Attitude towards working hours

[Ignis Fatuus]

Some permie managers seem to think that failing to work loads of extra hours for free shows a lack of commitment to their company.

They are right. I am committed to my business, not theirs.

[2BIT]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to IT contracting, 6 months in and just renewed on my first contract. Coming form a permie past I'm somewhat unsure how to approach management of working hours within a contract.

I'm paid a day rate, but formally contracted to work 37.5 hours a week. We are not allowed to work any overtime on the contract as there is no budget for it, and so as I perceive things I should be working 37.5 hours a week, not more, not less. But eyebrows get raised when I'm not working until 8 in the evening or whatever as a deadline approaches. A deadline in a project which should have more people working on it rather than a very small core team, but can't due to not having the budget.

Should I be taking a more flexible approach and be giving extra hours for free (hours which should be being done by another person ideally) in order to achieve the deadlines put forward to us? I'm enthusiastic about the work, I enjoy it, but if I can work for free OR see my kids before bed, it doesn't really seem like much to think about.

I might clock watch, but only as I spend 4 hours a day on the M40 at present, so have little time to play with, in work and in my home life... So do other people have thoughts on going the extra mile when there's no obligation (or notable personal benefit) to do so?

Thanks

Chris

if you have kids you have the best possible excuse for not staying late- anyone who says they got to get home to see their kids should be able to go home with no raised eyebrows

at 37.5 hr a week I'd tend to do about 40, that way I can go for fag breaks, leave early some days but always get my work done.

you are not a consultant so you shouldn't do consultant hours

[Scrag Meister]

I'm quite strict with my hours and I think that is becuase I have no immediate mechanism for claiming overtime. The contract actually states that no overtime is payable.

8-5 thats me, and then I'm gone.

[Spacecadet]

I used to do extra hours for "free" as a permie but that was with a definite goal in mind, promotion and recognition, which I duly got.
After that it was paid over time only.

As a contractor I do the occasional longer day but then I finish early quite often as well and I'm rarely in the office before 9.30am

[Spacecadet]

I'm quite strict with my hours and I think that is becuase I have no immediate mechanism for claiming overtime. The contract actually states that no overtime is payable.

8-5 thats me, and then I'm gone.

already that's an hour more than you should be working and you get to work before I get out of bed.

[Scrag Meister]

already that's an hour more than you should be working and you get to work before I get out of bed.

8-5 includes a lunch break too.

[Spacecadet]

8-5 includes a lunch break too.

How long is that?
9-5 should get you a 7.5 hour working day with a 30 minute lunch

[Greg Longshaft]

How long is that?
9-5 should get you a 7.5 hour working day with a 30 minute lunch

you lucky man, go back though all your invoices and charge the extra 30mins and then buy us all beers.

[lukemg]

Working a steady 9-4 and made it clear I would be happy to extend this if workload demands it. It hasn't, also incorporating leisurely lunches now. Actively pushed for additional work and responsibility but what they seem to think is a big chunk seems to be a couple of telecons and a couple of hours to sort.
Anything I do get is pounced on and done at speed.
Amazed I am still here but none of this seems to impact contract extensions !

[mouseorgan]

I have always found that it never matters whether you get in early or work through your lunch all that is picked up on is when you leave.

It still seems that if you leave early or even on time in some places your not as committed as the rest or taking the p**s.

This is part of the reason i would rather get paid hourly rather than daily as I know what i work I get paid for and they are more likely not to want me to stay longer. More than the odd free working is in my eyes a permie trait to try and gain those brownie points for bonus and review time.

I'd totally agree with this, I do 8-4, my contractor colleague does something like 10-ermonceitsdarkorsomething so I'm always in very early to no visible benefit but I'm seen leaving. One issue there is that my colleague hasn't broken anything horrifically by the time I leave, so when he's going the extra mile and fixing what he broke earlier, he looks better than me just because my stuff worked first (second maybe) time!

Similarily I've not had a lunch hour so far this year, always at my next keeping an eye on things over lunch if not directly working. No reason to think that would ever "count" for anything though.

Comments regarding precise timesheets are in line with where I expected to be, but we've been told to just do "7.5 tab 7.5 tab 7.5 tab 7.5 tab 7.5 tab enter enter" once a week, as the time keeping system is so poor! I didn't expect to be giving OR taking anything. How can a manager be sure he's getting anything like value when "give and take" means you regularly roll in at lunch time for totally legit reasons, but no way to know people know that?!

The tactics do baffle me to some extent. I can stay late but when I do there's no one there to see, so why should I? We've an endless amount of work, and staying longer won't make it finish any sooner, as we've not enough people to do the work within the impossible deadlines. That's not my problem. I guess there are reasons to work later, but they need to fundamentally benefit me / my company, mostly from learning new tech and such. Naturally I can find it very easy to get absorbed in something that interests me, but too much and I'm not home in time for bedtime stories with the kids!

I do work from home, but then my boss (who I now thankfully one step removed due to a recently introduced project manager (contractor)) said once he didn't like it as he doesn't know if i'm doing anything. However he's not techy at all, and I'm a total geek buried in command lines and the likes, so he never can tell even if i'm sitting next to him.