Hi,

I work in IT and due to certain people not being able to manage projects at all, I am forced to accept deadlines which are no way near reasonable and therefore (again) work on my weekends.


Is this fair? What can I do about this?

I would hope they are at least paying you overtime for working hours which are outside your contract (I presume such demands are indeed outside of the contract you signed) and that your employer will look into removing the incompetent people who cannot handle as much as you can.

You don't want to get recognised as a patsy who does everybody elses work for them for no extra cost. Employers will always exploit good people like that, praise their 'loyalty' and then cut them loose the moment things get tough. Trust me I know, I've been there.

I've done the working more hours than I'm paid for to show how good I am, I've taken on other peoples work because they were no good at it, I've been there working hard while people with educations/qualifications better than mine do half as much for twice as much money and done so for months on end to serve the company. What did I get out of it? fk all. Made redundant the moment they had to make cuts. Showed me no loyalty.

I'll never forget that and I'll never let anybody else do it to me either. I only do exactly what I'm paid for now, if they want anything extra they need to pay for it. I'm not wasting my life working at home for free because my boss can't run his company properly. You don't get to live twice.

OP - if you're having to cover other people and not being paid extra then you have to bring this up. No business has any right to free labour in this country and if you are as important to them as you appear to be then you're in a strong negotiating position if nobody else in there can do the job properly. You don't have to work for £6 an hour at Tesco to be able to work the hours to signed up to in your contract and the hours you're being paid for. It doesnt work like that in the first world.

Over 35 years of being an employee has left me with the same attitude as Xtype and Martin above. I am loyal to myself, no one else.

OP - try managing the situation. If you can pinpoint which weekends you are likely to be required to work, then make sure you have something "expensive" or unavoidable planned (even if you don't). Be imaginative, it could be a mate's stag do or helping a member of the family to move house and you need to drive the van, anything.

Inform the Project Manager via email well in advance that you have xyz planned for certain weekends and that you will not be available to work those weekends should the project overrun.

OR

Want to be used by an overzealous pole climber and see them get all the credit for your efforts - Carry on as things are.

You're in IT - Time to write a new CV and get job hunting mate!

M.

PS To the last poster - If you want Contractor terms become a Contractor....

Your naivety makes me go 'awwwwww'...

I seriously doubt they got where they are by working for free

This it true... Im an IT worker, who works for a bank and is self employed... Phew.

Last contract I was working 10-12 hour days, but was paid by the day because

a) we were under resourced
b) the resources we had we crap
c) I had to give deadlines the business wanted to hear so first estimate was always off 9-5 working hours.
d) The business don't care how it gets done, it needs to be done, don't do it then give the job to someone else.
e) I took pride in my work and it had to work first time with no mistakes.

However the job and the work I did was very rewarding, so through all the hard work I actually loved the job despite having to go way and above what a normal worker would do... but I choose the industry and the job... so can't really bh at it.

I have worked on the front line of systems that most IT staff can only dream of doing, been responsible for coding software that will bring in millions/billions.

Its tough but I wanted a challenge rather than the mundane IT work that bores me.

your missing the bigger picture though, lots of people work hard, put in extra hours. But really its about working smart not hard, you need to manage expectations (think scotty in star trek), engineer perception (make your face fit), increase your profile (go above and beyond, but for the right people at the right time in the right place, change your role, evolve and expand your job without changing your job description or title)

Its not about being a yes man or working hard. Work smarter.


"A slave has but one master; an ambitious man has as many masters as there are people who may be useful in bettering his position." ~ Jean de La Bruyère

Guys, I don't like these four letter words.......... "work",

Sorry for that, just retired, after 50 years of training I am now a professional layabout, my wife just calls me a lazy sod, same thing