Expectancy of working past hours
- Thread starter agnes
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Hehe and in the meantime do your contracted hours.
Yea, my gf hates what the job is doing to me, it's making me short tempered, exhausted, fed up. And it's only been 2 months! It's fine for all the other guys, they live less than 30 mins away on the tube and yea, they complain about staying late but they still do it?
I'm sticking to leaving bang on time, I don't intend to be around long enough to find out what the bonus is (I doubt more than £1k anyway).
Too right. I used to work all the hours god made 20 years ago (& take my paperwork home with me, as it was the only way I could get it done in peace) for no Overtime. My boss at the time still didn't think I was doing enough (He had it in for all the management team TBH) I was so stressed, it made me ill & affected my family. For their sake I left in the end (only for the boss to leave for a competitor 10 months later)
Looking back now, it was the best thing I ever did & I won't work over my contracted hours now without getting paid for it.
Nope, being a contractor for so long, I've developed a pretty keen eye. And this contract is pretty straight forward. I've sent it off to my old buddy who works in work law anyway just to double check.
Edit, there is a mention of a bonus. But it's just stating it's up to the employer, no guideline.
Poor people in this team are being whipped and lashed and asking for more. I guess having my contract mind still in place I can see the 'slavery' going on. Hopefully they don't pull me up for leaving on time and threaten to end my probation. I'd rather secure another job first!
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Which company are you working for? Is it a Far Eastern Company?
Over in the Far East, it's (stupid) custom to work overtime, even if you're on your iPhone for half the time there, it gives presence as if you're working hard or available post work hour (and never leave before your line manager), arriving early don't count.
One of the most useless custom that makes work and family life separation harder and puts a load of strain on family relationships there.
Over in the Far East, it's (stupid) custom to work overtime, even if you're on your iPhone for half the time there, it gives presence as if you're working hard or available post work hour (and never leave before your line manager), arriving early don't count.
One of the most useless custom that makes work and family life separation harder and puts a load of strain on family relationships there.
I work in a London law firm and typically work from around 9am - 7.30pm with about 20 minutes for lunch. Some days it's much later (11pm - 2am a couple of times a month for example) but some days I can leave early, i.e., 6pm - 6.30pm or so. My contracted hours are 9.30am - 5.30pm with an hour for lunch but that has never happened. I work 45 to 60 hours a week on average. All overtime is unpaid.
If I were to start working only my contracted hours I wouldn't be able to do my job and would be quickly managed out of the firm by my employers. My hours are considered quite reasonable by mates at other firms though, so I couldn't just leave and do similar work elsewhere.
To me your hours seem reasonable, but it does depend on what your industry's norms are and if you can do the same quality of work for the same money with fewer hours elsewhere then I would try to move!
If I were to start working only my contracted hours I wouldn't be able to do my job and would be quickly managed out of the firm by my employers. My hours are considered quite reasonable by mates at other firms though, so I couldn't just leave and do similar work elsewhere.
To me your hours seem reasonable, but it does depend on what your industry's norms are and if you can do the same quality of work for the same money with fewer hours elsewhere then I would try to move!
Soldato
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As long as he is not in probation there is **** all they can do aslong as he works his contracted hours..
Soldato
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That seems pretty normal inside that Industry but in the industry he works in... not so much..
They definitely do not pay enough to reward their expectations.
Seems like some companies just want to bleed people dry of energy and motivation.
Associate
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"Expected" extra effort should attract "Expected" extra salary. This is typical of American companies ( I work for one ) fortunately my T's & C's allow for overtime.
Contract is irrelevant and I don't see why HR is going to help you, they exist to protect managers and you're not being forced to work longer hours just strongly encouraged to by the general culture of the place.
I suppose you could, if there was no contracted probation period, work your set hours - but don't expect a pay rise, bonus or any career progression.
You're really supposed to ask about this sort of thing at interview, have you opted out of EU working time regulations (despite your contract being 37.5 hours per week)?
If you want to clock on/clock off at set times then you perhaps should go back to contracting, look at a different industry or move to a public sector role or a role where you're paid by the hour and earn overtime. For a lot of private sector salaried roles where your pay is negotiated and subject to pay reviews/bonuses it really shouldn't be surprising that everyone just puts in whatever hours they need to to get the work done... if you fee underpaid as a result of that then you negotiate for more - if your extra work isn't valued/they don't want to pay you more then you leave and go somewhere else. I wouldn't feel sorry for yourself, it is a fairly standard situation - if you're happy to not increase your pay then don't do the extra hours - if you're not happy with it at all then move to contracting or another industry/public sector.
I suppose you could, if there was no contracted probation period, work your set hours - but don't expect a pay rise, bonus or any career progression.
You're really supposed to ask about this sort of thing at interview, have you opted out of EU working time regulations (despite your contract being 37.5 hours per week)?
If you want to clock on/clock off at set times then you perhaps should go back to contracting, look at a different industry or move to a public sector role or a role where you're paid by the hour and earn overtime. For a lot of private sector salaried roles where your pay is negotiated and subject to pay reviews/bonuses it really shouldn't be surprising that everyone just puts in whatever hours they need to to get the work done... if you fee underpaid as a result of that then you negotiate for more - if your extra work isn't valued/they don't want to pay you more then you leave and go somewhere else. I wouldn't feel sorry for yourself, it is a fairly standard situation - if you're happy to not increase your pay then don't do the extra hours - if you're not happy with it at all then move to contracting or another industry/public sector.
Sadly, still in probation... So yea, a swift exit is indeed required. I've got a few promising leads already, started looking again this week. Going for stuff much closer to home.
As for the law firm, again, industry dependent. It's not great pay for my role either. In fact, it's not good at all. I'm not ashamed by the money I make as I took a big dip to work for this particular company as they promised good progression. But it's not what I'm seeing talking to other members of staff.
I'm on £33k, I was on £40k before. A role I'm interested in is offering £38k. This role, after commute costs is £29k. It's insane. I don't know what I was thinking to be honest. I was too 'sold' over the company more than the job.
They are milking me. No more.
It normally does, at the end of the year, in the form of a pay rise/bonus... if it doesn't appear then you move. If you've been putting in lots of face time but haven't actually been productive during those extra hours then often it won't work either. But generally employers will want to retain and reward star performers... obviously it doesn't always work like that and some people's efforts go unnoticed - soft skills, EQ etc.. come into this too - if you're borderline autistic then you may well find people taking advantage.
Soldato
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Kind of sounds like everyone is expected to do it for pretty standardized pay....bonus being held back if they do not do it good enough in the eyes of HR. Essentially its free overtime, by what standards do they decide the amount that is paid overtime because if it is as it seems to be they just decide if the person is "seen" to be putting in the extra work, even worse if the bonus amount doesn't even cover the hours worked under minimum wage its just tragic.
Sounds **** and it is ****.
It seems like the bonus is just the pay you are owed for the unpaid overtime! It likely doesn't cover more than 20% of it, so work contracted hours and miss out on a bonus, or work a huge amount extra and receive a small bonus.
Soldato
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Problem is lol, no one will tell him what their bonuses are, either everyone in that office is stupid or the bonuses are really good!
It may well be that the job pays well for the extra effort and work, however it may not be suited for Agnes due to his travel situation etc.
He said in another post it is at a large bank, not a high street bank...
In which case I doubt the pay is standardised at all - pay is negotiated within a range for the role and that range might well be rather large (even if the head hunter has given a particular candidate a narrow range based on their background)... bonus might well be rather small in a non revenue generating role but there will still be a wide range within whatever small pool they have.
His basic sounds very low as it is already - 33k for a 'large bank that isn't a high street bank' is getting screwed. Large banks like that tend to start fresh grads on 40k+. They've maybe hired him cheaply if he was contracting on 40k
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I know it's industry dependent, but for another comparison to make you feel better my fiancee is a London hospital doctor (nearly five years qualified, first year specialist registrar) and she works an average of 50-80 hours a week, with no lunch break and no overtime, for around £50k a year, including NHS banding for additional night shifts and weekends (£35k basic). The IT gig sounds pretty good to be honest and I sometimes wish I had gone into it myself. If there are better alternative roles out there though and there is no special development or training where you are then you are absolutely doing the right thing in looking for them.