Working - Not on My Watch

Exempt employees often wrestle with the concept of a fixed salary, but variable hours. Non-Exempt workers do not experience what it is like to be asked to work an hour late at night with no additional compensation.

Part of the problem stems from employers making statements to their exempt employees like “It is expected here that you work 45-50 hours a week and not just 40 hours.”

Ever hear that?

I have. Even though I have never worked strictly 40 hours, I still hate when management makes statements that seem to contradict what is stated in HR policy. For many of us who have been salaried and have worked 50, 60 and even 100 hour weeks at some point in our careers, it seems somewhat insulting to hear that we “need to put in more than 40 hours”.

It just should never be stated explicitly.

That being said, there are jobs hat require work to be performed after “normal” work hours. For instance, most doctors are on call for some portion of the month. Many managers may be required to take business phone calls early in the morning or late in the night.

I am not saying that it is right or that it is wrong. What I am saying is that it is part of their job. When a doctor joined a practice, he signed up for a rotation that would require him to walk away from a family event to take an emergency call from a patient. It is not ideal, but it is part of what a doctor must do. With some jobs, it comes with the territory.

Most of my readers know where I stand on work/life balance and I walk the talk. So I am not making a case for letting your job rule your life. Far from it.

I have heard many complaints over the years from employees about having to work weird hours and how that infringes on their personal time. Even though I would remind them that it was part of the job description, it still seemed unfair to many.

Maybe it is unfair. However, when an employee takes a job that requires some work to be performed during personal time, that employee makes a commitment to do just that. The bottom-line is that it is a commitment.

I was talking with a friend of mine about this topic several months ago and she had an interesting perspective. She found it odd that employees often balk about having to support the business during “off hours.”

She said to me, “what if we could capture all of the time employees talk in the hallway, extend lunch time by 10 minutes, hang out at someone’s cube and talk about football for half an hour, or surf the web, who would be ahead - employer or employee? Don’t we all infringe on our employer’s time and find it completely acceptable?”

That is a point worth ruminating and cogitating.

Have a great weekend.