Submitted by dmb41carter36 on
in
Forums
What has worked for other people to balance work time when they have had to work some nights/weekends?
I have several training sessions coming up where the total training time during non-normal work hours is about 10 hours over a two week span. My normal working hours are 7-4.
My options that I have thought of:
1. Do nothing. Store the time as "Goodwill" with the employer
2, Ask for 1 full day off during the two week period
3. Come home (ie. 2p) /go in late(ie. 9am) for the days I will be doing the night shift training.
Ask
Do you have a peer that might have been in this situation before? Is there a company "norm"? For instance, if we send you to a trainer, you get paid for your workday, travel time is "on your own" - you don't get compensatory time off for that travel. (And we regularly travel 2-4 hours for training, each way)
If I was coming in to train my own staff, I would approach it differently. First, if you've been up on the night shift, are you effective at 7:00 a.m. or should you be sleeping an extra hour or two? Approach it from org value, rather than how many "hours you are owed".
For instance, if I did training from 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., I'd consider coming back to work for 9:00 a.m. the next day, in order to get a rest period. Anything earlier than midnight, I'd likely be at my desk on time. Weekend work - assuming it is days, I'd be at my desk on time & build "goodwill".
Run any plan past your boss first. You might find out that s/he intended you to do something differently.