Weekend work advice

NeverWinter · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:26

After some advice for my GF, she's been told she needs to monitor her companies social media every other weekend, with I believe something like a 12 hour response time to any enquiries. This could potentially lead to her working constantly all weekend.

She will not be paid for this extra time spent working and doesn't sound like any time in lieu either, she has a 37hr/week contract. In my mind that's not right at all given that she puts her hours (and more) in during Monday to Friday.

I've told her to have a word with the local CAB but thought I'd see if anyone had similar experience here.

Cheers guys.

tom_e · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:28

They can't force her without a change in contract, I'm not sure that would be a reasonable request under the usual contract catch all of "Hours may need to be adjusted for the needs of the business" either.

OhEsEcks · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:28

If they want to give me an extra role at work, they can pay me for it. If it's over the weekend they can pay me double time.

NeverWinter · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:31

See this is what I've told her, problem is she's still in her probationary period and she's a bit worried about kicking up a fuss.

tom_e · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:34

NeverWinter said:
See this is what I've told her, problem is she's still in her probationary period and she's a bit worried about kicking up a fuss.

Does she really want to continue to work for a company that will happily take the pee because they are probably well aware she's not going to want to rock the boat.

NeverWinter · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:37

tom_e said:
Does she really want to continue to work for a company that will happily take the pee because they are probably well aware she's not going to want to rock the boat.

I wouldn't and I've mentioned this, I've told her if she doesn't say anything things like this will continue to happen. I'm worried that she won't take action.

Thekwango · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:37

NeverWinter said:
she's been told she needs to monitor her companies social media every other weekend.

tell them you've cancelled your internet as social media was poisoning your life - problem solved (unless of course they pay for your Broadband/internet)

Xordium · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:37

NeverWinter said:
See this is what I've told her, problem is she's still in her probationary period and she's a bit worried about kicking up a fuss.

I expect that is why they are asking her. I guess her response will be depending on the actual workload involved. If it is an intermittent thing eg one query per weekend then just suck it up, if it is going to be a continuous and demanding thing then this needs to be acknowledging. In that case she needs to query this. Part of the working world is often work outside and above what your contract dictates. Your GF needs to decide whether that extra effort will be rewarded or enhance chance of reward down the road.

Terminal_Boy · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:39

NeverWinter said:
See this is what I've told her, problem is she's still in her probationary period and she's a bit worried about kicking up a fuss.

Is your GF employed by a media company? They usually have a few caveats buried in the contract going back to the old days of printing presses breaking and needing the print workers to stay all night at zero notice to get the morning edition out.

Otherwise, her employer is scheduling tasks not in her job description outside of her contracted hours.

A trip to HR for a chat can't hurt.

XeNoN89 · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:41

Xordium said:
I expect that is why they are asking her. I guess her response will be depending on the actual workload involved. If it is an intermittent thing eg one query per weekend then just suck it up, if it is going to be a continuous and demanding thing then this needs to be acknowledging. In that case she needs to query this. Part of the working world is often work outside and above what your contract dictates. Your GF needs to decide whether that extra effort will be rewarded or enhance chance of reward down the road.

Agreed, she needs to find out what the expected workload is. If it's a case of responding to a few tweets over the weekend which can be done from anywhere on a phone etc it's not really an issue but if she is going to be constantly bombarded by tweets that need responses that's slightly different.

dowie · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:43

well probationary periods are less relevant these days but I reckon she's got two options depending on her perspective, aspirations etc..etc..

she certainly could demand overtime/specific payments for it - totally depends on the sort of work it is etc.. is this just a job she's doing to pay the bills - no interest in career progression etc.. well you do work you want it accounted for, hourly and paid... clock on/clock off approach. Weekend 'oncall' = set payment and perhaps extra payments if she has to do anything.

Alternatively if this is the first step on some career she has planned and she's new to the company the above approach for a short term gain while kicking up a fuss might not be good overall. Perhaps agree to it provisionally, (realistically if she's got a whole 12 hours to respond to anything then it isn't going to take up much time, sounds more like they just want someone to occasionally monitor it...) then use the fact she's been doing it to ask for a bigger raise on top of whatever they offer her at the end of her probation... long term that is a better option - companies often look at % of previous years pay when doing annual rises - you get an extra couple of grand early on and it has a knock on effect going forwards

NeverWinter · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:44

It's a charity and the load can vary, they are getting more tweets and Facebook posts every week so it will escalate. If it was just one query I'd also be telling her to suck it up but it's likely to be more and increase over time.

dowie · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:44

XeNoN89 said:
Agreed, she needs to find out what the expected workload is. If it's a case of responding to a few tweets over the weekend which can be done from anywhere on a phone etc it's not really an issue but if she is going to be constantly bombarded by tweets that need responses that's slightly different.

if she's got a 12 hour response time then she's unlikely to be bombarded... in fact she can respond to a bunch and then switch her phone off for 11 hours...

Scam · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:44

Unless she's completely in love with working there then this sounds pretty cheap by them, and will probably lead to more liberties being taken with regards to extra work. Everyone has to put in extra hours or answer the phone out of hours occasionally, but if a company needs someone essentially on call at the weekend then they should pay them for it.

I wouldn't kick up a fuss, just ask about overtime/on call pay. If they fire her after her probationary period then it's proof they're not worth working for. Just decide if she can handle being fired and having to find something else.

Xordium · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:45

You should have said charity from the off ... that easily explains the situation. New job?

doofer · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:46

A very firm no. And if she does accept it, she's making a rod for her own back, start looking for an employer who actually values their staff. Even if she was happy to do it she should at minimum expect her hourly rate at x1.5 For a Saturday and x2 for a Sunday.

NeverWinter · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:47

dowie said:
Alternatively if this is the first step on some career she has planned and she's new to the company the above approach for a short term gain while kicking up a fuss might not be good overall. Perhaps agree to it provisionally, (realistically if she's got a whole 12 hours to respond to anything then it isn't going to take up much time, sounds more like they just want someone to occasionally monitor it...) then use the fact she's been doing it to ask for a bigger raise on top of whatever they offer her at the end of her probation... long term that is a better option - companies often look at % of previous years pay when doing annual rises - you get an extra couple of grand early on and it has a knock on effect going forwards

It's definitely the start of her career but I also don't want them to take the **** with her.

gradyhawks · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:59

How long is her probation?

Under 2 months, my advice would be that she tells them she is okay to do this, but when she passes her probation that she would like to re-evaluate it to get more dollar.

Longer than 2 months that she will have to spend weekends doing work and its going to annoy her I'd have thought and you don't want to be unhappy working somewhere.

tom_e · 1 Jul 2015 at 12:02

gradyhawks said:
How long is her probation?

Under 2 months, my advice would be that she tells them she is okay to do this, but when she passes her probation that she would like to re-evaluate it to get more dollar.

Longer than 2 months that she will have to spend weekends doing work and its going to annoy her I'd have thought and you don't want to be unhappy working somewhere.

Why does probation length make the slightest bit of difference? It's going to be much more difficult to back out of this if she's already agreed to do it for nothing.

NeverWinter · 1 Jul 2015 at 12:03

Probably about 2 months left I think.