***MANDATORY*** Overtime

[friendofjimmyk]

Oh JOY!

So, I come back to the call center after driving tow truck for a year and although I'm happy to be back, it's also back to office politics.

This is the call center's busiest time of the year. Snowy conditions across our footprint have caused crazy driving conditions and apparently, in Wisconsin, it snows ALOT!

When I worked here before, OT was abundant and I gladly worked as much as humanly possible. Sometime between the time I left and the time I have come back, the staffing here has tanked. From what I gather, no one was signing up for OT so they kindly made OT MANDATORY!

*sigh* I don't mind, as I said, I will work as much as humanly possible now that I am back inside a nice warm office...however, I am still considered "in training" for my new job and have been stuck in a limbo state on the training for the past two days due to the call volume. They have been sticking me in what I know which makes sense.

However, this morning, I had to be in at 4am for this mandatory stuff. The sup on duty right now only knows that I am actually supposed to be training today but not sure with who, on what, or where. So, here I sit, balancing my checkbook, perusing the internet and posting on Customers Suck.

OH JOY!

[Bright_Star]

What happens if you refuse mandatory overtime? I mean, there's only so many hours in a day to accomplish things.

[wagegoth]

So, you're back to herding dots? What brought on the change?

We've been on a case where I've been working the OT, not by choice. I don't mind the spike in the paycheck, but, if I work past a certain number of hours of OT, it just goes to taxes. GRRR!

That case is starting to quiet down, but there's another one looming. Ah, the joys of litigation.

[blas]

Bright Star, where I work, if you refuse mandatory overtime, you can be terminated. And yes, you can fire someone for that.

Depending on the boss you have, you can be given a chance to make it up, or be written up or suspended, but if you continue to refuse it, you will eventually be shit-canned.

I'll trade with you, jimmy. I've been on mandatory overtime for the past 7 months. I've gotten out of doing it a couple times (I refused to do it during Thanksgiving or Christmas or my bday and somehow got away with it), but for the most part, I'll never see another 40 hour work week again until a year from now.

[RentalRacer]

It seems crazy they would have you come in for Mandatory OT if you are still in training...

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I thought it was against labor law in most areas to force someone to work extra hours?

[Kyree]

I thought it was against labor law in most areas to force someone to work extra hours?

Only if you have a union job I think.

[Geek King]

I thought it was against labor law in most areas to force someone to work extra hours?

Nope, as long as they pay you the required time-and-a-half payrate, the employer can tell you that the job requires you be there 60 hours a week. In the USA, at least.

There have been some interesting lawsuits over salaried employees being forced to work overtime, though.

[dougiezerts]

I work for directory assistance. There was an ice storm last night, and I considered not coming in, today.
Well, I came in. And you know what the first thing that happenned to me was? An incharge came over and asked me to work overtime! I refused.
Isn't it enough that they're glad I came to work in inclement conditions?

[Ree]

It's not that I am unsympathetic to the forced overtime, but, I guess, coming from an area that was a booming industrial are only about 5 years ago, but where we have lost all but 2 or 3 factories, I see it differently.

We lost the Hershey plant. We lost the Brown Shoe factory. (The shoe factory was a major employer with both offsite warehouse and office facilities, as well as the factory.) We also lost another major employer when a facility housing developmentally challenged residents was closed, and the residents were sent to small group homes across the area.

In fact, as I said, we now have only about 2-3 of our factories still operational, but some of them have had major job cuts.

Many of these people would now kill for a chance at a job, whether it involved forced overtime or not.

I guess it's perception.

[Becks]

Ree, I see your point. Really, I do.

However, I think it's a matter of working so much overtime you forget what your family looks like.

IF the company (companies) would decently hire and train enough people, the nonstop mandatory OT every day/week would stop. AND it would save the company money in the long run.

[wagegoth]

I'm with Becky. You get tired and you burn out. I left my previous job because the overtime was all the time. Now, since I left, they've hired extra people, but they were happy to push me for as long as they could. And I went to management several times asking them for help and was ignored. I have school-age kids. My job supports them, but they still miss me and I miss them. We need time together, more than a kiss while they're asleep at night.

In the legal field, you do work some long hours sometimes, that's the way it is, but when it becomes every day, people burn out and they leave, and it's really expensive to replace them. Most firms learn this. The ones that don't pay the price.

If the company is short-staffed and they're trying to hire, that's different. If they're being lazy and short-sighted, then they'll lose.

[blas]

Ree, I understand I'm lucky to have a job. And yes, we've lost our fair share of factories as well.

However, I haven't had a "normal" work week since July (save for the weeks of holidays). I have worked anywhere from 48-56 hours a week since this last summer. There have been many things that I have missed because of having to work late or come in early. On the weekends, there are several things I've missed because I had to come in on my days off.

I won't go as far to say I don't remember who people look like, but the mandatory overtime made my relationship with my bf at the time very hard, it did make it hard to see my family, and it made it even harder to do anything or have any time for myself.

Sometimes I don't think it's even worth it.

[dougiezerts]

Ree, I see your point. Really, I do.

However, I think it's a matter of working so much overtime you forget what your family looks like.

IF the company (companies) would decently hire and train enough people, the nonstop mandatory OT every day/week would stop. AND it would save the company money in the long run.

My thoughts exactly. Forcing workers to work overtime might give managers brownie points with the CEO's in the short run--they save money over hiring new staff. But in the long run, it causes us to burn out--and customer service suffers.
I'm not going to have a "smile in my voice" if I have to spend 1/2 my life at work!

[king4aday]

Hey Jimmy....as a fellow Wisconsinite, I have to say that with all the snow we've had this year, it most likely has been worse for you and your co-workers than it has for us who dont have to be out in it all day. Thanks a lot for everything this year