Work revelation
Dec. 8th, 2017 08:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayI think I've figured out why I get so frustrated by overtime at work: it's not predictable.
I mean, my job in the UK had a *lot* more overtime and I didn't love it (and I didn't get paid or TOIL for any of it, unlike this job), but I don't remember it dominating my life quite so much. I don't remember having to repeatedly, regularly cancel social things because of work. I don't remembering feeling unable to plan to do things after work or on weekends because work will probably get in the way.
And I think it's because, although I did a lot of overtime, it was relatively predictable so I could plan for it.
I knew that Mondays and Tuesdays were always nightmares (because I had to get all the weekly reports written and sent out), and those were the days where staying two or three hours late each night were almost inevitable. So I didn't plan things for those evenings because I knew I'd have to work. The rest of the week, if I was late home, it was due to traffic. That was frustrating, but it rarely meant I had to cancel after-work stuff.
(It probably helped that in the UK, people tend to arrange things to start at 8pm and if it's earlier, it's usually a thing involving eating food. Here in Canada, most things seem to start at 6.30 or 7pm, with an expectation people will have had time to get home, eat a meal, and get out to wherever they need to be, which isn't easy if you don't get home until well after 5pm. I don't know about anyone else, but cooking and eating a meal, changing, feeding cats...that all takes more than half an hour, which is often all I've got between getting home and having to set out for the evening thing, even on nights when I've only worked a little bit late.)
In my current job, there is no predictability. Well, apart from the monthly Sunday night release. That one I can plan for. And really huge events (like a system upgrade) are planned for weeks or months, so I know they're coming.
Anything else, nope, no pattern. Except for a near-guarantee that if I have plans, I'll have to work late or they'll need me at a weekend last-minute.
I can't predict and plan for overtime. I can't say "well, it's unlikely I'll have to work late on a Thursday or Friday, so that's when I can do that fun thing". The overtime has no pattern, it's always something that comes up on the day so my cancellation is last-minute, and my boss repeatedly forgets to tell me when I'm needed at a weekend until Friday afternoon, even when it's something he knew about well in advance.
It's incredibly frustrating. Over the last couple of years, I've lost count of the number of things I've cancelled at the last minute due to working late. It's literally at the stage where I don't feel I can plan to do anything after work because that's *always* when I have to work late.
I had one thing I wanted to do after work this week. Which day do you think I had to work late?
*sigh* It didn't used to be like this. The job didn't used to involve so much late working. And I only get to claim TOIL for things like the Sunday night releases. Working three hours late on a work day still doesn't get compensated most of the time.
For the first few years of this job, one of the things I liked was the fact that I got to leave at a set time every day and even got chased out of the office if I forgot to leave. Now...well, the job has changed a lot over the last three years. And I've become the flake who always cancels social stuff because of work. Argh.
I mean, my job in the UK had a *lot* more overtime and I didn't love it (and I didn't get paid or TOIL for any of it, unlike this job), but I don't remember it dominating my life quite so much. I don't remember having to repeatedly, regularly cancel social things because of work. I don't remembering feeling unable to plan to do things after work or on weekends because work will probably get in the way.
And I think it's because, although I did a lot of overtime, it was relatively predictable so I could plan for it.
I knew that Mondays and Tuesdays were always nightmares (because I had to get all the weekly reports written and sent out), and those were the days where staying two or three hours late each night were almost inevitable. So I didn't plan things for those evenings because I knew I'd have to work. The rest of the week, if I was late home, it was due to traffic. That was frustrating, but it rarely meant I had to cancel after-work stuff.
(It probably helped that in the UK, people tend to arrange things to start at 8pm and if it's earlier, it's usually a thing involving eating food. Here in Canada, most things seem to start at 6.30 or 7pm, with an expectation people will have had time to get home, eat a meal, and get out to wherever they need to be, which isn't easy if you don't get home until well after 5pm. I don't know about anyone else, but cooking and eating a meal, changing, feeding cats...that all takes more than half an hour, which is often all I've got between getting home and having to set out for the evening thing, even on nights when I've only worked a little bit late.)
In my current job, there is no predictability. Well, apart from the monthly Sunday night release. That one I can plan for. And really huge events (like a system upgrade) are planned for weeks or months, so I know they're coming.
Anything else, nope, no pattern. Except for a near-guarantee that if I have plans, I'll have to work late or they'll need me at a weekend last-minute.
I can't predict and plan for overtime. I can't say "well, it's unlikely I'll have to work late on a Thursday or Friday, so that's when I can do that fun thing". The overtime has no pattern, it's always something that comes up on the day so my cancellation is last-minute, and my boss repeatedly forgets to tell me when I'm needed at a weekend until Friday afternoon, even when it's something he knew about well in advance.
It's incredibly frustrating. Over the last couple of years, I've lost count of the number of things I've cancelled at the last minute due to working late. It's literally at the stage where I don't feel I can plan to do anything after work because that's *always* when I have to work late.
I had one thing I wanted to do after work this week. Which day do you think I had to work late?
*sigh* It didn't used to be like this. The job didn't used to involve so much late working. And I only get to claim TOIL for things like the Sunday night releases. Working three hours late on a work day still doesn't get compensated most of the time.
For the first few years of this job, one of the things I liked was the fact that I got to leave at a set time every day and even got chased out of the office if I forgot to leave. Now...well, the job has changed a lot over the last three years. And I've become the flake who always cancels social stuff because of work. Argh.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-08 07:00 pm (UTC)The only good thing is that half the department is in Colombia, so sometimes you can hand things over to them for the evenings, and they hand morning things over to us. And most of the weekend work just involves checking on things a few times over the weekend.
But I really want a job that doesn't treat doing a lot of overtime all the time as standard and expected.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-08 07:19 pm (UTC)Same. I know it's something that's hard to find in IT, but really, it shouldn't be. The industry has a weird attitude to overtime, as if it's a sign of how awesome you and your company are that there's a shit-load of overtime expected.
OT should be a rare thing, outside the norms of the job, not a standard part of the working week.
Our weekend work usually tends to involve some fairly intense coordinating/checking/fixing etc., which means it's not something we can easily do in spare minutes. And even if all you have to do is check on something every hour or so, it ties you to your computer and desk all weekend. Half the time, I'm having to keep my ear out for my IM to bing (so I can answer support questions instantly) even if I'm not supposed to actually be doing anything, so I can't go far from my desk. Argh.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-08 09:08 pm (UTC)So... what would happen if you say no? Would you get fired? If not, then I would start saying no when you have an event that you REALLY want to go to. It's not fair that you're the one who always works late.
Also, the weekend stuff without advance notice? That's not acceptable. Can you have a frank conversation with your boss and explain how this is hurting you?