Sports editor, Henderson N.C.

Yes, if this shop is paying 40 hours, then work your 40 and be done...if that means not covering as many local games and tossing AP filler onto the page so be it.

Maybe something that like wakes up a higher up into realizing it indeed needs more staff, or maybe they just search out the next "young and eager" who will work 60 and write 40...from all I've heard over the years, I'm pretty sure this shop is the latter.

One man shop...six days a week = no real time off and overall misery.

 

That's the key point. Work as much as you feel comfortable working, so long as you hit 40 hours. Know that working unpaid overtime might help your career. Know that working unpaid overtime might not help your career. Unless the boss is demanding you work more than 40 hours a week and get paid for 40 hours a week, the boss isn't at fault. If you choose to fulfill your obligation to a 40-hour week and they fire or demote (though it doesn't sound like they have anywhere to demote someone) you for a lack of productivity, you've got a pretty solid case against them as an employee fired for not working unpaid hours. You'll settle out of court for a nice sum every time against a chain in that situation.

But, if this business is what you're really passionate about, you may decide it's worth it to put in the extra hours. I'd imagine nearly everyone who has made a real living in this industry has put in overtime. And this is hardly the only industry in which more dedicated employees put in those extra hours off the clock. You're not doing manual labor. There are hundreds of applications coming in for your job if you leave it.

I'm not saying the job is a privilege. But I've reversed field on the unpaid overtime subject numerous times because it's a tricky situation. If you're told flat-out that you won't be paid for overtime, though, I think it's simply your choice. How important is your personal life when compared to your quality of work.

I'm single, and I don't have any family within several hundred miles of me right now. I get bored on my days off sometimes. I don't mind putting in the extra hours if it will even give me a little bit of a boost in my career. It has.

 

No no no and no. You should never work off the clock, even if you think it's going to get you ahead. The guy before me at my last shop worked tons of hours off the clock. Then I came in and turned in a time card that was actually honest and all of a sudden the publisher wanted to know why I was worked 20 more hours a week than the last guy and not doing any more work. Eventually he came to the decision that having a sports department was too expensive and cut me loose, choosing to cover everything with stringers, I think partially because the old guy didn't cost him as much as I did. If you work off the clock, it's not just your bank account getting hurt.

 

You didn't mention whether the guy before you moved up to a better job. Or does that hold no significance to you in this tale?

 

Lateral move to another paper

 

Fair enough.

 

That sucks, ColdCat. But I stand by my statement. Working unpaid overtime at the beginning of my career got me to a job where I'm not even asked to do overtime and I'm working for a bigger paper and I'm making more money. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, and if a young journalist asked me how to get ahead, I'd tell them what I wrote. You have to make the decisions that are best for you.

Now, it's an entirely different situation if the boss never told you not to work overtime. If there was no directive that overtime pay wasn't available, you absolutely should put your hours down. And you may get that stern talking-to, at which point you'll be at the juncture where you have a personal decision to make.