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Communicate your boundaries. If an employer is not aware that you are feeling strained how do they know when to quit pushing you? Most employees are willing to do a lot to hold a job and we get into the groove of work and have a difficult time saying NO. But eventually we burn out and quit instead of communicating!
I always think of it as a-line-in-the-sand. How far can I get pushed.
In every walk of life, there are people that will take advantage. If the employer asks a 9-5 person to work until 8 or 9 p.m. and they do it without saying a word, then that person will continually be asked to do so.
She could put out a feeler to the boss: "I am considering in enrolling in night classes and will be unable to work after 5 p.m. once that commences." If she is getting what she needs to get done between 9-5, what can the boss say? "You HAVE to work until 8 p.m."? If he does and she wants to stay there a year, then fine. She has an answer and can look elsewhere in a year.
I don't get why people stew on things. If you want to know why you are expected to work 60 hours a week when you were told the job is a 40 hour job, then ask. At least you'll have an answer and won't need to speculate or worry about it. You'll know exactly where you stand.
So I talked with my friend a little this morning and she elaborated a little bit on her situation. Apparently her boss is a workaholic. That said, she really respects her boss and holds her in high regard. Apparently her boss is very nice and compassionate towards her, but also takes work to the extreme. That's why they end up working 12-14 hour days. Ultimately what I'm getting out of this is even though my friend doesn't like the environment, she doesn't want to let her boss down, because she highly respects her.
So I talked with my friend a little this morning and she elaborated a little bit on her situation. Apparently her boss is a workaholic. That said, she really respects her boss and holds her in high regard. Apparently her boss is very nice and compassionate towards her, but also takes work to the extreme. That's why they end up working 12-14 hour days. Ultimately what I'm getting out of this is even though my friend doesn't like the environment, she doesn't want to let her boss down, because she highly respects her.
Then she shouldn't be complaining. That was easy! And, by the way, I don't think this is a normal case scenario in the workplace.
I know the title probably sounds silly, but it's a serious question. Hear me out.
My friend took a job a few months ago in whatever white collar industry she's in (I think marketing). Management specifically told her that her hours were 9-5. Pretty standard. Anyway, my friend was talking to me yesterday about how since day one, she has not worked within her set hours. Rather, every day she works 8-9, 9-9, 9-11, etc. She gets paid salary with no OT. She was telling me about how her hours have given her hardly any leisure time. As soon as she gets off, she has time for a quick dinner and then it's time for bed. You might think that she's in some higher-up position, but she's not. She's in a lower end position based in NYC and earns a very modest salary.
I feel like we, as a society, are passing over our freedoms just to make a meager living. Do we really feel that grateful to have a job that we allow our employers to dictate our lives, even when it crosses the boundary into our personal lives? I feel like there is an ethical dilemma here, as in what constitutes the boundary between work life and personal life, and how much of either should our employer have control over? I understand when you're on the clock, that's your employer's time. But when you're almost always on the clock, you don't have personal time. Thus, you are essentially always at the mercy of your employer.
Are we caving into this idea of giving up our lives just to have a job? I mean, it used to be that with so much devotion to your work, there was typically a higher payout, either in terms of stock option returns or profits. As a matter of fact, it usually was the CEO/owner that dumped so much time and energy into his/her business. Now, the employees are expected to do the same, except they don't see the large gains in the end as the owner does. Oh wait, but we get to keep our jobs.
I think this is a sad state of affairs. Any thoughts?
If you friend doesn't like the arrangement she needs to talk with her supervisor and come to a mutually agreeable resolution to the problem. However, since she is salaried, her company is under no obligation to cut her hours. In the past I have worked with people who REFUSED to accept a salaried position because of the potential that they would have to work more than 40 hours without overtime.
this is common i understand monster employers i read sinclair lewis "the jungle".
what i do not understand is that american labor is anti labor.
they hate unions bek?????
they think they r guna make manager????
give me a break.
Communicate your boundaries. If an employer is not aware that you are feeling strained how do they know when to quit pushing you? Most employees are willing to do a lot to hold a job and we get into the groove of work and have a difficult time saying NO. But eventually we burn out and quit instead of communicating!
I always think of it as a-line-in-the-sand. How far can I get pushed.
This.
I have worked the past few years in a major financial services firm. In some weeks, months, I have put in extreme hours. And I have been able to go to my management with...
Look, I have ABCDEFGHIJK on my plate. I have been trying to do what I can do to get through all of it-- (or my team) but the reality is is that expectations seem to not change and it is just not possible to do everything with the quality you expect.
I need you to tell me what are the priorities of this organization. Not all of these things are number 1.
I have never had a manager come back or senior leaders come back and not have an answer. Now-- I will say this in my large company, I have an excellent reputation-- one that even precedes me. So, I will not lie, I think my management knows that I am not trying to escape work or cover my own incompetence.
There is a key here. Companies want to get as much as they can out of employees. It really is no different from an employee standpoint of what they want from their employers.
As an employee, I want to maximize EVERY single dollar I can get out of my company: I sign up for every benefit plan, use every day of vacation, use every perk I can (tuition reimbursement, computer reimbursement, wellness reimbursements, transportation reimbursements), etc. I try to take advantage of EVERY leadership or mentoring program, etc. The employer is trying to get the same utility out of the employee for the most part.
With that said-- companies and management (unless you have the small percent of managers who are absolutely clueless and borderline imbecile) know there is nothing more detrimental and expensive to a company than having employees who are well versed, well trained, and highly productive decide-- it is no longer for them and just leave. If you add something really valuable to the organization most of the time they try to figure something out. Last thing they want to have is lose that expertise or knowledge.
Now to be fair if you are in a fairly standard job that can be done by countless folks-- your leverage is not as strong. I will give people that.
My long point is that-- people have to have backbones and know how argue their own case. Honestly, this is not the job I signed up to do-- is never a compelling one. Because lets be honest the offer letter I got my current job is a pale comparison of what I am tasked to do today. The general gist is the same but not the needs of our department and business changed-- so did my job. They are not required to make a new "offer letter" to show that out. The changes benefited me greatly and have made me a happy camper.
If the argument is compelling and is not based purely on emotion or "this is just too much work" and if no one is listening it is time to find a new company. Period.
In the age of peak competition, corporations have been looking to push out older workers. They are expensive and have boundaries. Younger workers like your friend will accept being pushed to the brink because they don't know any better. And besides, it's difficult to find another job and many younger workers don't have the savings available to support themselves long enough to find another job. Heck, most are straddled with debt. So, these companies will push your friend as far as they can, even if it causes your friend to quit. They know they can have a replacement in next week for probably even less.
OP, Your friend sounds misguided, "respect for the boss" should never become an excuse to tolerate this nonsense. She sounds like folks who think HR is there to protect employEES.
Reality Check: She should search for a new job, and if she is at a decent level spot w/o a confidentiality agreement in place, I'd suggest she start with her employer's direct competitor. Through 2 plus decades of work, I've always seen this scares the present employer most.
I think it depends on the job and the skill level, as another poster stated. If it is a highly skilled position and the employee has been there for a while and has established him/herself that is one thing. They would have a lot more leverage. But the point I was making in an earlier post was that it does seem to be more of the norm these days for the lesser skilled or entry level positions. Certainly not all, but more and more. I have experienced this myself. I think a lot of it has to do with the economy and the desperation of some people to have work. IF/When things get better and people have more of a choice, then we will probably see better circumstances. People will move out of jobs more frequently if they have better opportunity somewhere else. It seems not that long ago that a lot of places were closed in the evenings and on the weekends. I remember when everything was closed on Sundays,except for essential personnel or emergency services. Now, everything is open. Nobody wants to lose a dollar to their competitor.
Shoot, look what`s happening with Black Friday. Stores are now opening on Thanksgiving. It won`t be long they`ll be open for special deals on Christmas.
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