Work life balance?

[skyjuice]

Hi

 

My company sort of encourage staffs to work overtime (we are not entitle for OT claim). I used to be the workaholic who could come to office at 8am and go back at 8pm at my old work place. The nature of the work require us to be fast, because if we are slow, the customer would go to another company.

 

Now, I got transfer to a new work place (with the same company) with new job scope. The nature of the work is sort of target oriented, whereby we are given a due date to finish a certain task. The work is still managaeble, so far does not require me to stay back late.

 

I decided to have work and life balance. Is there anyway to increase my chances of promotion without working like a "slave"?

[arwen]

I think that chance may even be bigger if you have a clear balance. I think slaving at work is NEVER good for anyone. Because if you keep on working overtime, you will eventually use your energy reserves and risk a burn out. No one is benefitted by that.

 

To get a better balance myself, I scheduled three training periods in my week for capoeira (brazilian martial arts that I am addicted to... ). Tuesday, thursday and sunday. So there are at least TWO evenings in the 'working week' that I have to leave around 6 pm, no excuses. The other nights I can work late, no problem. I also get no pay for OT, if that is any consolation

 

Ilse

[DaDancingPsych]

I agree that that balance is truly the key! Certainly we need to "give a little to get a little", but there comes a point where you need to insist that work isn't your whole life.

 

Keep yourself truly focused during the day on the necessary tasks for the targets. This way you can avoid a lot of "overtime" and still meet the goals that are expected from you.

 

I also like the idea of scheduling something that you enjoy. It does force you out of the office on a few nights.

 

Best of luck!

[rocio]

I don't know what kind of work you're doing, but for almost everything there is a hard way to do it, and a smart way to do it.

 

For example, computers can do almost anything these days. You just have to figure out how to program them to do what you need. It takes a bit more time in the beginning, but it can save hours and hours of work.

[Clementine orange]

Bottom line - do not work for free. The company does not give you money for not working so do not give your time for free.

There might be the occasional night but as a rule of thumb - never!!!

 

I'm not sure what kind of company forces employees to work overtime without overtime pay but I'm betting it's one of those companies where the owner is filthy rich.

 

It's your life - how do you want to live it?

 

Sorry I didn't actually answer your question. Here's a trick - come into work 10 or 15 minutes early everyday. Be there before the boss if you can. It looks really really good.

 

But I'm serious about the leaving on time. If you like working so much - get your own business - then your overtime will mean something!

[skyjuice]

Hi

 

Thank you for all your reply.

 

My boss come very early. Usually before 8am. Though they did not pay overtime, I did get 2 months bonus before christmas shopping start.

 

Yes, you are right. To work the smart way is better than working without achieving your target. I had a new task to do some reporting, which is a totally new area for me. There are hundreds of accounts I need to telly with external set of accounts. I need to find out the difference between these two and also the reason.