Are we now expected to work out of hours?

Nathaniel_Essex · 17 June 2018 at 3:12PM

When I first started my professional career, it was quite common that you would work out of normal hours. You would have so many reports, complaints and task to deal with, it seemed the only way to do it was working from home or staying back after work. Personally, I had an issue where I started to suffer from genuine stress and fatigue because I was working so much.

From then I started to get myself organised and be strict with my time: If I worked an hour later, I'll start an hour later the next day. If I had a overworked week, I'll take the Friday off and so on. After a month or so, my stress reduced significantly and I was back to working form.

Forward a few years and jobs later, I have come to realise that it there seems to be little choice but to work outside your hours. Firstly I was asked this in the interview if it was okay and when starting the job, you are given a number of tasks and deadlines which meant there is literally no way you can't do it within your normal work hours (even when working through your break).

Constantly I am getting emails from people inside and outside my organisation well into the night and I am online to receive and respond to them. My boss is online, my peers are online and our partners are online. There seems to be no way around it.

Just like last time I spent an hour or so thinking out my work week and tasks. I made an honest attempt to get through everything but it was simply not possible, especially with the new tasks piling on top of each other. It's now Sunday, and I'm about to go into the office to catch up for work that needs to be done for Monday.

TELLIT01 · 17 June 2018 at 5:35PM

Switch your work phone off outside work or leave it somewhere you can't hear it. Get a cheap pay as you go phone and only give the number to family and close friends.
It's true that there is far more pressure on people to do more than the contracted hours but there is also a requirement for the individual to stand up and say 'No' at times. I'm fortunate that I have been retired for a couple of years, and even in the latter years of working I would refuse to do extra hours if I didn't want to.

When somebody complained about the workload being impossible, a senior manager stated that managing the workload wasn't the employees problem that was for management to sort, and that staff should just do what they could. I threw that one straight at the same manager when they moaned to me that work was building up.
Your first responsibility is to yourself and your health. Sadly, most companies won't give a **** if you make yourself ill, they'll simply get somebody else in to do the job.

tacpot12 · 17 June 2018 at 8:29PM

It's about balance; if your boss and other colleagues are working 'overtime' then working some overtime is reasonable, but only a bit. Generally I would regard working three hours a week over your contracted hours (when workloads are normal) to be the maximum you should work. When workloads are exceptional, and for brief periods, working more overtime is not unreasonable.

I can see your problem that you have work that is needed for Monday, but is not yet done by Sunday night. You have two choices: work extra and get overtired, which will have other repercussions, or explain why the work is not done on Monday and hope that others agree you have taken on or been given more than was possible.

As a professional, I would suggest you take the latter option and hope that your colleagues and manager help you to push back on work that probably cannot be done in the time expected. You are not letting anyone down if you reject the work as unacheiveable.

CakeCrusader · 17 June 2018 at 8:40PM

It's becoming sadly common here now, employers want more and more but don't want to pay more, and you're seen as 'not a team player' if you say something. I try to make sure I get one full day off a week (I work shifts, usually 9 hours a day from 0900-2200 so it's not easy to fit any sort of life in), yet I get called on my day off, or I'm asked to do training. Sounds like you need to take control or nothing will change. Tell them that you can't manage the amount of work they are expecting you to do, it's that or look for another job. Leave any emails that come in during the night. If your employer wants them answering, they can hire more staff who are willing to work out of hours. Go offline in the evening and don't let yourself be pulled in, or you'll end up working like me and starting to feel like just a hamster on the wheel rather than a valued employee.

Savvy_Sue · 17 June 2018 at 8:42PM

I don't usually work Thursdays, but at the end of a long Wednesday I told my boss I would come in on Thursday afternoon because there were things that needed to happen before Friday which I hadn't managed to do.

Their response was to ask if it wasn't better for me to come in early on Friday. I said no, I'm not great in the mornings and Thursday afternoon was unusually convenient for me.

Their next response was "you're an adult, so I can't tell you not to, but you don't have to and I'd rather you didn't." So I spent a happy couple of hours moving stuff around the office, NOT looking at emails, and easing my mind about Friday.

So, you're an adult, you make your own choices. Which may include switching off your phone.

TELLIT01 · 17 June 2018 at 10:14PM

Some years ago I was working as an IT Support team leader for a subsidiary of a major bank. Following the merger with another bank there was restructuring and all IT Support was moved within the main bank i.e. the subsidiary no longer operated independantly. That meant I was one of nine Support team leaders covering the whole of the UK between us. This set up had been in operation for about a year when the guy to whom we reported queried why I wasn't doing as much overtime as some of the other team leaders. I asked him in what areas was I failing to do everything that was required of me, or what was my team failing to achieve compared to other teams. Initially he seemed confused by the question but eventually agreed that the team and myself were performing well. My next question was shouldn't he be asking the other team leaders why it was taking them so long to do work which others managed to fit comfortably into a normal working day. I stated that my belief was that some of the team leaders thought it made them look good to work long hours whilst I felt it showed a lack of ability. The manager never raised the subject again.
To the OPs situation, I agree with others who have said that 2 or 3 hours a week should be the most that should be expected of anybody, and even that shouldn't be every week. If everybody is struggling and having to work excessive hours it means that the company is understaffed and that is what needs to be addressed.

Ezorqs · 18 June 2018 at 2:38AM

I'll work all hours I can get paid for. Unfortunately, where I work for tends to be stingy with its overtime even through there is lots of work to do.

System · 18 June 2018 at 9:09AM

Don't set a precident...don't go on emails because soon they'll assume you're on emails and get angry that you are not. I also don't answer my personal phone to my bosses, even at work in the day. That's my phone number for emergencies, not for beck and call. As soon as you start down this road, the worse it'll get.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser · 18 June 2018 at 10:27AM

How much are you getting paid?

Some jobs carry very good salaries on the understanding that work outside normal office hours is expected. If you are on seventy thousand a year and don't like the hours, you can find a job for half that where you don't need to do them.

Marcon · 18 June 2018 at 10:35AM

Nathaniel_Essex wrote: »

Constantly I am getting emails from people inside and outside my organisation well into the night and I am online to receive and respond to them. My boss is online, my peers are online and our partners are online. There seems to be no way around it.

There is; it's called logging off.

Are we now expected to work out of hours?

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free