the end, I just let it wash over me - unfortunately I realised that was the culture I worked in, and I wasn't prepared to take work home to compensate. Did my 8.30am - 5pm and went home.

V glad to be off on maternity leave, again. Work/ kids thing is just so tough

Original poster
CrookshanksinJimmyChoos · 19/09/2007 10:15

It really winds me up....its discrimination tbh to expect us to stay late to do stuff when we have to be at the nursery for a set time! They expect you to lay down and die for the company...er no thanks!

OP posts:
LilyLoo · 19/09/2007 10:17

agree there really is more to life than working. It is really awful how they try andf make you feel guilty. TBH you just have to let it wash over your head and think about why your life is so mo=uch more richer than theirs. Interestingly all senior staff at our place have no kids

Original poster
CrookshanksinJimmyChoos · 19/09/2007 10:25

Funnily enough, ours do -which I find worse tbh because they should appreciate what we have to go through and how hard it is!

OP posts:
LilyLoo · 19/09/2007 11:07

fat chance there for me , my manager said when she found out i was pg with no.3 'How many children is she going to have ' They just see them as a hindrance !

Original poster
CrookshanksinJimmyChoos · 19/09/2007 11:43

What an awful comment!!! She's obv jealous as you are having far more sex than she is!

OP posts:
Brangelina · 19/09/2007 11:58

Where I used to work, there were people who worked late after spending all day nattering at the coffee machine, and who came in on Saturday mornings, not to work, but to gossip with their cronies who also came in then. I never did, unless absolutely necessary, and got frowned upon. Needless to say it was pointless mentioning that I didn't need to stay late because I'd got all my work done in my 8 hour day.

I just stopped letting it bother me, at least I have a life unlike the Saturday morning crowd. Also, to my great satisfaction, I had to redo a project that hadn't been completed by one of the stay late crowd when she went off sick. It took me 4 days to complete within working hours when the daft cow had taken 3 weeks of overtime to get only halfway through. When I presented it to my boss he was pleasantly surprised and muttered something about not understanding why xxx had taken a month and not given a result. Ah, the satisfaction!

Ettenna · 19/09/2007 13:28

I work at a boarding school where some of the staff do literally live at work. I don't, have a young baby who doesn't sleep well and have a 45 minutes drive to work. I basically work through most of my 'breaks' in order to leave on time and miss the traffic. I don't feel remotely guilty as I don't spend time shmoozing or watching TV in the staff lounge. I'm sure I'm not considered to be 'quite the right sort' here, but too bad!

Ettenna · 19/09/2007 13:31

..obviously manage to find the odd nano second to look at MN though...

LilyLoo · 19/09/2007 16:19

LOL Jimmychoos

bluejelly · 19/09/2007 16:28

Ettenna I think you are right, the trick is not to feel guilty about work and just leave.

Original poster
CrookshanksinJimmyChoos · 20/09/2007 11:36

Don't you just love the cats arse faces that management make when you say oh I can't do that as I have to be gone by xxx a time???

OP posts:
EmsMum · 20/09/2007 11:45

The odd thing is... we once did a project management training course in which it was made clear that while working late occasionally for a particular deadline may be needed, doing this on a regular basis caused LOWER PRODUCTIVITY.

One of the best managers we ever had would always leave promptly at 5pm to get home to his family. My own boss would always go home on time to 'bath the babies' - he'd often come back to the office later cos he loved his work too. But he never expected underlings to do that.

I now work from home, part time - and performance reviews usually state that I'm about as productive as a full-timer.

(That was before I started MNing of course. )

So - the long hours culture really is not necessary. Do your work and go home.

Original poster
CrookshanksinJimmyChoos · 20/09/2007 11:54

My mentality is that if you can't get it done in the 8hrs that you are there, then you aren't being very efficient! Obv there are times when you need to stay late for unexpected isses, but that aside it isn't really necessary is it!

Our senior manager stays late every night and has two children under 6....I just think to myself - what are you missing out on? DH is in charge of DS's bath and he absolutely cherishes the experience and would hate to miss it!

Am fed up with the if you stay late you are more likely to get promoted ethic....twunts!

OP posts:
IntergalacticWalrus · 20/09/2007 12:09

I'm quite lucky where I work. They have given me a PC to work from home with and my employers are really flexible. However, on the flip side of the coin, I quite oten have to work into the night and I get up every morning at 5 in order to do my work before DP goes to work, so it;s damn near killing me.

The other thing that pisses me off is that because I go home from the office at 11 that I am a "part timer" even though I work full time hours, plus look after my kids fulkl time. My other (younger ) collegues also piss me off, as they spend so much time goissiping in the office, anbd then give me daggers when I leave at 11 and there's still loads of work to be done (I am very focused at work, and don't waste time. I'm only in the office 3 mornings a week, so I make the most of the time there as I have no children to distract me)

FCH · 20/09/2007 12:17

Just as a vision of how things could be in an ideal society, I administered the appraisal reports in my last job and saw a note on one chap's file (one of those never goes home types who was expecting a promotion recommendation) that if he could not fulfil his current responsibilities within the normal working day then he was clearly struggling and did not have sufficient capacity to be considered for further responsibility. Amazing how many people started taking shorter coffee breaks and going home on time when that little gem got out...

I want another boss like that one!1

IntergalacticWalrus · 20/09/2007 12:19

Indded FCH. I see so much time being wasted in work. the other girls in dept spend all day on Facebook and gassing about incoinsequntial shit (they has an hour long conversation about Paul farking Daniels yestartd ffs)

If they spent all that time working, the department I work in would be the most efficient ever!

FCH · 20/09/2007 12:23

Mind you - current boss not of the same mould, hence I am on here!!

IntergalacticWalrus · 20/09/2007 12:24

get back to work, yopu slacker

Tortington · 20/09/2007 12:24

i make overt - not snide - commens about how i want to be at home with my kids - becuase i think they are fab.

when i get the " we never see you " snice comments - becuase i had been working 2 evenings and took toil, had a meeting in london and lordy lord booked 2 days off.

i also dont hide the fact i leave bang on time. i make a point of it.

i dont hide my contempt for company men - like my boss - who does reprts from home at WEEKEND sad bastard - and i say as much

you see me and promotin - wern;t ever going to go well together

so fuck em

draw your line and tell them where to get off.

IntergalacticWalrus · 20/09/2007 12:30

Round of Applause for Custy

IntergalacticWalrus · 20/09/2007 12:31

meant to add a

I get the looks when I leave bang on 11, but I donp;t give a shit. I can't wait to go and pick my kids up. I leave my collegues with thier empty lives and brains to talk abou me behind my back (which I knbow for a fact they do)

TheDuchess · 20/09/2007 12:48

I worked long hours before my pregnancy and regularly stayed late, took work home etc. During my pregnancy I had high blood pressure, was exhausted, all the usual things. I took thing a little easier, left on time every day and became more focused about work, and planned my diary better.

Result? I became less tired and became more productive.

Now I'm back full time following maternity leav and I'm sticking to the same rules. I've clawed back more time by working from home when I don't have meetings and I'm still more productive.

I make a point of telling people this story when they bang on about working long hours. I do, of course, work later if I really, really have something to finish, but generally, not.

moodlesoup · 29/09/2007 18:41

i've just started a new job after having a year off maternity, and i'm the oldest person there, bar the boss. i'm only 33! and not one of them have kids. i'm in my second week, and they're all like, are you going home early tonight - i.e 5pm. everyone gets in at 8 and stays till 8 - they all go drinking togehter, lunch together..something seriously wrong with this world.

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