Royal Mail Strike - Quick Question?

[Jebus]

****ing right as well Dave. Anyone who works for free for an employer (self employed people are excluded) nowadays is a lunatic.

We have a union to protect that, unfortunately an awful lot of other people don't.

I know someone who does it an awful lot (not RM employee), and it just baffles me completely. Her boss must be laughing his ass off at her!! "She works for free, gets all the work done on her own time, pisses of her husband cos she's always here..." hilarious.

[ChrisF]

Have to say I also firmly fall into the category of a day lasting between 7 and 12 hours, and taking however long it takes to get the job done. I get paid the same rate regardless of however many hours are in my working day. Zero overtime for me. It's just how most of my contracts have been and it's pretty much how most companies operate. More fool me? Maybe. Or maybe we should all move to Papua or the Sandwich Islands

I know someone who does it an awful lot (not RM employee), and it just baffles me completely. Her boss must be laughing his ass off at her!! "She works for free, gets all the work done on her own time, pisses of her husband cos she's always here..." hilarious.

And come promotion/pay rise time who do you think will be rewarded first? The person who carpet burns, or someone who puts in the time? Come redundancies who will be first to go? The person who works to rule, or puts in the extra hours to help the company? Unfortunately this is the world we live in.

My wife works plenty of time in her own hours, and she's even arranged to work a day a week from home while she's on maternity leave (she will get paid for that mind you), but that's just how a lot of business works these days.

[On The Edge of Insanity]

Unfortunately, that's normally the way to work up the ladder in corporate business.

[Jebus]

Again, you won't get an arguement from me on that.

But being a postie is hardly working up the corporate ladder is it. If you weren't interested in doing so, would you work for free?

I've done salary hours in management, 60 hours a week though paid for 40. It's **** and they took the piss.

Annualised hours are equally a nightmare, RM want them now too.

[merf]

i'd have thought its the way to move up the ladder in anything.

be good at what you do, show some initiative if possible and work hard.

slightly flippant but was David Beckham an idiot for staying behind and practising free kicks for hours on end when at Man Utd, bet he didn't get OT ?

[On The Edge of Insanity]

Clearly in your profession there is no ladder to work up, so I'm not arguing with you, just saying that overtime with no pay is becoming entrenched in the British business culture. Therefore many people will not emphasize with the posties situation, and they have to do the same themselves every day of the week.

[Jebus]

You aren't honestly comparing the two?

The way I got into RM management was by being damn good at my job, being intelligent and having that recognised within my work unit. It had nothing to do with working for free.

[Jebus]

And come promotion/pay rise time who do you think will be rewarded first? The person who carpet burns, or someone who puts in the time? Come redundancies who will be first to go? The person who works to rule, or puts in the extra hours to help the company? Unfortunately this is the world we live in.

Well the person I was talking about stacks shelves for a living and has no plans to go "up the ladder"...so I'm not sure how to answer those questions.

[On The Edge of Insanity]

I'm not saying that I believe there is a direct comparison, but simply that many people will see it like that.

debug: the majority of people I've experienced working non-paid overtime have been those who get behind during the day because they are either lazy or incompetent, and need to stay behind to catch-up. Of course, when the manager still sees them there well beyond the working hours they think they are 'putting in a little extra' and they will no doubt be considered for promotion. Whereas people like myself who had done all their work during the day and then leave dead-on five get constantly overlooked. They fail to realise that putting graft above efficiency is no-way to run a business.

[VR46]

Everybodies situation is different. For instance my boss is a strict 9.00 to 5.30 man. Time spent in the office would not be a factor if redundancies etc came up, they would be more worried about the revenue each person brought in for example (I work in sales)

[bignige]

I can't remember the last time I did a full days work....

[ChrisF]

debug: the majority of people I've experienced working non-paid overtime have been those who get behind during the day because they are either lazy or incompetent, and need to stay behind to catch-up. Of course, when the manager still sees them there well beyond the working hours they think they are 'putting in a little extra' and they will no doubt be considered for promotion.

Bit like the Smirnov advert when the guy falls asleep at his desk then eh

But seriously, my wife works constantly during the day, and has to bring work home with her purely because they ARE understaffed and she does several peoples jobs, combined with they have just been bought out so workload is over/above what's normal there. Likewise I know that when I work late it's because I have to (you can ask DH, I like to leave on the dot!). I draw the line at working until 5am (from 9am the previous day) like some people I've worked with before have done previously.

But you're right David, everyone's circumstances are different.

[Jebus]

Nige, I kinda think of you as a british Homer...

You know that scene where Lisa asks "Do you even have a job anymore Dad?" and he replies "I think it's pretty obvious that I don't".

[MattyD]

sorry to be picky but the whole attitude of 'finishing on time' and 'starting times' is just so alien to me and one of the things that I think gets me with this type of conversation.

there are many many jobs where you have to get in early and frequently work very late for no immediate reward, its the way things are. its not good, its not ideal but its what happens.

Fortunately not all of us are so defeatist as to put up with being exploited by our employers. If you're being 'encouraged' to work without breaks or do unpaid overtime etc then you're practically giving them money, or letting them steal your time and effort, depending on your point of view. If labour is the only commodity you can offer you should at least be allowed to ask a fair price for it and on fair terms. Otherwise you should take it and 'sell' it elsewhere in the supposedly endless pool of jobs that people keep referring to in this thread.

[mackemansj1]

Im all for the working man getting the best deal he can, however this is starting to effect small buisness and the genral public. Public support will only last so long, and if another week of strikes happends soon i can see people turning on the posties tbh.