Because I am wary of being laid off in the near future, I have taken the precaution of getting in as much overtime as humanely possible at work. This means basically working all my days off between now and when I would theoretically get laid off (it would be around July). The idea is to build up a safety net in the form of savings to help me survive while looking for a new job if I was laid off. If I do not get laid off, I plan on using the money to help pay for a new car.
The only day I took off so far was the 3rd (forgot to sign up to work that day by accident). So my plan is to work every day from March-July without going crazy. Tomorrow will be 14 consecutive days, my record at this job is 19 consecutive days worked.
You may be increasing your probability of getting laid off. Some accountant will point out to your boss that you’re getting paid more than the other employees, and they can save a lot of money by letting you go. Your “value” to the company will count less than your “cost.” It happened to me.
I once worked 14.5 hours a day, every day, for two and a half months. I discovered that not only do you make a lot more money working all the time, but you don’t have any time to spend it. I think that during that period I saved a higher percentage of my income than ever since–which would mean something if I hadn’t been making so little.
If a thread about ‘heat prostration’ ever comes along I’ll tell you the story of how this prosperity came to an end.
I think it’s going to be very difficult to achieve.
In particular, the stress might lead you to make mistakes.
Decades ago, I was sent down to a computer centre to solve a mysterious problem with a set of programs. My instructions were “Stay there until you solve it!”
I was young, single and enthusiastic and it only took a few days to sort it out.
Since then I can’t imagine putting my life on hold for months.
Have you had a look at your budget? Maybe you could make some savings instead.
Also you could take a look at the job market, tidy up your CV and get advice on career options.
Wow, you work somewhere that allows you to make your own schedule and schedule overtime whenever you feel like it? It practically takes an act of Congress to get permission for even an hour or two of overtime where I work in retail, even in a Saturday emergency situation where they had to decide to pay me overtime or have a store not be open! (I’d already worked 40 hours at my own store that week, and absolutely no one else was available when an emergency came up at another store I sometimes help out at).
I too would worry that you are setting yourself up as “too expensive to keep”.
I think you’ll be heading for burn-out if you do this. Allow yourself one day off every few weeks, at least. My longest un-broken stretch was I think 21 or 23 days, and at the end, I was hatin’ life.
How long are you working each day? Will you have the time and energy to do your grocery shopping, run errands, clean your house, etc., when you get home from work at night?
-I belong in a union, so if layoffs happen it will be in inverse Seniority order. So nothing I do now will affect my likelihood of getting laid off so much as how many people I have below me (about 100)
-Contractually we’re not allowed to drive more than 10 hours in a day, have less than 10 hours rest between shifts or work more than 80 hours total in a 8 day cycle. My shifts are typically 8.5 hours with a few that get close to 10 hours.
-I’m on my work’s ‘extra board’ which means my schedule/assignment is different every day, being part of a 73-man rotation. The downside of this is my schedule changes every day (generally starting/finishing about 45 mins earlier each day on average, then ‘flipping’ back to late shifts after I do the earliest shift available. The major advantage of the extra board, though is that extra board employees get PRIORITY when working their days off.
-Overtime is generally plentiful, because management (overly) relies on employees coming in on their days off/working their vacations and schedules work accordingly. Of course I’m not the only one who worries about layoffs and is trying to save up money- I have to compete with other drivers for the time but since I am on extra board (priority) it means I’ll generally get the overtime if I want it.
Kudos if you can do it. Longest I was able to go was about a month and a half of 85-95hrs/wk, with taking Sundays off. That even included a few 24hr shifts. I was afraid off losing my job if I didn’t, but after a while, I couldn’t function as a part of society. My home life suffered even though I was making mad loot. I cut down to around 60hrs, and life was much easier.
Some of the guys I worked with would work 8hrs/day all week, then work 12hrs on Saturday for time and a half, and 16hrs on Sunday for double time. They didn’t last long, and they were related to the owner. The company noticed pretty quick that these guys were just looking to take advantage of them.
I dunno. I admire your ambition, but would like to avoid your area. Sounds like there may be some overworked drivers struggling to keep it together a few weeks from now. I’d feel safer if you were a pencil pusher in the offices of a pillow factory. I know you’ve stated there are laws governing how much you can drive, but they probably don’t take into account the cumulative effect of no days off ever. I’ve worked some hellacious hours myself, but in an office. Be safe.
I appreciate the concern. Do note that if fatigue or illness made my job difficult, I would definitely take a day off to recover. i.e. if i had a fever of 103 degrees and puking every 5 minutes I would NOT be behind the wheel.
I am only doing this out of temporary necessity. If the crisis is (hopefully) averted I will take days off once more and only periodically work my days off. In the future as I progress up the pay scale (will take 2 more years to get the ‘max’ hourly wage) it will be progressively more cost effective to enjoy my days off/paid vacations.
If you think what I’m doing is crazy, consider that there are drivers at my work that have been working 365 days out of the year for YEARS :eek: . Some of them even have mobile homes situated in the parking lot outside my work. These long-term marathons are often because they are nearing retirement and trying to pad their pension as much as possible.
As a project analyst I worked out that in 1999 my only two days off were Christmas Day and one Sunday when I was far too sick to come in (I’d worked the previous day with a temperature of 40.5 degrees - 105 Fahrenheit and had to go home because I was hallucinating).
On those 363 days I was probably averaging between 10 and 11 hours a day. I only had one week with less than 65 hours on my timesheet.
No overtime was paid, and my salary was substantially less than an average analyst’s.
I feel your pain, Incubus. I’ve averaged about two days off a month (excluding a couple of one-week vacations) for the last two years. I’ve taken two Sundays off this year since January 2 and I worked at home on one of those. There have been weeks where I’ve gone all week without seeing daylight.
Right now, if my job went away, my initial reaction would be one of relief. My employer has changed their vacation accrual policy and I’m loosing a day and half this month. If I don’t take at least five weeks of vacation between now and the end of the year, I’ll loose two weeks at the end of the year.
I appreciate your effort, and understand your concern, but I worked every day for 8 consecutive months (I took one day off for my grandmother’s funeral) and when my review came around my boss turned down my request for a raise.
Last year, during the election and abortive by-election that preceded it I worked ten hour days, 7 days a week, from early July to October 14, with (I think) 2 days off.
Then, after two weeks, I got a contract that took me another month of 10 hours, 7/7.
