If you earn around £50k how many unpaid hours extra do you put it?

[SnarkyBag]

Just trying to decide what’s just part of settling into a new role and getting to grips verses what’s reasonable long term. I’m giving it til the new year to settle but right now I’m finding I’m putting at least an extra day each week to keep on top of things.

there’s definitely a learning curve so I’m seeing some of it as professional development but longer term it’s not sustainable and to be honest I’m not really a work for free kind of person (well not for £50k a year anyway!)

obviously I know some professions such as teachers will be working crazy ridiculous hours (which I think is so wrong and insane and a culture that needs to come to an end by the way) but generally speaking how much are people working for free because of unrealistic work loads?

People aren't necessarily working extra to get noticed or get ahead though. I am SLT in a secondary school and work over my hours every week ( and on my day off) because I genuinely want the school to be the best it can... If I don't do that work, no-one else will and the children will miss out.

You may have better motives than others, but I’m afraid the result is just the same. Companies count on people doing what you’re doing and schools and hospitals literally rely on it. Nothing will change and if anything will get worse unless people draw a line in the sand (which hopefully the nurses strike is going to do).

I really dislike workplace cultures where people are expected to do unpaid overtime. It effectively just decreases the pay of a 'highly paid' person so that they become an averagely paid person who works a lot of hours.

I earn around this amount, and I'm paid any extra time as overtime.

Agreed. The number of public sector professionals who are barely paid NMW, or not much more, when you take their additional hours into consideration must be staggering. And the government just takes advantage.

I completely agree. I find it so odd that becoming a Director earning £80k and working 70 hr weeks for example is seen as a massive achievement and something positive to aim for. When the same firm also employs people earning £40k who work half the hours of the Directors and have a lot less stress and responsibility. I know which I prefer!

@SleeplessWB exactly!

I do my job in school, it takes as long as it takes, I don't see it as overtime.

Well it is, and unpaid overtime at that.

I don't disagree. But refusing to do it wouldn't make the government care, or pay more, it would just make the experience of the children worse.

None. I work flexi and claim back my time if I've needed to put in extra time. Civil service. £50k for what I'm responsible is not enough to hand over more of my time than I'm getting paid for.

The answers on a thread like this always separate out those in public sector and those in private sector.

No extra hours. I'm paid for expertise and having more responsibility not putting in extra hours.

In the short term maybe, but if you force the issue they will have to care and in the long term it should make things better (and so benefit far more children). Doing nothing now will mean it just gets worse for more kids down the line. Swap 'kids' for 'patients' and the same applies to the NHS.

I earn 48.5k base pay, plus bonus which this year was 10%. I work in the tech industry.

I'm employed for 37.5 hours per week and usually I work 37.5 hours. Occasionally there are situations which require me to work more, but they are planned ahead of time and I either get overtime payments or time off in lieu.

I wouldn't take a job in which I was expected to work over my contracted hours. I am not in the habit of giving my skills away for free so that someone else can profit!

I earn about that but I’m on 80% so pro-rata. Generally speaking I keep to my hours but I normally end up doing a bit on my day off.

having to do early morning meetings (with colleagues in Asia) is a normal part of my job but it’s a given that if you start early one day, you finish early some other time. My boss has been very clear that she doesn’t care when we do the work as long as we attend the meetings and get it all done.

DH earns about that and doesn't do any extra hours. When he was starting out he would put in extra hours - then it was just expected that he always would and one day he didn't leave the office till 4am, When he changed jobs he didn't do it and it stopped being assumed that he would.

I would suggest you put in strong boundaries and value yourself and your time.

I'm public sector. Contracted to work 26 hours a week and do probably do an extra 7 hours a week. Working at very high intensity every day with very few breaks. The issue is the workload, not my personal organisation. We are under 50% staffed. I can't sustain it and am seriously considering jacking it in.

Same

Don’t jack it in. Just stop doing the extra hours - that’s your manager’s problem to manage.

Have you even read the comments?!

This. I’m on more than £50k but I usually try to keep overtime to a minimum/ start late & finishe late etc, but broadly speaking I manage to fit it into the 8hrs/ day that’s in our contracts….excluding busy times of year like Black Friday. I work from home full time if that helps

I don't understand the significance of private v public. In any area of life, not just jobs, would you ever encourage anyone to accept this?

Sell your house for £300,000, but the buyer only gives you £200,000? negotiate a contract for 10p but then they only pay you 5p.

Encourage your dc to accept this. No. Bollocks!

From now on we advertise jobs with their real salary?

So, you think you're going to earn £40k, but you're really only going to earn £26.5k because instead of working 37.5 hours a week, we are going to make you work X number of hours so you're going to be earning significantly, less welcome on board.....

All these people working 7 extra hours. You are working an extra day. So working a 6 day week. But being paid a 5 day week.

On what planet is that a good idea? Good work-life-balance?

Earn £54. I don't have contracted hours anymore, I have objectives and am expected to deliver. For the same reasons, there is no such thing as overtime. It's swings and roundabouts. I have lots of flexibility with regards to work hours and I am almost completely self driven, doing what I think my job needs to do. I enjoy my job, do above and beyond when needed but also don't blink twice if I finish early to pick my daughter up from school. There is no clock in clock off culture, no one to delegate to, and if I said I had too much work on I would be seen as not up to the job.

None.

Why on earth would I work for free?

Also if you can't do your job in your allocated hours you are either:

• not very good at it and/or unable to manage your time effectively

-pandering to an employer who has not hired enough people to deal with the actual workload to save money and is happy to exploit and take advantage of their staff instead.

@avocadotofu
''I work part time at the moment but my full time salary is 56k and I put in a minimum of 2 hours extra a day.''

Seriously, why would you do that?

You are letting your employer get away with paying you a part-time salary while they are getting an additional day of work out of you for nothing when you add up the extra hours you are doing...

Madness.