Is it worth doing overtime?

Guest2

Guest2

Guest2

Soldato
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6 May 2009
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I do overtime at work where its available but am sick of the take after tax, NI, pension and student loan

A few weeks ago I worked a saturday (double time) and calculated that I would get just over £100 before tax etc.

I have been paid today and ended up getting £50 more than I normally do!

Personally I dont see the point in wasting a friday night and saturday all day for a lousy £50
 
That does seem like a bit of a bum deal, but if working the overtime helps pay off your student loan quicker is it not worth it in the long run??
 
Still £50 quid you've gained instead of blowing £100 for a night out on Fri/Sat
 
That all depends on what you normally get and if you need the money and if you had anything better to do surely?

One overtime shift for me boosts my take home pay by 6.5% but all my bills and my lifestyle are paid for from my normal pay. So sometimes I want to work overtime and sometimes I don't. Some months I might do 6 or 7 extra shifts, others I'll do none.

It all depends on what else is going on. If the wife is away for a weekend and I get asked to do a few days then I'll probably do it. If I've been busy at home doing the place up then I'll take my days off to relax.
 
You're lucky you get paid for overtime.
I did almost a 70+ hour week last week, including working a full day on Sat, and 1/2 day Sun.

All I got was a day off in lieu.
 
Its ok if you are doing it for extra fun money, although you do get ripped with tax and NI.
Its no fun at all when you do overtime just to make ends meet.
 
Never understood this argument. Your overtime is taxed at the same rate as your normal pay, unless it pushes you over the 40% threshold, in which case you will pay 40% on whatever you earn over that threshold.

Thus, earning £100 should lead to a take home of around £69ish.
 
mp3duck said:
You're lucky you get paid for overtime.
I did almost a 70+ hour week last week, including working a full day on Sat, and 1/2 day Sun.

All I got was a day off in lieu.
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Call me mad, but I always choose day(s) off in lieu when I'm doing extra hours/days. I get the option of putting it in as overtime, but I don't see the point!

This weekend for example will involve a full day Saturday and Sunday, so I'm just having today off, and two days off next week.
 
That all depends on how much you work in the first place though to be fair. I only work 162 days as standard after my holiday so the last thing I want is more days off!
 
No. :D

Earn more & you get shoved in the next tax bracket & get spanked so that the extra hours make your weekly hourly rate suck.
I have been asked to do overtime a few times but Laughing in the Managers face is not the reaction they wanted. :o
 
Depends. I work part time only atm. So if i do overtime during the week i only get Single Pay. so i refuse to do any overtime during the week what so ever. If it's weekends, then yes i will do them. By doing, say another extra 10 hours gets me over 100 quids after tax.
 
4T5 said:
No. :D

Earn more & you get shoved in the next tax bracket & get spanked so that the extra hours make your weekly hourly rate suck.
I have been asked to do overtime a few times but Laughing in the Managers face is not the reaction they wanted. :o
Click to expand...

Just to double check, you do realise a higher tax bracket means you only pay the new rate for cash earned above that bracket... right? :eek:
 
shoes said:
Never understood this argument. Your overtime is taxed at the same rate as your normal pay, unless it pushes you over the 40% threshold, in which case you will pay 40% on whatever you earn over that threshold.

Thus, earning £100 should lead to a take home of around £69ish.
Click to expand...

Student loan on top of that.
 
Nitefly said:
Just to double check, you do realise a higher tax bracket means you only pay the new rate for cash earned above that bracket... right? :eek:
Click to expand...

Of course but it's still a con & only nurfs one of my arguments against it, Others include I would Die if I did overtime, The Gods won't allow me to do it, I'll Miss Hollyoaks, The Temperature outside is between -5c - +40c, My old Ma needs me, Got to walk the dog, I only Crap on my own bog. :D
 
yes its well worth it, I used to earn about £1000 extra in the summer by just watching students play sports in the evening for a few hours whilst getting a tan! easiest money ever..

now I get £60 for every night i'm on call, which is normally around 16 nights in the summer so still good money.
 
I wouldn't lose my Saturday for £50 - no.

I'm surprised you've calculated your take home from £100 as £50.

That doesn't sound like you're close to the 40% tax bracket... so you should be taking home closer to £70 of that. Some companies do tax it more at the time and then you get a tax rebate the following year, so that might be what's happening to you.

For me... it's an hourly rate - minimum 4... so if it only takes me 20mins - I still get paid for 4 hours. If it's longer, I get paid more... this includes if I even have to set off early in the morning to get to a client site :S

You have to give a little bit extra than is expected of you to progress... but any extra time, I expect to be paid for.

A full day at the weekend usually nets me ~£500 pre-tax... so yes, it's worth it. It's annoying how much the government steal from me, but it's still worth it.

Overtime usually nets me an extra £1-2k/month... my best month so far has been a shade over £3k.
 
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