Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan

Merlin's_Beard

killerpeaty said:

It just sounds really weird. Maybe it's because I am in a different industry, but this would presumably make staffing more confusing (on the side of the employer). So I'm not 100% understanding why they want the change anyway.

What do your colleagues make of it?

The whole thing is really weird to be honest. Colleagues think the bits they know about are weird. I think the whole thing is an overcomplication of things that aren't that complicated. But definitely not industry standard here either.

Essentially one shift at one branch is shorter by a few hours, but is normally shared between all FT (but not PT) staff. This means FT staff have regular weeks that run "short" on rota'd hours. Solution is to offer me that shift every week and give me shorter hours, everyone else works their regular hours every week. Massive potential to create resentment (in loss of short day) with other FT staff.

(Industry standard in these situations is either to build that shorter day into the average, or just to accept that a slightly shorter day is a bit of a treat and that staff will stay late unpaid when necessary the rest of the time)

Whatever happens will definitely be proceeding with caution @savingholmes - have been stymied by bosses before back in the days when I trusted!

Also a whole possibility that this will be a flash in the pan and come to nothing!

FlacosFloozie

That's a tricky one! On the whole, I'd say slightly less hours is worth it but there's a few major caveats.

There's potential for major resentment with the rest of the team as it's likely they're feeling overworked and burnt out (pretty widespread at the moment). Branch shifts are often a little quieter so we try to rota them out fairly to give everyone a bit of a 'rest' day. If the other vets lose that they may feel put upon, even if they know you're getting a wage reduction, which they might well not.

There's also uncertainty with the workload. Will it genuinely be shorter days? Will you need to transport patients at the end of your shift, need to do more client calls etc. Is the branch getting busier? Will you be under pressure to build it up? Is it quiet? Will you get bored? I've been in that situation and found the boredom and underwork was it's own form of stress.

Re pay. There is a massive shortage of experienced vets right now and wages are going up. I don't know if your independant or corportae but most coropates have announced additional pay rises and improved benefits. If you drop now it's likely your wage will go back up soon. Worth knowing if your practice has you on pay bands or do they factor in turnover. If the latter then a quieter branch with fewer ops etc could have a long term impact.

Merlin's_Beard

They're all good questions, @FlacosFloozie - some of them I know the answer to, some of them I don't. Re the long term impact I worry more about losing opportunities to develop and the impact of that, rather than flat out turnover iyswim, as well as case continuity. I don't want to be sidelined and stagnate!

killerpeaty

If that is your biggest worry then I would go with the longer hours. You can reduce your hours later when you want to chill out on the career front. (Bad wording is bad, I hope what I mean is coming out somehow)

Merlin's_Beard

killerpeaty said:

If that is your biggest worry then I would go with the longer hours. You can reduce your hours later when you want to chill out on the career front. (Bad wording is bad, I hope what I mean is coming out somehow)

@killerpeaty I have a lot of worries about it on both ways! Like, how long can I keep doing the hours if the hours are crazy all the time? I work theoretically good hours for a vet (ie under 45, no out of hours) but when you don't eat or drink for 11 hours of your 9 hour shift on a semi regular basis it gets a bit old and definitely with the summer squeeze as people are off (plus covid absences) I can teeter on the edge of burnout. And that hinders my progress too - because I don't have the energy to improve myself. It's not a zero sum game even with that.

And how much does that affect my life (or lack of) outside of work? I'm wildly an introvert which means that client interaction all day can be draining and make me not want to socialise outside work, which is also terrible for me.

And I'm not doing a lot right now because I'm just about to move and I haven't been able to plan things in advance or commit because uncertainty about both availability and finances, so that's probably building into my burnout-y feelings right now.

Very complicated, no easy answer.

killerpeaty

It is very difficult. I feel you with the burnout. Working through lunches and after hours just leaves you completely exhausted. Then when you have time off you use it to recover but not unwind.

When is your next annual leave without having to do something? 

Merlin's_Beard

In a few weeks - it's the week I thought I'd be moving before everything was pushed back, so now I've only got some packing and some organising to do.

savingholmes

Good luck whatever you decide.

Could you afford real part time?

LadyWithAPlan

Great to see your home buying progress. On the hours I would take longer ones for the pay especially as you are buying a home. I alwasy err on the side of saving money and ensuring it comes in.

Merlin's_Beard

savingholmes said:

Good luck whatever you decide.

Could you afford real part time?

Part time as defined by the rest of the world, no. 35h a week as suggested, probably.