Working hours as a salaried worker

[Purple]

What I mean is employers talk about employees having a work life balance. However, sometimes that's all it is, talk to cover their own backsm
For some people or riles it can be difficult to achieve.

Employers are interested in their business and keeping it profitable. If employees want to change their working hours to suit their personal needs it's up to them to bring it up with their employer. If the value of their labour outweighs the disruption to the business the employer will (or should) accommodate them.

If you raise it as an issue (as I have in the past) you may be told everyone is busy or you should delegate etc. When everyone is busy who do you delegate to? The above scenairio happened to me.

That sounds like either bad management or your labour wasn't valuable enough to accommodate your request.

Neither of these are good management, and both result in staff not being able to achieve the work life balance that companies say they actively promote.

If they need to do that to attract employees then they will. If they don't then they won't.

OP, you should raise it as an issue. Request a meeting, outline your concerns and then send an email to sum up your concerns. If meeting is not forthcoming, send an email. That way you have a record of it and they will be less keen on penalising you for raising it as a matter of concern down the line. Doing nothing is the last thing you should do.

Agreed.

 

[Purple]

I've never come across a manager in the private sector who was overtime enabled.

We pay overtime to everyone. We have guys who take work home with them. They just tell us how many extra hours they worked and we pay them. I have had to insist that some people submit their hours so that they can be paid. It's a job, not a hobby, everyone should get paid for the hours they work.
If key employees want to start late or finish early they are accommodated. Employees who are only there a wet day aren't accommodated. You get back what you put in.

 

[THE_Chris]

There are a lot of people on this thread who would combust if they worked in the health service!

 

[Leo]

Where I've worked in the private IT sector, all roles are salaried and contracts state the minimum number of hours to be worked and often stipulate extra will be expected at times with no additional pay.

 

[Luternau]

There are a lot of people on this thread who would combust if they worked in the health service!

There are people in the health service that are doing just that too. Nurses and Doctors going to Australia for improved financial and work life balance reasons.

 

[Towger]

There are a lot of people on this thread who would combust if they worked in the health service!

The health service combusted long ago. But in saying that not all the health service is run off their feet. Doing a job, we were there at 9am and finished before 10. Country hospitality said we could not go back to the Big Smoke without some refreshments, so to the pub we were invited. Picking up more employees, as they arrived before 10 on flextime.
Edit: After they had clocked in..

 

[Purple]

There are a lot of people on this thread who would combust if they worked in the health service!

One in every 18 people who works in Ireland works in the Health Service so plenty of them post on this forum. It is one of the best funded and staffed health services in the world. Those who work in it are primarily responsible for it's shortcomings. If whinging, looking for validation from strangers, and self congratulation solved problems then we'd have no problems in the health service.

If you think the health service is tough try laying blocks up on a scaffold on a cold January morning. Those guys are hundreds of times more likely to be injured or killed at work than anyone employed in the health service and they are building homes for people. Not all heroes wear capes.

 

[Purple]

There are people in the health service that are doing just that too. Nurses and Doctors going to Australia for improved financial and work life balance reasons.

Yep, or, like about 30% of HSE employees, working part time in order to improve work life balance. That's why we have a shortage of nurses and doctors. They choose to work part time.

Anyway, back on topic, if you work extra hours you should get paid for it though a standard week should be 39 hours.

 

[Early Riser]

If you think the health service is tough try laying blocks up on a scaffold on a cold January morning

Your variation on the Four Yorkshire Men sketch?

The Four Yorkshiremen Sketch

Pre Monty Python sketch from the TV who show At Last The 1948 Show starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman.

www.youtube.com

 

[Purple]

Your variation on the Four Yorkshire Men sketch?

The Four Yorkshiremen Sketch

Pre Monty Python sketch from the TV who show At Last The 1948 Show starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman.

www.youtube.com

No, just pointing out that people who work in an environment that is relatively safe and who have excellent terms and conditions shouldn't be moaning about how hard their job is when the facts and the data just doesn't back it up.

Fisheries, lumber processing, agriculture and construction are far more dangerous than any healthcare role.

 

[Early Riser]

Fisheries, lumber processing, agriculture and construction are far more dangerous than any healthcare role.

And coconuts have to grow in far more demanding environments than apples.

 

[Purple]

And coconuts have to grow in far more demanding environments than apples.

Do apples whine and moan and go on about how hard they have it all the time?

 

[DannyBoyD]

Do apples whine and moan and go on about how hard they have it all the time?

Shure if they weren't hard they'd be rotten

 

[Early Riser]

Do apples whine and moan and go on about how hard they have it all the time?

Only purple ones. Maybe they feel hard done by.

 

[Purple]

Only purple ones.

right...
If that's aimed at me it's way off the mark. I've an office job with a very low chance of injury.

 

[Luternau]

One in every 18 people who works in Ireland works in the Health Service so plenty of them post on this forum. It is one of the best funded and staffed health services in the world. Those who work in it are primarily responsible for it's shortcomings. If whinging, looking for validation from strangers, and self congratulation solved problems then we'd have no problems in the health service.

If you think the health service is tough try laying blocks up on a scaffold on a cold January morning. Those guys are hundreds of times more likely to be injured or killed at work than anyone employed in the health service and they are building homes for people. Not all heroes wear capes.

An awful lot of HSE staff are not frontline staff. That is where most of the ineffeciency seems to be. It is not these 'Healthcare workers' that are saying they are struggling with the pressure, fatigue and stress of working in the service, but maybe they are too. It's not apples with apples though.

On the frontline, as bad as nurses have it, junior doctors have it much worse. People (patients) can die from a poor decision by medical staff. That is their point about the pressure and stress they are under.

The person 100ft up on scaffolding may fall or drop a brick on someone, so yes people could die on their shift too. However, I doubt they are bringing the stress of work home or feeling under pressure to lay more bricks etc. Personally, I would take the bricklaying job at height on a cold windy day, every time.

That said, it's rather off topic

 

[Purple]

On the frontline, as bad as nurses have it, junior doctors have it much worse.

I am very familiar with what happens in hospitals at the patient interface level. It’s still much safer and less hard on the body than a building site.
The only front line is in war. Hyperbole like that makes people sound inadequate.

 

[Salvadore]

An awful lot of HSE staff are not frontline staff. That is where most of the ineffeciency seems to be. It is not these 'Healthcare workers' that are saying they are struggling with the pressure, fatigue and stress of working in the service, but maybe they are too. It's not apples with apples though.

On the frontline, as bad as nurses have it, junior doctors have it much worse. People (patients) can die from a poor decision by medical staff. That is their point about the pressure and stress they are under.

The person 100ft up on scaffolding may fall or drop a brick on someone, so yes people could die on their shift too. However, I doubt they are bringing the stress of work home or feeling under pressure to lay more bricks etc. Personally, I would take the bricklaying job at height on a cold windy day, every time.

That said, it's rather off topic

I’d agree that junior doctors have it very bad and are working in conditions that affect their mental and physical wellbeing.

However, having spent a night on a trolley in ED (for which the VHI were subsequently charged €800, but that’s another story), I didn’t witness any hardship on the part of nurses or any other staff. They worked solidly, as they should, but didn’t exude any particular urgency in response to the organisational chaos around them.

Neither do I believe construction is particularly dangerous these days - physically demanding of course but not dangerous.

 

[Purple]

I’d agree that junior doctors have it very bad and are working in conditions that affect their mental and physical wellbeing.

However, having spent a night on a trolley in ED (for which the VHI were subsequently charged €800, but that’s another story), I didn’t witness any hardship on the part of nurses or any other staff. They worked solidly, as they should, but didn’t exude any particular urgency in response to the organisational chaos around them.

Neither do I believe construction is particularly dangerous these days - physically demanding of course but not dangerous.

Yes, the only really dangerous jobs are on the front line. The nearest front line to us is in Ukraine.
Statistically off shore fishing, logging (cutting down trees), construction (roofing and steel workers in particular), Truck ad delivery drivers, refuse collectors and farming are the most dangerous jobs. Healthcare and policing are nowhere near the top 20.

Healthcare does rank highly for illnesses but getting paid sick leave does increase that figure.

Junior doctors, or non-consultant doctors to be more accurate, are part of a medical sector which works you hard until you become a consultant. You work hard in the hope that one day you'll become aa consultant and earn really big money.

 

[Purple]

On the subject of Junior doctors, and trying to bring the thread back on topic, they do get paid overtime, as do nurses. Those working very long hours will more than double their gross pay.