No lunch break. No overtime pay. 45 hour week with expected overtime. WWYD

[Goandplay]

Interviewed for a job paying 10k over the going rate. Negotiated another 5k.

From what I was told on the interview the current team rarely take their annual leave entitlement and work late most nights, with senior members working till 10pm sometimes. Senior members also work most weekends and never take two days off at the weekend.

I was told there was no lunch break but can eat and drink at desk.

The role will stretch me professionally which would be good, giving me experience and a step up.

The office didn’t feel friendly and I was told there is not much chatting on the interview when I asked if I could meet the person I would be working with - which I thought was a strange remark.

Is the additional pay worth the conditions.

Don't do it. I took a similar job for 25k a year more, it was horrendous. I was in tears most days and worked all the hours because I had to. I was on a telephone meeting at 11pm the day before a holiday. I was miserable, didn't have any time with family and friends, it was just work.

Trust me, the money isn't worth it, I handed my notice in after 3 months and ended up getting my old job back. Never again!

If your partnet thinks it's that great-he can apply!

No amount of money Is worth that imo , if you have a family it simply isn’t going to work . Course you need your weekends and annual leave . The working through lunch or working late wouldn’t bother me too much but the expected to do it long term would . You work to live not live to work !

Sorry but your husband is a idiot ! Do you think he’ll love the money in a few weeks when him and the kids never see you? . Also when you say you will take your leave if others don’t I can imagine it’s the sort of place that will eye roll that you take your leave . If you take the job you’ll be starting another thread in a few weeks saying I want to take a weeks leave but my colleagues keep making comments. Don’t do it love !

I think this - you work to live, not live to work.

Hmm. I’d probably accept but let them know you’ll only work the 45 hours. I’d tell them you’ll give 100% in those hours but that working more would lead to burnout and in order to be able to give 100% those are your conditions.
They can take it or leave it! (I recently accepted a salaried post on similar conditions, plus a condition that I could work flexibly on occasion around school plays etc. I got it anyway, and a pay rise after a month so it seems to be working for both of us. They must be keen to offer the extra 5k so it’s worth a try!)

Sounds like they're paying over the odds because they're expecting each individual to do the job of 3. Cheaper to pay one person £45k than 3 people £30k.

If I was desperate for cash I might do it for 6 months while I found something else but outside of that, no chance.

Well they need to get a life and realise there's more to life than just working and not taking holiday entitlements and lunch breaks, nah what kind of life is that? What's the point of having extra money if you have no spare time to spend and enjoy it?

For the next 2 weeks you "work" untill 10:00 and work a full day Saturday.

Actually dont do anything, you get to play with the children but he has to supervise as if you are not there. Othet than that pull up a list of movies you want to watch and snuggle down in your bedroom.

He is in charge of everything.
childrens dropoff / pickup, homework review and prior night bag packs for school events, play dates organisation, and any after hours activity.
(I now its a bad time of the year for that but he has to play the game)

They need new shoes and a new summer outfit and he needs to shop for a BFF birthday present and card.

All home care, getting and preparing food, washing clothing, cleaning the house etc etc. needs to be done by him as you are not there.

He needs to look after your needs too, re food and clean clothes.

He needs to book a dental appointment for the children for 6 weeks time and take time off work to get them there.

He needs to plan your older childs birthday for the second last Sunday of August, (location, invites, food and cake)

He needs to organise his holidays and free days for the next 6 months including managing Christmas. Thats Santa shopping and all and any social visits because you will be working twice as hard as you would normally need to.

If he needs to prove he can manage as a single parent

Great suggestion @SolasAnla - DH will soon change his mind about the money @Goandplay

Your DP will soon get pissed off when he realises that he has has to do all the food shopping, all the cooking & cleaning, all the childcare, take time off when they are sick and for things like doctor's appointments, school events, you name it, not to mention having dc for most of the weekend, and not being able to go on holidays as a family because you can't get time off. And if he can't pick them up after school, how much is a childminder going to cost after school and during school holidays?

I’ve worked for one of the Big 4 - it is NOTHING like OP is describing at this place and it pays better.

This sounds like a one way ticket to a mental breakdown. If your DH likes the sound of it so much he can do it. Accepting these sort of terms not only screws you over but other people too. Don’t let employers get away with this crap.

Sorry DP, not DH

Is your boyfriend incapable of calculating how rubbish the pay is? The poster who wrote out the actual pay vs. hrs is something you should both have worked out already. Does he want to lone parent your kid/s while you sell your life at this shithole company?

@midairchallenger
I disagree I don't think it sounds anything like Big 4, like @Plumtreebob says.

@Goandplay

Wonder if it is for my brothers employer, he works stupid hours for nowhere near enough pay, though I'm sure they pay below industry average and he does take annual leave

For me it would be a no unless there were specific reasons why I needed that extra money and told myself I would do the job for a set amount of time. But personally working somewhere like that would make me miserable (and I say that as someone who often does work very long hours which I don't like, but a) my team does acknowledge that and is consistently hiring more staff to try to reduce everyone's workload and b) I genuinely like my colleagues and so do enjoy chatting to them when we take a break or whatever).

@Oblomov22 - exactly, huge amount of perks working for the Big 4 and I’ve always taken holiday/overtime owed no problem.

No, unless it was a year or so to get experience and then move on pretty sharply.
But no - sounds like a miserable place that exploits its workers.

You say it's £15k over the going rate but when you take in to account the no lunch breaks, no overtime, people don't take annual leave and they work wkends the £15k is irrelevant

You could not do all that and be on your current salary and actually have all of the above so it would probably work out about equal

You'd also not turn in to a mental wreck

Glad you've decided to keep looking, OP. An extra £15K just isn't worth it when you consider the stress you'll be under both at work and home - especially once your tunnel vision DP realises how much he'd have to step up because you were constantly "on" for work. Financially it's not worth it either, once you work out what your net hourly pay would be for the extra hours you'd be doing.

Add the fact that, on top of these demanding conditions, that the office didn't feel friendly - you've made a good decision. 🌹

I have been offered a job for 9-5 working from home on similar money with lots of benefits and a lovely boss.
I am very excited for this role, it suits my skill set and will be a long term role.
Thank you all for helping me see I was not being unreasonable when considering the first role.

Wow, that's brilliant news! Well done, and good for you for stick out for what you deserve

That's fantastic! I hope your DH is pleased you stuck it out and carried on looking!

Fab update, congratulations on your new job!