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Ahh, the joys of running your own company. As I do work that is mainly CAD based, I've found myself working on many a holiday. Had a few funny looks in Portugal sat on the beach laptop in hand answering questions from my erectors on a build we were doing.
The wife is pretty forgiving, and knows its the work that pays to have the holidays and nice things.
I always make sure I am available during the day to answer any queries , but do most of the work at night when the kids are asleep.
Never even crossed my mind that it might be "illegal" to work abroad.
Yes, Brexit has, at least in theory, ballsed up a lot of my working holidays. As for whether people should be working on holiday: if you're flipping burgers for Maccy Ds then don't work a minute over your contracted hours but if you're, say, responsible for the lives of hundreds of Afghan contractors, then yes you should be on email and Zoom on your hols.
Ahh, the joys of running your own company.
One of the few excuses for working on holiday that add up to me.
Poor management if you are the only person who can help. You being complicit in this covers up the poor management. So you end up doing extra work out of hours because the management cannot provide cover and everytime you do this it reinforces the poor management by allowing them to get away with it.
Weren't you a nurse? What happened if you were in the middle of some kind of patient care when your shift ended? Did you rip off the rubber gloves and walk away saying your shift was over?
I managed my time so that didn't happen. Simple as that. Presenteism in hospitals is a big issue and I would never allow anyone under me to not take their breaks or not go home on time. Never once did I ask those below to miss breaks or stay late. But then on a day to day basis I was a competent manager.
Twice in my career I went over hours. Once because an old mans wife had died and I stayed on half an hour to comfort him as I had been his main point of contact rather than leaving him with staff he did not know
The second time was a piece of poor management. The management did not ensure safe staffing levels on the night shift ( I was on day shift). I phone the senior manager and told them " this ward is not safe without a second staff nurse and I am off shift in ten minutes. Under the nmc code of conduct I cannot leave the ward until it is safe. Under my contract you will be paying me overtime until I feel the ward is safe or until a replacement is found" I was told " I cannot authorise overtime" to which my reply to the manager in charge of the wing of the hospital " I am not asking you this. I am telling you what will happen"
Caused a huge ruckus, the manager was bollocked and I got my double time and went home when the ward was safe. I also took my compensatory rest as I am legally obliged to do
Except in very occasional emergencies staying late is always a management failing in hospitals and I will not be a part of that and even in emergencies the overtime should be minutes not hours
Every time you work unpaid overtime or over your hours because of management failings you are enabling that failing. Standing up to it makes management address those failings. the situation I outlined above never happened again. It had been a regular occurrence ( But not when i was on duty before this) but once I stood up to stop it it stopped
this is why I acted as I did. Make the senior management manage. force them to confront their failings and to correct them
Twice in my career I went over hours
Wow.
I never left a patient in need. I managed my time and the staff under me properly to avoid this