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I started this position at my current job about 5 months ago and it's been fine so far, nothing special but it's the highest paid job I've had so far (I'm 25).
Anyways, my working hours are 8:00 - 4:30 (I am supposed to take a 30 minute lunch, but I usually just end up working while I eat). Even before and after I get home from work, I am still responding to some work emails on my phone (which I'll count on my time sheet even though I am salaried).
When I got into work yesterday, my boss told me that 'things are all about perception' and has asked me to stay until at least 5, if not longer. He then went on to say that a new (as in started 3 weeks ago) business development 'higher-up' noticed that me leaving at 4:30 just means that I am apparently not busy enough... Even though I have great time management skills and am able to do all my work in the allotted 8 hours while at work.
I was then asked if I could start working 9 - 11 hours every day, and then asked me to start taking on more responsibilities (I just checked out my job description (I can find it on our ATS, and the job description is only about 50% of what I actually do).
So not only do they want me to work 3 extra hours every day, just for "perception", they also want me to start doing way more than what I was originally told I'd be doing. So I'm not very happy.
I know that I've only been here for 5 months, but it would be outlandish for me to ask for some kind of raise, right? I just am not happy that I'm gonna be asked to stay for a couple hours longer (when I'll just be BSing, since I won't have any work to do). Am I also being unreasonable for thinking this is just absurd? Don't you just LOVE American Corporate Culture!!
I just got into work today and my boss said I need to do work/reports over the weekend so it's done by Monday... Now I don't even get weekends to myself without work
Never let anyone set a schedule for you, or telling you to work more hours for no good reason. It should only be about the work.
Speaking of perception. You too, need to practice about perception to your own personal benefit. You can't work another 3 hours, because you have plans and need to leave. You can't work that weekend because you have a prior commitment that was planned in advanced. You don't have to tell them what it is, because that's your private life. I don't care if you want to go home and binge watch Mad Men on Netflix, it is your personal time and how you decide to use it is not up for them to judge you. Don't invent you have elderly relatives to take care of or anything like that, don't tell them about your private life.
It is a poor supervisor who thinks showing people working overtime is something positive, because it isn't.
Anyone who has war stories about lots of overtime and showing how committed you are, please save it, because that has been proven it isn't a healthy way to work and live. We have all done it, it is not a model for a good life.
In commercial construction, project managers, estimators, etc are expected to work at LEAST 7am to 5pm if not starting earlier and leaving later.
But they are actually doing work, aren't they? I mean, they aren't being told to work another 3 hours to make it look like they are busy at work are they? People who work in construction also have time off when there isn't good weather, and during the planning they work normal hours indoors.
From my old fart perspective, I suggest that you would have been better off addressing these crude comments directly.
The strong women I've known in my life would have said .
Yeah, I know those types too. But most people just walk around doing their work and don't expect to be treated terribly like this. The work place should feel safe, it isn't a darkened alley in a bad area of town. So they aren't walking ninja warriors looking for a fight and in a constant state of stand-by ready to be on the attack, and you frankly wouldn't want to work with a whole company full of people who have that constantly on top of mind. Jerks are the fault, not the targeted employee.
You should have confronted your manager first about your sexual harassment concerns in relation to his remarks. I know....probably some company "handbooks"/policies say it's okay to go to HR first, but that is not the reality. The way you did it simply put a target on your back.
Chalk it up as a lesson learned for your next job.
Sorry, but there is no way the OP could have done better with this. The fact that the "offer" was even made is the real problem. Actions by the OP at that point don't matter either way. With no where else to turn, HR seems like a logical place, cause talking to the jerk supervisor gets you nowhere. Besides, regardless of what she said or could have done, he still would have behaved the same way with the same outcome.
Your boss was right though and people in your age group tend to not understand aka you ****ed up.
It is all about perception
The majority of work done in white collar professions is well BS. Only individuals working 8-6+ or 9-9 are Investment bankers, Executive Directors, and Bankers. Technology enables people to accomplish more in less time. Corporate America is just slow to change and still values time spent in the office over value generated.
First months on the job, its important that you understand the culture and unsaid rules of the office. What the boss says is not necessarily what happens on the floor. What happens on the floor could be opposite of what the boss says, but due to politics accepted. This is what you just encountered. You are not the only one finishing work early, probably 2/3rds of the staff is. They just know which mines not to step on and rules to follow or break. Also, probably a guy that finishes work in 4 hrs and face time every evening. Another person working from home has Netflix on one tab and logged off Slack 4 hrs ago, but is considered working because logged in network. One of the mines you stepped on was always being the 1st to leave without earning your stripes. No excuse its just frowned upon and everyone here knows this. Then there is the social stigma of treating the job like a 9-5 (which it is).
Iunno people in 2019 just don't like to keep it real, but those are some unsaid rules. You should start mingling with co-workers during lunch to learn these annoying nuances.
Sum: When in Rome do what the Romans do.
To add, I would refrain from getting HR involved too much. It stays on you record don't want to be labeled difficult again politics.
This train is coming down the tracks and I'm not sure OP sees it. OP, if you don't comply with the unreasonable request to work more hours and do more work at home, you're going to get a bad performance review. The bad review is meant to discredit you and start the process to get rid of you from this employer. It's probably retaliation for the complaint. Get started on your job search and plan your escape before your departure is planned for you.
Goes with the territory of being salaried..... you don't take a salaried job without building in your OT which will be expected of you. Salaried people don't work 40 and don't get paid in excess of 40. If you thought you were doing great at $60k based on 40 hours, you should have asked for $70k plus to compensate for the extra hours.
OP I want to reiterate that the 30 minutes lunch is probably state mandated. There are many who would like to eat while working and leave 30 minutes early, but they are there 8 1/2 because those are the rules. You are leaving earlier than some of them due to that. You’re taking a privilidge upon yourself to take that you weren’t given permission to do, and it was noticed. Regardless if you tell them you can’t work extra, if the workday is 8 hours plus 30 minutes lunch, you have to stay 8 1/2 hours whether you eat it take a break or not. This is what I think prompted the whole thing, as it’s not fair to others for you to break the rules they are following. At my workplace they take 30 minutes out of my day automatically as in NJ and most states a break is mandated by law.
OP I want to reiterate that the 30 minutes lunch is probably state mandated. There are many who would like to eat while working and leave 30 minutes early, but they are there 8 1/2 because those are the rules. You are leaving earlier than some of them due to that. You’re taking a privilidge upon yourself to take that you weren’t given permission to do, and it was noticed. Regardless if you tell them you can’t work extra, if the workday is 8 hours plus 30 minutes lunch, you have to stay 8 1/2 hours whether you eat it take a break or not. This is what I think prompted the whole thing, as it’s not fair to others for you to break the rules they are following. At my workplace they take 30 minutes out of my day automatically as in NJ and most states a break is mandated by law.
I get there at 8 and leave at 4:30. If I just left early because I didn't take a lunch, I would be leaving at 4. So I am staying the full 8 ½ hours.
"I didn't take lunch" and clocking after scheduled hrs trolololol
whatev excellent life lessons here and I'm bored so w.e.
Employees can never game the system when it comes to payroll. It's why you are supposed to clock in out when you are supposed to...if you still have to.
Last edited by PJSaturn; 03-11-2019 at 05:03 PM..
Reason: Personal attack.
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