Working Late

richdeniro

Not really asking for advice or anything, am just wondering if working late was now a major part of most peoples jobs because of the recession.

I was made redundant in April last year from a public sector job in London and two weeks ago finally managed to get a job for a media company on a temp-to-perm basis after 13 months of soul destroying unemployment.

The companies official hours are 9 til 5.30 and I am on timesheets whilst doing the 3 month temp-to-perm thing.

However one thing I have noticed is that everybody seems to work late, not just 10-15 minutes but at least an hour. There is no real movement from anyone until at least 6.30 and most people work until 7 or 8.

Pretty much everywhere I have worked in the past has always been a 9 til 5 and everyone leaves at 5. I am not really the type of person who wants or likes to work late, life is too short to be sat at a desk for 10 hours everyday, by the time it gets to 4-5 in the afternoon I am usually also winding down and am pretty much done for the day. But at the same time 13 months of unemployment was horrendous.

For the first couple of days at my new job I left at 5.30 as I hadn't been fully trained and usually ran out of work by this point and my boss would tell me we were done. However now I am working til nearly 6 because I am fearful of not being taken on permanently as I feel it is frowned upon not working after hours. Even leaving at 6 I feel uncomfortable as I'm the first to leave and some of my colleagues have jokingly said 'part-timer' as I put my coat on. I also only put 9 til 5.30 on my timesheet despite working half hour later everyday as my contract only says 37.5 hours per week.

scheming_gypsy

There's loads of possible reasons for it.
They get paid overtime
They're collecting TOIL
They've too much work to do and need to catch up

Or they're contractors on an hourly rate. Back end of 2011 I was working at one company where 80% of the people were CAD contractors. A lot of them were on silly money - £40 - £60 an hour, so even though there was a 39 hour week, they'd be there from 6am till 6pm clocking up the money.

AP007

If its media/fashion etc its known for un paid overtime

I have a friend who used to work for a large publisher in London and they all stayed till 7pm as there was too much work and not enough staff - it was expected of them all or they would lose their jobs.

hcb42

most of my career has involved late night working just to get the job done. I am not sure it is due to this recession..I've been doing it 20 years

tuggy12

Public Sector, welcome to Private sector.

richdeniro

tuggy12 wrote: »

Public Sector, welcome to Private sector.

Have worked in the private sector during my temping days after uni - insurance company, private equity firm, construction company and a couple of others.... all finished at 5 or 5.30.

This was 8-9 years ago now and not in Central London though but Croydon.

CFC

Welcome to a non-temping job in the private sector. Get used to it I'm afraid.

catieeb06

My contracted hours are 9-5.30 but you'll regularly find me in the office between 7.30am and 6pm. It's just the done thing, always has been.

scooby088

I think it part of the course now, overtime is required to get the work done, you have two choices finish at your contracted hours or work the overtime. I always saw overtime as a pain never really done it unless I wanted the extra money.

mcfisco

I'm not a clock watcher but I'm usually working a bit before 9 each day and generally end up leaving before 5:45.
I simply wouldn't do it for long if there was an expectation to routinely stay back.
Conversely, I don't particularly like those places where the car park resembles the starting grid at Le Mans come 5:30

Lagoon

In my working career (admittedly only a decade in length) I've not known of any salaried job where people haven't been expected to work unpaid overtime. That's just my experience.

It was expected at the last company I worked for. It wasn't enforced, but there were hints that people should put in extra hours, that those that didn't weren't as appreciated, that people were expected to work into the evening and over the weekend.

On my team, only myself and one other person did our normal hours. Others would put in many extra hours each week. We were both aware that we'd be judged for leaving on time, but neither of us felt that staying was worth it.

Various friends (both past colleagues and other friends) have also indicated that in their jobs it's at least the same. The minimum is hinting, and making people feel bad if they don't stay behind. The maximum is a clause written into the contract saying that unpaid overtime is compulsory - I know of a girl that agreed to this, then realised the toll it was taking and refused. Of course, she was then fired.

I have no issue with companies asking for help every now and again, and I would pitch in if something genuinely needed doing as a matter of urgency, but in most cases unpaid overtime is just for your employer to get more hours out of you, without paying for them.

If it's not written anywhere in your contract, you've got two options. Go home at the right time, and likely be shunned/judged a little, or stay and work with everyone else for no additional money.