Being forced to work on weekends

[Z064life]

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?

[Pommygranite]

Welcome to the real world. It's called work.

Want to be paid for every hour - work at Tesco's.

Want to get ahead, be recognised (sometimes...) and end up with a larger pay packet- work hard.

[martin84]

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.

[Du1point8]

Z064life said:

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?

are they people managing the jobs having to do it as well?

In what way did they fail as PMs?

If a deadline is set how and why is your part of the project not due, unless you have finished it and helping out others?

Did the PM give and estimation that you did not agree with and therefore you challenged?

Many aspects to it other than PMs failed you so you need to work on weekend.

[martin84]

Pommygranite said:

Welcome to the real world. It's called work.

Want to be paid for every hour - work at Tesco's.

Want to get ahead, be recognised (sometimes...) and end up with a larger pay packet- work hard.

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.

Edited by martin84 on Thursday 5th April 01:06

[Xtype]

martin84 said:

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.

Edited by martin84 on Thursday 5th April 01:06

I too have been in the same postion as you but was I not made redundundent, I'm leaving my company due to the piss taking gits and will never allow myself to be put into that postion again. My collegue has worked for my company 30 years and worked his way up from the bottom, they demoted him brought someone else in who is absoutly useless but still get my collegue to do what he done before...I'm disgusted by them.

Edited by Xtype on Thursday 5th April 07:41

[KENZ]

Ditto, I've been working fo my current company for a number of years. Recently tuped. However I've seen good colleagues been made redundant and know that I'm only a number. If they need me to work extra over my 37.5 hrs they need to pay me for it. Contractors get it, so why should staffies lose out.

[marcosgt]

Pommygranite said:

Welcome to the real world. It's called work.

Want to be paid for every hour - work at Tesco's.

Want to get ahead, be recognised (sometimes...) and end up with a larger pay packet- work hard.

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....

[ewenm]

Z064life said:

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?

Are you getting paid for the extra time?
If not, do you get TOIL for it?
If not, have you raised the issue with the project management and your line management?
How often does it happen?
Is it just you or is the weekend work shared amongst the project team?

[iphonedyou]

Pommygranite said:

Welcome to the real world. It's called work.

Want to be paid for every hour - work at Tesco's.

Want to get ahead, be recognised (sometimes...) and end up with a larger pay packet- work hard.

Your naivety makes me go 'awwwwww'...

[Pommygranite]

iphonedyou said:

Pommygranite said:

Welcome to the real world. It's called work.

Want to be paid for every hour - work at Tesco's.

Want to get ahead, be recognised (sometimes...) and end up with a larger pay packet- work hard.

Your naivety makes me go 'awwwwww'...

I struggle to understand why you think working hard is a naive way of getting ahead?

Think Flemke or Andy74b ended up with F1's through doing set 38hr weeks with nothing extra and complained if they did?

Ok, let's take your line - OP complain to your boss, am sure hell love it and give you a pay rise

[shouldbworking]

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

[Pommygranite]

I never said work for free FFS. The OP's whining about working to get work done and I'm pretty sure those guys worked outside their contracted hours a few times to get the job done.

Think all the lawyers, bankers, IT workers, self employed on here who drive nice cars, earn a few bob and have a good standard of living just work 38 hours a week.

[Du1point8]

Pommygranite said:

I never said work for free FFS. The OP's whining about working to get work done and I'm pretty sure those guys worked outside their contracted hours a few times to get the job done.

Think all the lawyers, bankers, IT workers, self employed on here who drive nice cars, earn a few bob and have a good standard of living just work 38 hours a week.

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.

[iphonedyou]

Pommygranite said:

I struggle to understand why you think working hard is a naive way of getting ahead?

Think Flemke or Andy74b ended up with F1's through doing set 38hr weeks with nothing extra and complained if they did?

Ok, let's take your line - OP complain to your boss, am sure hell love it and give you a pay rise

Working hard isn't a naive way of getting ahead. The naivety is in believing that working hard will just get you ahead - just like that. Your entire assertion is predicated on the assumption that hard work will be rewarded.

I'll not waste your time or mine by posting the innumerable obstacles that stand in the way of hard work leading to great reward. You know them as well as I do, I'm sure.

Edited by iphonedyou on Thursday 5th April 10:28

[Odie]

Pommygranite said:

iphonedyou said:

Pommygranite said:

Welcome to the real world. It's called work.

Want to be paid for every hour - work at Tesco's.

Want to get ahead, be recognised (sometimes...) and end up with a larger pay packet- work hard.

Your naivety makes me go 'awwwwww'...

I struggle to understand why you think working hard is a naive way of getting ahead?

Think Flemke or Andy74b ended up with F1's through doing set 38hr weeks with nothing extra and complained if they did?

Ok, let's take your line - OP complain to your boss, am sure hell love it and give you a pay rise

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

Edited by Odie on Thursday 5th April 10:45

[Podie]

I run IT projects and programmes. A lot of our guys work silly hours and weekends, simply because the business refuses to have any change during office hours.

They mkae the money. IT is a cost.

[Vipers]

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

[Du1point8]

Podie said:

I run IT projects and programmes. A lot of our guys work silly hours and weekends, simply because the business refuses to have any change during office hours.

They mkae the money. IT is a cost.

I prefer to think of it that the business doesn't know its arse from its elbow when it comes to IT...

Put a new GUI in for them, they think its easy and don't know about all the validation and calculation that goes on behind the GUI, whoa betide anyone who tries to explain it to them as they all go to their little fking happy place until the explanation is over ... they just see a pretty new GUI and assume it can be done in a few days rather than 2 weeks.

[iphonedyou]

Hehe Odie and Podie. Little amuses the innocent