[Closed] Working your contracted hours... And feeling guilty!

I dont unless someone's life depends on it. That never happens in my field so I never work more than my contracted hours. Never have done in any other job either.

We are mad. Somebody will be along shortly to shout off about their great work ethic working a billion hours a day. Country on its knees and wot not.

I'd rather work at quality time with friends and especially family and have less money.

We?

I tend not to unless I'm behind due to my own doing.

A few of mates say it's expected of them though.

If you can't get all your work done in your contracted hours then you are obviously not very good at your job.

Or Bruce, doing someone elses job for less than they'd be paid....

You should try working hours in Singapore or Hong Kong. Insane.

I never work more than I'm contracted, when I get into work at(Royal Mail) 6.30am each day there's at least a dozen other lads who've been there for at least an hour. They're also the first to complain when we're told that due to early finishers we have to absorb another 1 or 2 rounds.

You work to live you don't live to work.

Like BruceWee says, if you can't do your job in the time given then you can't do your job.

Worked at a job i loved for 6 years,lived 18 miles away, cycled in or train every day got there always 10 mins early, and left dead on time, muppet from up the road would arrive 25 later than start time, and go ten mins befre end time,.

Guess who got thought better of, it wasnt me.

I don't know any teachers that only do their contracted 35 hrs.

I'm not saying it's not possible but it is difficult to do the job properly in that time.

That said I know a few teachers that act like martyrs on account of the hours they claim to work.

Or somebody has left and you have to pick up there workload.

In which case, you can do your job, just not your job and somebody else's.

If you can't get all your work done in your contracted hours then you are obviously not very good at your job.

That's not true of every job.

I don't see what is wrong with work your hours either. You trade your skills, knowledge, experience and time for money. Increase the hours you work devalues your product. I don't mean walk out on the dot, I finish what I'm doing, maybe that will take 5 min maybe 30-40 min but I don't make a habit of hanging around.

If however you are paid to achieve X task then working longer hours is reasonable, however the flexibly need to go both ways and if you're ahead of target then you should be free to go "early".

Mostly I work my contracted hours but there are usually a few weeks in the year when workload demands 60+ hours to meet deadlines. I am quite happy to work extra when necessary but employers who expect you to work extra all year are taking the piss.

I worked hard for many years - easily doing over my work hours. I got paid well, I got promoted etc. In the end, I had a falling out with my boss - who lied and schemed to save his skin.
I lost - so all the effort was wasted. However I got a new job, nicer (but smaller) company
And I still over work my hours. I am mad ...

I was talking (independently) with s Belgian and [u]a Spaniard[/u] this week, and they think we are mad..

I get paid to think not be a machine.

Well, there's one hell of a lot of Spaniards who don't work at all. Their economy is proper doodoo at the moment

apart from the odd trip to other factories (especially in other countries), where I do the journey in a mix of their time and mine, I mostly work my hours, give or take half an hour or so over a week, and nothing more.

the job I do 99.5% of the time means "no deadlines" - it gets done when it gets done & then it's handed over to the users to test. That's where the whole thing slows down, usually.

The UK is obsessed with long hours. Apparently our new CEO has commented that people only seem to do their hours and not work late every night, don't think he's too impressed. Personally, I only get paid to do 37.5 hours, so that's all they get...

Not that I think long hours are any more productive, in fact I think I'd achieve more in less hours and there's a fair amount of studies on this.

Some interesting reading:

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/14/bring_back_the_40_hour_work_week/

http://pennyhaw.wordpress.com/2011/11/20/the-longer-you-work-the-more-productive-you-are-not-so-say-experts/

We?

I used to work in places where you were seen as a shirker if you didn't do (unpaid) overtime. No one used to leave when they should as the bosses would comment the next day - just snipey remarks, but you knew it was being noted.

I had one place where great pressure was put on me to assist production to meet a target over a weekend, often only being asked (told) late on a Friday and it was unpaid with promised days in lieu that never materialised.

I used to resent it & do the min hours I could get away with.

Now where I work, it is not expected of you to work longer than you have to, people never make snide comments and heap pressure on you.
I am much more productive, am more willing to stay late if need be & enjoy going into work.
Who'd have thought it...?

northernmatt - Member
You work to live you don't live to work.
Like BruceWee says, if you can't do your job in the time given then you can't do your job.

Sorry, that's balls! Just maybe your employer is too demanding and has too high expectations...

I don't begrudge extra time, but I claim it as time off in lieu/overtime, without fail, and it's my time- my terms. Doesn't seem that controversial but it came as no surprise to find that the sort of boss that expects you to work extra hours is also often the sort of boss that expects to not pay you, or ask you, or ever give you time off in return. The same sort that reacts with horror if you ask for a day's holiday.

The bottom line is you're paid to work, and that's not a good link to break. If you expect people to work without pay, you can't exactly complain if you pay people and they don't work.

What I found really interesting is the people that say they "have to" work overtime, and that they can't claim it. A colleague of mine in my last job in the bank couldn't be convinced this wasn't true- we were all either clocking off at 5pm, or claiming the overtime, she was working early every day, taking short lunches, and never claimed a bean. And what was weird about that was that she was really aggrieved about it. How dare they make me!

There does seem to be a something for nothing culture in this country, a contract is a contract. A bit extra now and then is ok as long as there's quid pro quo. Which fortunately is how it works where I am currently.

Note it all they want if it became expected id up ad find another job.

I work my contracted hours , trned down a blackberry and unless im on call my works mobile is off. My boss understands this . He has my personal mobile to get in touch if its important ( sometimes its unavoidable to contact me at short notice or in the middle of the night due to the 24 hour nature of my work)

When im working on an install or project ill do whats needed to deliver but i will take it back when its quieter

We had engineers that would work till 8-9 pm at night for no extra money - always thought they were mad but noted who they were so i knew who to call when shit hits the fan.

Following on from the sick note thread, why in the UK do we feel more compelled to work more hours than our contracts say?

I was talking (independently) with s Belgian and a Spanisrd this week, and they think we are mad...

Try working in the states. If you only do twelve hours a day you get sacked.
I've never worked in a culture like it. Luckily my company was run by rabid slave drivers so I was used to it.

The way I see extra unpaid hours is... if you want to progress within the company, you're probably going to need to put a bit extra in. If you're happy with your position then do your 37 hours and leave on the dot.

If you're happy with your position then do your 37 hours and leave on the dot.

Yep, not interested in a career any more, just getting a decent wage for standard hours....

I only ever been in a salaried position once when i left college/uni and was offered a job without having to apply for it through my ex thermodynamics tutor who recommended me for a position as a design/test engineer, i was paid very well for a 25yr old straight out of college (£35k + bonus) but i quit after 6 months due to the folk i had to delegate to as they were sub-human and the fact that it was "expected" of me to do 2 extra hours a day unpaid, sorry but no amount of money is worth me working any more than i absolutely have to.

Something for nothing culture?

Where'd that come from. Surely that's what your employers are after by doing extra time for nowt?

I'm currently in a fairly peeved mood regarding being asked to work on my days off because we need to cover another department. No extra money, no extra benefits, just do it.

It wouldn't be so bad but when we get e-mails telling us that we'll be taken to task if we don't do it right (which none of us actually know what we're doing. When I say other department, i mean we don't do what they do in the same way they don't do what we do) it kind of puts you in a bit of a mood.

edit: I'm not ad-versed to doing a bit extra, but I used to work 50-60 hours a week and only get paid for 35 and I said I would never go back

BruceWee - Member

If you can't get all your work done in your contracted hours then you are obviously not very good at your job.

You can't actually think that's true surely?

I work extra time if doing so allows me to achieve a delivery ive underestimated. With good planning this is minimised but you always end up with little push around a delivery. Other than that I prefer to stick to 40 hours a week which leaves me with enough energy to live.

try working in the States

Some places in the States wok long hours I believe, but those I have experienced work rather shorter than here.

BruceWee - If you can't get all your work done in your contracted hours then you are obviously not very good at your job.

Obviously? Really? Are you in a low skilled sort of a job?

My company's getting better though at selling work with sensible estimates as expecting us consultants (poor me 😉 ) to do what it takes to get the job done isn't ideal.

Generally believe that after a point the productive output drops so fast it's not worth staying.
On the other hand walking out the door when there is still stuff that needs sorting is fairly petty and does nobody any good in the long run.
Flexibility works both ways and every job is different.

Obviously? Really? Are you in a low skilled sort of a job?

Well it feels pretty low skilled to me but apparetntly you should really have a masters in engineering to do it. All I've got is a BSc and yet I seem to muddle through without ever doing unpaid overtime.

OK, let me try to revise my statement.

If you can't get all your work done in your contracted hours then you are obviously not very good at your job. If you are good at your job and you still can't get all your work done in your contracted hours then you are obviously not very good at realising you are doing more than one person's job.

Practice this phrase in front of the mirror:

Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part. I'm going now, bye.

A weak point, badly made

A previous place I worked had a paid overtime culture induced by suppressing basic salaries. It backfires: psychologically you work less intensively, less intelligently, to stretch the work to fit the time. Managers don't plan properly and commit to incredible deadlines because you can always be made to work longer. And you feel obliged, and are made to feel obliged by peer pressure, to consistently sacrifice your personal/family time regardless of actual productivity or the achieve-ability of the goals. The result was years of stressed-out nagging managers, tiredness, failure and low morale.

This is very wrong for business, professionally and personally, in my opinion.

Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part. I'm going now, bye.

As above, it depends on your role, and your ambitions

If your role isn't that demanding, and you have limited aspirations, then go for it. If however you would like a promotion at some point, or not to be at the top of the list if where you work is contracting, I'd say it's pretty unwise not to work reasonable overtime

If you feel that you're being asked to do too much, and resent this, then do something about it by speaking to your boss or jumping ship.

I work I'm academia. I also work considerably longer than my contracted hours. This year I got a promotion. Two other people who don't didn't. Moreover, in science I'm competing with people in other institutes, both for grants and on project delivery, but also in terms of building an international network of collaborators that will allow mr to move on and take a more senior role elsewhere in due course. The advantage of academia is that your achievements in terms of grants won and publications is very public, so most things you achieve in your job also directly enhance your own profile.

My contract is 39 hours, I do 50 weekly. And it's not because I "am not good at my job". It's because the company runs 24 hours a day, 364 days a year, and does not have the right amount of staff to cover, so expect us to do more.
Am I too stupid to see that I am doing more than one persons job, no. But, in the current economic situation of this country, it would be very foolish of me to start creating hassle about the problem and causing my self unnecessary issues in work, I know my boss, I know his attitude, and I know how low he can stoop.
So yes, poor planning on my bosses part does not constitute to an emergency on my part, but do I want to rock a boat that already is unstable? No.
It's slightly unfair to label someone a poor worker because they do more hours than their contract...

Sometimes i read threads on STW and think to myself

"yup, you're doing OK my boy.... your priorities and life is totally in order"

This is one of them threads 🙂

Guys guys guys... working more than contracted for 0 pay ? WTF are you thinking....