Expectancy of working past hours

I usually leave at 5 on the dot. I do occasionally stay behind if I'm in the middle of something that needs to be finished. On Fridays I leave by 4, 430pm at the latest.

I am not expected to stay behind, I am expected to do my work - as long as my work is done there is no issue at all to manage my own time. I usually get it between 8-830 at the latest.

I don't smoke, or take big lunch breaks so I'm pretty productive. I like that about my job, I'm treated like a grown up and allowed to manage my own time - helps being relatively senior too - I occasionally work from home too.
 
I feel sorry for anyone who finds themselves in this situation. Employees bent over a barrel simply because they are afraid to lose their job. It's basically selling your soul for, well, for nothing. Being frowned upon by your so-called 'peers' who are willing to do it is very sad indeed.

One of the many, many reasons why I am self-employed. I answer to no-one, I work the hours I want to work and I never work for free.

People need to stand up and stop being blinded by the £.
 
^^ Problem is you need the majority to stand up before it will change and most are too afraid too due to having financial obligations of one sort or another be it family or whatever.


As with everything there is a balance - I have no problem doing extra hours as a necessary part of the job or if stuff hits the fan/emergency, etc. but I won't do extra hours as a matter of course especially not when its often making up for other people's lack of effort or someone being too cheap to hire the proper number of staff or whatever - I walked out of my last job when they started taking advantage of my willingness to step up when needed and calling me in on weekends just because they couldn't be bothered to lift a finger, etc.

(In my current job I was doing ~15 hours a week extra over the Christmas period as there was a real need - and the money was nice to spend on shiny toys).
 
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dowie said:
no they just generally require longer hours, if you don't want to work longer or unsociable hours then don't work for a big bank, don't become a junior doctor, don't join certain branches of the armed forces, don't become a solicitor in a big firm, don't become a consultant in the likes of accenture...

stick to public sector, pay by the hour roles or less demanding roles in other sectors
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So it is only a 'demanding' role if you have to work extra hours for free?
 
I'd stay if the job was paying a salary where I was rolling in it. If you are on an average one though and you aren't even getting paid for your overtime then there are other companies out there that would value you work better. If they are dangling the payrise / bonus carrot just remember that whats the best scenario, a couple of grand at best for those hundreds of hours spend unpaid

Unless you have found your dream job you are selling your own time for a salary. You wont get that time back
 
If they feel enslaved or don't like working long hours perhaps they shouldn't work in banking in the first place, there are plenty of other IT roles out there.
 
dowie said:
If they feel enslaved or don't like working long hours perhaps they shouldn't work in banking in the first place, there are plenty of other IT roles out there.
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Easier said than done for most, the majority prefer the easier and comfortable option of staying where they are with the people they know even if that means working extra for nothing.

It's almost always a case of people complaining about something yet doing nothing themselves to resolve it.
 
Ayahuasca said:
It's almost always a case of people complaining about something yet doing nothing themselves to resolve it.
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I definitely agree. If you don't like it do something about it.

The last job I had (systems developer) before going self-employed asked people to work extra hours for nothing. Everybody (except me) did it and moaned like hell about it whenever a boss wasn't there but smiled and said it was fine whenever a boss was there. The bosses themselves left on time while the employees were sat there working for free. People used to have to ask if they could go home on time!

I was only with that company a short time before I handed my notice in and started working towards setting up my own business.
 
I have no interest in doing regular overtime, as I'm not on hourly pay or have overtime why on earth would I make up for poor resource estimates from management?.

If something is important & a one off I'll stay late, if a co-worker genuinely needs something urgently I'll also help out. But to stay late to show some 'work ethic', no thanks - my free time is worth more than that.
 
Haggisman said:
Not necessarily, I'm sure doing 20 hrs/week as a paramedic/police officer/etc would be far more demanding than 40 hrs/week sat behind a desk.
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I'm sure it would, but if the OP were comparing his previous roles in IT to this current IT role working longer hours then perhaps he finds it more demanding.
 
LordSplodge said:
So working more hours for free is a 'demanding' role? I'd suggest using the verb 'mismanaged' or adjective 'exploitative'

Cannot a 40 hour week job be demanding?
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It can, but spending more time in the same job would be more demanding...

If people feel exploited then they can leave, I'm not sure why you'd assume that a team working long hours is mismanaged.
 
I don't work particularly long hours... I work for a vendor and have quite flexible hours, can work from home etc... :p

I'm just surprised that someone would get a job at a bank and then complain about working long hours.
 
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