Told working hours aren't good enough… I do way more than I am paid, what do I do?

Question

Ok so I work for a bank in London and am currently suffering a situation where:

• the team is under resourced but due to budgets the firm are making more and more cut backs, but work is always increasing so we have to make up for it
• My contract states I do 9-5pm 'and additional hours where required'....

Well, the problem is, every day is additional hours. We have been told we aren't doing enough as a team but I and many of my colleagues are doing 9-whenever, I am often eating my dinner about 10-11pm at night. I often leave work 7.30-9pm.

We have been yelled at for not staying late enough in the last few months, and I have done what I can. I am exhausted. Due to this we have all been quite upset by the comments and it is impacting all of our mental health.

There are members of the department doing their strict hours, such as 8-4pm and 9-5pm not a minute over, but people let them off due to their child circumstances. Us without children make up for their home lives.

I am exhausted. I am fed up. I struggle for time to actually look for a new job. I feel like I work in a prison.

If we chat we get told we talk too much and don't have the right attitude.

My question is - what can they do if I just start leaving at 5pm?

Answer 1

If you're working more than 48 hours per week in the UK, and haven't signed to explicitly say you're happy to do so, then that's (in most situations) illegal. You could choose to get HR involved on that front alone, or you could get them involved on bullying (getting yelled at in nearly any situation counts, especially being yelled at frequently for not working constant overtime.)

That being said, the ship is sinking, and your manager is trying to take advantage of you. My real advice is to polish your CV and hit the job market hard; those sorts of situations are rarely recoverable.

All good members of staff will be doing the same thing in this situation (leaving ASAP), which means it's only likely to get worse with time. Don't hang about.

Answer 2

This sounds like an awful situation. I've been in similar. It's nasty. You are wise to ask for help, starting here.

You could leave this job and get another. That's obvious, and it's easy to say. But you probably can't afford a period of unemployment, and you may even have an immigration problem if you have no job. And, you are in no condition to look for another job while this is going on.

You can just keep giving in to this kind of job treatment.

Or, you can try a mental trick on yourself. Imagine yourself in the position of your customer: the people who rely on the work you do. Imagine being told, "the people doing that work for you are under tremendous pressure." You'd immediately ask yourself, "doesn't that mean they're making mistakes and missing details?"

Also imagine your boss's position. He probably has been told to "do more with less" and may even have a bonus coming if he can cut costs.

Then have a conversation with him, starting, "how can we work TOGETHER to deal with this horrible situation?" If he answers "we can't, so shut up and keep rowing" you've lost nothing, and you tried. You can never go wrong by offering him your help.

But it's most likely he'll listen. Then you, and your colleagues, can make the case that you're likely to give better results when you're not insanely overworked, and when you are, as a team, treated with at least some respect. It's possible your boss is also suffering from serious disrespect, and is passing it on.

Once you are talking, it is possible you can figure out some ways for you all to maintain your personal health and integrity to "do more with less" or whatever is ailing your company. If so, great.

But we all know that's unlikely to work well for long. In that case, you have tried to treat your boss with respect and been rejected. So, your conscience can be entirely clear to transfer your loyalty away from this company. It is hard and it takes a while, but you will realize that your value as a person has nothing to do with these clowns, and that you can find other work and leave them behind.

Answer 3

Actually you should ask to be well paid for the extra hours work, now your are needed , take it to your advantage. You manager is yelling because he is under pressure too. Make them pay cash for all your suffering you will be releaved. Looking for a new opportunity should have been a priority long time before, now and in the future .

Answer 4

the team is under resourced but due to budgets the firm are making more and more cut backs, but work is always increasing so we have to make up for it

There will be always more and more work. Just from the fact that there will be less and less people doing it. Your company is already in two "Red flag" zones. From experience I can say that this is desired goal for your company. Spend less money on employees while expecting/requring same outcome.

My contract states I do 9-5pm 'and additional hours where required'....

The "where required" refers to occasional needs that might arise and couldn't be predicted. Occasional also means that it cannot be each day.

Adding to berry120 comment the 48-hours week it's calculated over 17-week period. So in 17 weeks the average should be 48 hours. When you finish at 7.30 you work 12,5 hours more. During 17 weeks the average is 52,5 (I assume it could be even more if you work 12 hours a day).

This si against the law. My advice would be to go to the doctor, take a sick leave. Rest and take that time to look for new job.
Also contact ACAS as, apart from the unlawful overtime, you are also bullied.

Answer 5

In my previous job I was in a similar situation to you - working long hours every single day simply because there wasn't enough time in a normal working day to get everything done and we were always under pressure.

It lead me to a simple conclusion about business. If you can't afford to hire enough people to complete the work you're being paid for in normal working days, then you don't have a viable business.

Of course there are going to be pressure times occasionally where you will have to stay back late to meet a deadline or something. But this should be the exception rather than the rule. Is there a specific goal / deadline you are working these long hours for, after which things will return to normal?

If it's the rule it means the company is not making enough money to pay its employees.

Think about it this way. Is there any service or expense, other than work done by its employees, where the company would get away with demanding more of it for the same price simply because they are under pressure? Of course not. So why should they with their employees?

Unless you feel extreme loyalty to try and rescue the company (and I'm assuming you don't if your manager is yelling at you like that), or are holding out for a redundancy payment, then the only advice is to look for a new job with better management.

Answer 6

At a bank in the U.K., you should go to HR and tell them that you are not happy with the situation and you want it changed. Banks have enough money to hire more developers, so there is no business related reason for continuing overtime.

If that doesn’t help, tell your GP that you can’t handle the stress at work. During your sick leave you have a perfect opportunity to look for jobs elsewhere.