Longer hours, shorter life

dave28 said:
I thought that kind of thing was illegal but from what i have witnessed everywhere i worked businesses get away with murder and ignore the law
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Workers can exclude them selves from Working Time Directive regulations if they put it in writing. In my case the form to sign arrived with my induction pack (either with my offer letter or shortly after it). It was quite clear that it would not be looked upon well if everyone else had signed it and I hadn't. I assume that's common practice. Although it's voluntary you have little employment protection in the first two years so you probably won't have a job long if you don't sign it.
 
Hades said:
Workers can exclude them selves from Working Time Directive regulations if they put it in writing. In my case the form to sign arrived with my induction pack (either with my offer letter or shortly after it). It was quite clear that it would not be looked upon well if everyone else had signed it and I hadn't. I assume that's common practice. Although it's voluntary you have little employment protection in the first two years so you probably won't have a job long if you don't sign it.
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Exactly.

Not all, but a fair few employers in the private sector pretty much disregard that and loads of other things to be fair, don't like it, they'll just manage you out of fail probation whatever.

In my experience, working for local council for a short period they all used to moan but had no idea how easy they had it, one of the few places your employee rights were respected.

That being said, I have work for a few pretty decent private employers, some bad ones. All I'll say is if you are at a bad one, just leave.

Life is too short for that, only ***** will stay in those jobs anyway.
 
I've been on the following working arrangements recently and have the following thoughts:
Signed off work completely - asked to go back early but was denied due to doctors fitness note and no one wanted to say yes to side stepping this. I did get used to being off by the end of it (also helped that I was much more mobile at this point...)
50% hours - averaged about 66% hours, but left promptly if I had something to do. Liked this flexible working arrangement.
75% - averaged about 85%, but left promptly if I had something to do. Liked this flexible working arrangement.
Leave on Wednesday - like this, as the day off is better protected from work and breaks up the week very nicely without interrupting the working days.


So the moral of the story? Having a better work life balance is more enjoyable?
 
its not the 3 days that i wanted but now doing 4 x 8 hr shifts mon to thu 8am to 4pm (with 3 x20 min breaks ) having a weekday makes a big difference if i need to call at docs ect and a 4pm finish leaves plenty of summer daylight
 
I have gone from an 8 hour job that was immensely stressful to a job where a 10 hour day is an early finish and I did a 15 hour day last Friday but only worked for 9 hours of it.

That 8 hour job would have been the death of me. The new job whilst immensely difficult is not a patch on the stress I had before. It also helps the new job is 5 minutes from my house.
 
What I did notice after my recent 6 months off is a weekend (be it 2 or more days) seems more enjoyable after doing some work ,no matter how much walking and surfing I did I think I missed the structure and the social side (didn't really miss more needed)
Getting the balance right is the key imho
 
I've been doing 4 days on, 3 off for the past few months, does mean working a bit longer on those 4 days sometimes but overall much better work/life balance IMO and I'm probably more productive at work on those 4 days than I would be doing 5 days.
 
Since moving here I've really learned that it's mostly British culture to work extra and longer often for very little personal gain.
Its fine if you think it's part of some early retirement or nessacary for your own business to keep ticking.
Swedish work/life balance is so "balanced" it often feels wrong to have so many breaks and feel like your opinions and comments are actually looked after and considered.


Going from the offshore oil industry to essentially being a restaurant chef/cook jack of all trades was one hell of a career change, both work load and financially, but I'm so bloody glad it happened.
Combined I'm living in the arse end of nowhere were life and cost of living is relatively cheap ( was... Could be .. this might all go wrong soon) everything is relatively chilled and 99.9% less stressful.

Might live longer, might not.. :p
 
I've been considering putting in a flexible working request in a couple of years time (when hopefully things calm down a bit.) 8-5 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The slightly reduced hours don't result in a huge loss of income, the extra length in the day isn't significant either once you factor in typical start and finish times. The only problem is, there is certainly a bigger barrier for men to have their flexible working requests accepted for childcare arrangements here and I'll be doing it purely for my own gratification.
 
I've posted on here previously about my long work hours. Recently I was knocked off my motorbike and have been recovering with a broken leg and hand. So I've been off work for several weeks and will be for a few more. While the broken bones are horrible, I really needed the break from work. I was burnt out after years of long hours and stress. I'm not looking forward to going back and am strongly considering my options for the future.
 
Efour said:
Since moving here I've really learned that it's mostly British culture to work extra and longer often for very little personal gain.
Its fine if you think it's part of some early retirement or nessacary for your own business to keep ticking.
Swedish work/life balance is so "balanced" it often feels wrong to have so many breaks and feel like your opinions and comments are actually looked after and considered.


Going from the offshore oil industry to essentially being a restaurant chef/cook jack of all trades was one hell of a career change, both work load and financially, but I'm so bloody glad it happened.
Combined I'm living in the arse end of nowhere were life and cost of living is relatively cheap ( was... Could be .. this might all go wrong soon) everything is relatively chilled and 99.9% less stressful.

Might live longer, might not.. :p
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One thing I love about the Swedes is 3 year maternity. We are counting down the days till our boy is 3 and can start going to nursery!
 
Hades said:
I've posted on here previously about my long work hours. Recently I was knocked off my motorbike and have been recovering with a broken leg and hand. So I've been off work for several weeks and will be for a few more. While the broken bones are horrible, I really needed the break from work. I was burnt out after years of long hours and stress. I'm not looking forward to going back and am strongly considering my options for the future.
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