Shutterstock

Optional overtime should mean optional. Management usually has other ideas.

So when extra hours become “strongly encouraged,” one employee takes the wording seriously.

They simply stop volunteering.

See why optional suddenly becomes inconvenient.

Optional overtime?

I was working for an electrical company on a movie theatre project.

It was super fun with lots of interesting electrical design elements and challenges. Even installing those little lights on the stairs was fun.

More on the company.

The company I worked for on the whole was pretty good. they were a medium sized union company run by a decent guy. The problem was that they made a few mistakes on little things like bidding contracts and planning ahead on work.

Here’s where the issues began.

The fallout on the workers was we would either have too much work or no work while they hustled up new jobs or as in this case a really tight budget because they didn’t realize that a theatre is a wee bit more intricate than an office building.

So onto the compliance, we were working away and struggling to make the completion date. The word came down that we were going to have to work 10 hour days to make it. No problem, I could use the extra bucks.

But it’s never that simple.

Them: “Sorry, we bid too tight we can’t afford overtime pay. You just work the extra two hours at regular time.”

Me: “Wait? No overtime pay? Umm… that’s not in the contract.”

Them: “Well…. no but… as long as you all agree it will be fine. And it is completely optional.”

Me: “Oh well then, that’s great as long as it’s optional then I can opt out. I do really like working for you guys and appreciate that it’s optional.”

Them: “Are you sure? All the other guys are doing it.”

Me: “That is what optional means and it’s great that with their help you should make schedule.”

Here’s what actually happened.

So at my regular ending time I would clean up as usual and then head for home. I got a lot of attitude from my some of my coworkers (sad) but a lot of respect from others.

My foreman had to be very careful about how they treated me but the two things that stand out were…

One, I was told that it looked bad for the other guys that I would be seen sitting down at the end day (after cleaning up material, washing up, and changing boots I would wait for the clock out). So now I had to just work to the end time and leave stuff out for others to clean up.

The other, slightly retaliatory action was the funniest. The project manager sent down some nice company hats for all our hard work and sacrifice. Guess who didn’t get one?

Would you have worked the extra time or taken the ‘optional’ consequences? Let’s see what others have to say.

This person thinks standing up for yourself is the way to go.

Another says it sets a dangerous precedent.

This person shares how a hat with a company logo is not really a good thank-you gift.

Again, this redditor thinks the hat is a joke, ha!

OP kept working the required schedule but stopped signing up for any overtime once management made it clear the extra hours were supposedly voluntary.

When staffing problems followed, the company had to confront the fact that “optional” only worked when employees kept saying yes.

You can call it optional, but you cannot schedule enthusiasm.