No more overtime...

[Cadet]

Ask the bosses if they can give you an extra week of vacation instead, since you know you'll be hitting a bare minimum of two or three hours of overtime each week (I'm just guessing here).

This is a good idea, but you have to be sure to get it in writing. An e-mail chain leaves a paper trail.

 

[ServeItUp]

There has been a moratorium on overtime at all six shops where I've worked in the last 11 years, save for the production of special sections and coverage of big events. I figured it wasn't the least bit unusual. The suggestion to not work over 40 in the first place is the best one I've seen.

 

[Gold]

Whenever confronted with a decision about working unpaid overtime (not a couple of hours, but to the point where you are averaging 50 or more hours a week) ask yourself this question?

Does working these extra hours help me in my career?

There may be instances where a story or experience may be helpful or pay off down the road, but that usually isn't the case.

Working 10 uncompensated hours is 10 hours you could be using to look for a better job or 10 hours you can do freelance work or 10 hours you can use to work on your own book.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Whenever confronted with a decision about working unpaid overtime (not a couple of hours, but to the point where you are averaging 50 or more hours a week) ask yourself this question?

Does working these extra hours help me in my career?

There may be instances where a story or experience may be helpful or pay off down the road, but that usually isn't the case.

Working 10 uncompensated hours is 10 hours you could be using to look for a better job or 10 hours you can do freelance work or 10 hours you can use to work on your own book.

That's the mature, real-world worldview.

Laboring at bottom-feeding chain papers who are exploiting workers so their execs and shareholders can get fat ain't what this is about. Life's short, and you can bet that the proprietors aren't looking to operate a charity.

Simply, such operators aren't deserving of such kindnesses. There may be isolated exceptions to this blanket statement -- but not many.

 

[expendable]

Man, reading some of these threads makes me realize why I've been where I've been for eight years. Sure, it's lacking in several categories, but they'll pay the editorial staff overtime. I was even told that overtime hours were expected in order to do the job right.

 

[Joe Williams]

Whenever confronted with a decision about working unpaid overtime (not a couple of hours, but to the point where you are averaging 50 or more hours a week) ask yourself this question?

Does working these extra hours help me in my career?

There may be instances where a story or experience may be helpful or pay off down the road, but that usually isn't the case.

Working 10 uncompensated hours is 10 hours you could be using to look for a better job or 10 hours you can do freelance work or 10 hours you can use to work on your own book.

That's the mature, real-world worldview.

Laboring at bottom-feeding chain papers who are exploiting workers so their execs and shareholders can get fat ain't what this is about. Life's short, and you can bet that the proprietors aren't looking to operate a charity.

Simply, such operators aren't deserving of such kindnesses. There may be isolated exceptions to this blanket statement -- but not many.

And anyone pushing a guilt trip on you, about how you won't get far in life counting your hours, is just playing you. There's no way what you do in hours Nos. 41-60+ are more important or say more about you than what you do in hours Nos. 1-40.

Some people seem to confuse a refusal to work overtime when a particular task or assignment requires it, with a refusal to work overtime for free. Nothing wrong, ever, with the latter.

And working X number of hours for free will only make those bosses savor the idea of paying lower hourly wages in general. If they get 60 hrs per week out of your $30K, they'll soon enough start to dream of getting those 60 hrs out of someone making $23K. So you only hurt yourself either way.

Now, if Babe Ruth comes back from the dead and you have to put in a few extra hours for an exclusive, I'd say ignore all of the above. Because that might actually help your career.

 

[Bob Slydell]

I was informed, right before going home for my Christmas "holiday", that we're not allowed to work overtime anymore.

Basically, I'm a one-man sports department with a small stringer budget. I never abused to OT system but it was nice to get a little extra on those weeks when I had to put in some extra time to get everything done (which was at least a few hours most weeks)...

Is this pretty standard in the business now? We're a Heartland paper, and they seem to be squeezing us from every angle since they took us over last year (no Christmas bonus, doubling of insurance to keep my wife and kids on their plan, etc).

What to do if I "run out of hours" on the eve of the big game between my rival schools? Of course, go home. But then I come across looking lazy to our readers...

Kind of frustrating... I guess that's the business now days ... For the first time in my 10+ years of working in newspapers, I'm seriously pondering getting out. And I've always felt I was made to do this, but I just keep hitting the wall with how corporate everything has become - run everyone into the ground telling them to do four jobs, trim the product until it's bare bones and then wonder why circulation keeps dropping...

They can't make you work for free. Either they have to pay you OT or comp time. Or they'll tell you to cut back on covering games, which should really help boost circulation.

 

[expendable]

You could make a statement that overtime hours are sometimes the most important by giving no detail of an overtime period in a gamer. Just the first four quarters.

 

[sweetbreads bailey]

I was even told that overtime hours were expected in order to do the job right.

There's a novel idea.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Here's a mathamatical example of a company screwing a worker for unpaid overtime, just for some perspective. Let's say a journalist makes $10 per hour at some small daily or weekly.

Let's say that journalist averages 50 hours a week over 50 weeks, with two weeks of vacation that is actually taken. Some weeks, the journalist works 55 hours, other weeks 45. Maybe 60 during the busiest times, or if there's major breaking story, and 40 during the summer.

Time-and-a-half is $15 per hour, meaning $150 for 10 extra hours. Multiply $150 by 50 weeks and you've got $7,500 before taxes each year. If you work there for five years, you're having $37,500 taken out of your pocket. That's $75,000 for 10 years, $300,000 if you work there 40 years.

Like I said earlier, if you really love journalism, my hat's off to you or if you are really desperate, then I wish the best of luck. But this is how the people at the top can afford such nice things, while you are living on Ramen noodles and hoping for that big break, which, the way papers have been chopping jobs, is getting harder and harder to accomplish. I wish all journalists the best of luck.

 

[aeroking]

This may sound impossible. But what I've done in the past, whether for myself or for someone on my staff, is spell it out for your direct supervison. "In 40 hours this week, I can cover X, X, X, and X. If you want me to cover Y, tell me which X to skip." If your boss tells you to do it all, then they are breaking the law. And putting you "on salary" is bull****, especially if you're not managing a staff. Just put the honus back on them. I know it compromises your professionalism, but this is a business. It is up to that newspaper to determine what level of coverage it will provide. If Wendy's can serve 50 people an hour with 4 people, for the 12 hours they're open, then can they expecd to extend to 24 hours a day with the same 4 people? Nope. And do those 4 people feel bad that someone at 4 a.m. doesn't get a burger because they're home sleeping? Nope. It's business. If Merrill Lynch can advise 10 clients a week with 3 brokers, can they expect those same brokers to service 20 clients? Nope. Unless they're working on commission, and are compensated for working 80 hours a week. Do those brokers feel bad that you're looking for help on Friday afternoon at 4:55? Nope. They're about to go home to their kids. Call back Monday. Guess what, Mr. Publisher. **** you, and call back Monday.

We love what we do. We're not volunteers.

 

[Tom Petty]

it's illegal to pay someone a salary if they don't supervise a staff of three or more in every state i've worked.


that is all.

 

[Joe Williams]

I was about to say that I'm gratified to see so few "love what you do and the money will follow" types checking in here. Or those who contend that unpaid overtime will get you that big career break, in an industry offering hardly any anymore.

Then I realized that all those guys have been working 20 extra hours, unpaid, during the Christmas week and haven't had the time to log in.

Meanwhile, the managing editor and the publisher are sending their kids to schools the dedicated journos never will be able to afford. To repeat the cycle for the next generation.

 

[ballscribe]

You got overtime?
And A Christmas bonus?

I figure the OT I worked doing the MLB beat solo for 8+ years at not unadjacent to a cool million.

Wish I had it in my grubby little hands now; would have taken the buyout they recently offered and headed to Tahiti. :D

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

I've talked about this before.
I'm not a huge fan of comp time in lieu of OT. Sure, it's better to get something, but at the same time, I often found there was no way I could take all of mine with the way my last few papers wanted me to cover a beat. I ended up carrying over a ton of it to the next year, and generally, I'd have so much I'd know well in advance unless I took a straight month off I was never going to catch up.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

I've talked about this before.
I'm not a huge fan of comp time in lieu of OT. Sure, it's better to get something, but at the same time, I often found there was no way I could take all of mine with the way my last few papers wanted me to cover a beat. I ended up carrying over a ton of it to the next year, and generally, I'd have so much I'd know well in advance unless I took a straight month off I was never going to catch up.

Just another way of being played. Well-familiar with the scenario. Working for self-centered social psychopaths is no way to go through life.

 

[Joe Williams]

I ended up carrying over a ton of it to the next year, and generally, I'd have so much I'd know well in advance unless I took a straight month off I was never going to catch up.

Yeah, so take the month then. Or take a little 99 cent calendar into a quick meeting with your boss and tell him, "OK, let's map out these comp days I'm going to take." When you hit Dec. 31 and there still is time owed to you, then you request cash.

Or try this: Let the comp time build up, so you can have a nice cushion when you leave the business, walk out with a bigger check than you otherwise would have and use part of it to buy a few suits for a real job.

 

[PHINJ]

The bottom line is everyone should look to get out of the business.

It's not a 9-to-5 job and it never was. Never will be.

 

[Tom Petty]

either stop breaking labor laws and pay overtime or lower your standards.

 

[pressmurphy]

What to do if I "run out of hours" on the eve of the big game between my rival schools? Of course, go home. But then I come across looking lazy to our readers...

You need to be a flawless planner from this point forward. If you have a big ball game coming up on Friday, be sure to pace yourself Monday through Thursday so that you can still do the Friday game and still have hours available to do whatever needs to be handled over the weekend.

Make sure your boss knows that you're working out these weekly plans. Then, when an all-hell-breaks-loose happens and you've already reached 40 hours by Thursday night and the state ice hockey final is on Saturday, ask your boss how he/she wants to handle it.

Boss can't possibly say skip it, so either:

-- You get paid OT
-- You get comp time/slide time
-- The paper doesn't cover the game at all
-- The M.E. assigns the features editor to cover the game. Said editor dutifully writes about three points being scored in the third quarter to clinch the win.

Readers will not assign the blame to you. Trust me.