My already soul-sucking job that has me carving out 9 hours a day just announced that going forward we’re supposed to be dedicating an extra half hour and that this will be rigorously enforced with a clock-in/clock-out system (we didn’t have one before), and I’m livid. Naturally, there’s no mention of a pay increase or any such because apparently “this is what we should’ve been doing all along”, even though we’re paid peanuts and there’s next to nothing by way of incentives or anything of the sort.
I worked my way up here precisely so I wouldn’t have to be subject to this sort of Big Brother scrutiny and this is just beyond annoying.
/end rant
If you’re salaried you may be able to justify that you’re already working more then your contract states. Seen many companies implement a clock in clock out only for it to bite them in the ass when all the extra labor that the team is putting in suddenly vanishes. If you’re hourly, just make sure that the company is paying out OT and they’ll quickly realize how expensive this kind of BS policy is. At least that’s the hope. Best of luck to you
Sounds like OP is salary and in the worst of both worlds—no overtime, rigid time system.
I used to be in a job like that.
I’m sorry to hear it. I have a ton of freedom and license where I work now, so is it worth considering trying to find new employment? I know that’s easier said and done, but at minimum I’d put a feeler out on your socials and see if anyone in your circle knows recruiters.
Unfortunately, many of us experienced something similar.
Spent some years in a consulting company that used the same strategy, small sacrifices by the employees from time to time whilst they were declaring record profits year by year. Although the methodology is despicable, reality is that it works. Not only the law allows it (and if they get a fine it’s still worth it since the system is rigged) but also there will always be people that will stay no matter what (not wanting to get out of the comfort zone, peer pressure…). If you think about it, there are many companies that become viable just because they exploit their employees.
In my experience, if they are already doing this they will never stop pushing forward this type of policies, so my suggestion is that, in case you can’t avoid the extra hours, do the barely minimum to not get fired and start looking for a new job (bonus points if you convince other employees to do the same)
Time to find a new job. They don’t deserve our loyalty when they always pull shit like this.
