paulr

My employer wants me to go on a work related course on one of my days off,and they dont want to pay me.They reckon its for my benefit.It is i guess,but also theirs too.

Has anyone else had this?My instinct is to refuse.

StiShrek

refuse

anything connected with work should not go unpaid

he is trying it on..pretend you know employment law and quote article 231 of the Euratom treaty (actually the atomic energy treaty between certain scandinavian countries but he wont know - LOL!)

AnDy_PaNdY

Depends how much you want to go really.
My employer would never try that on me, but he would with others in the department
Take an extra sickie to cover the day

paulr

They wont,and cant,force me to go,they know that....i just wondered if this happens anywhere else?...

StiShrek

i have done loads of temping jobs in the past where they have actually not paid me for a trial 1 or 2 day period.

I was forest gump and accepted this as the norm but no more.

stand up for your work rights or get get taken for a ride all the time.

scooby-new

My ex-company tried this stuff on with me.........I always refused......particularly enjoyed telling my pompous mananger that "I have a life outside work and it doesnt involve doing courses in my free time". They never gave me overtime to do the courses (they were all held at the weekend or after work 100 miles away!) so I never got the training which in my line of work meant I couldnt do half the jobs they needed me to do! Meant I finished at 1 pm every day and got paid for a full day.

Don't do anything unless they pay you for it.

paulr

Anyone else?...

taffyboyo

paulr, as you said its in your interest, imho you should do everything you can to improve yourself.
Why cant you be grateful the company has put you on a course,
maybe next time they will see you are eager and offer to pay you,

midget1500

<<My employer wants me to go on a work related course on one of my days off>>

they think the course is important for you to attend yet not important enough to pay you to attend?

f**k that - it's your day off, and that is exactly what it should be. i smell another work ethic debate type thread (as per the recent one) emerging - we've already had the "you should go..." reply.

paulr

....or maybe once they've got away with it they'll keep trying it on.
I just feel that wherever you look,workers rights are being eroded.

krankyd

one of my old companies tried to get me to cancel a holiday to go on a course.

not bloody likely!

If it's work related, it's work paid, through and through.

If you're not up for loosing pay over it, refuse to go on the course.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Thats shady, but depends on whether you want to keep your job !

I work for the Police and go on more courses than I can keep up with, I would rather do some work occasionally.

Nick n Jewels

Ask for a compromise that suits you both ie: time in leiu of the day off spent on the course..........

Tell them you're willing to complete the course but it has to benefit both of you.........WIN WIN situation........not a WIN LOSE!

Jewels

Adrian F

I start a 10 week course next week at night school which i need for work and i have been rewarded for being good by them paying the course fee my time you must be dreaming! Of course i could refuse but then i don't get the qualification which could help me get a better paid job.

StiShrek

of course it is a different matter altogether if they throw in some complementary ladies

Bill Poster

I really don't understand this "worker versus management" attitude. I spent years going to night school after a full day's work to qualify. My rewards came when I was able to get jobs that paid more than if I was not qualified.

Take the mature line, and take advantage of the opportunity being given to you. Let these others carry on untrained and in their mundane workaday existences.

MooseRacer

Ditto wot Bill just said.

P1Fanatic

Ive always been given time off in lieu. If it wasnt offered I would probably still go as it makes you look eager, is something to add to ur CV etc. Obviously this depends on the relevance of your course.

As others have said - you can always claim the day used as a sick day later in the year if your that worried about wasting your own time.

Simon.

Bill Poster

Claim a sick day?

What is this - the skive culture?

TurboKitty

I think it's take the p1ss culture. The company, that is.

There's no way I would attend a training course for work, unpaid, on my day off.

FERRARINUTTER

Any training is of benefit, OK so its your day off, it might just be the course that makes you click and go get a new job for more money and less hours.........

Used to be a trainer (many years ago for a blu chip company) and negotiation skills was excellent.

After the training people would negotiate on fridges, tv's etc....many came back with great discouts something they would never have done before.....Life altering - definately, happier - you bet

Regacy

Do you know how much the course costs?
Is it of genuine benefit to you personally?
Would it enhance your CV?
Are you working in a buoyant market with lots of alternative opportunities?

It's only one day!
If it's on your time maybe you'll concentrate harder and get more benefit out of it?
Or may be you'll refuse and lump yourself in with the other work-shy jobsworths on here at the top of the list for the next round of redundancies!
Still less competition for the rest of us who are still keen to get on and make a good impression to further our own careers.
r

midget1500

I think a lot of people are missing the point. We are paid to work to do a certain job. No matter how well we do that job is irrelevant to being asked to effectively work on your day off. you work for the company under the agreement of so many hours a day, so many days a year. for them to then try and break this agreement is unacceptable and really taking the ****. I mean, if you use up all your holidays but then decide, oh, today i need to go do something i'll just tell my employer i'm not coming in - do you think it would work in the same manner? no.

i hate when people get all high and mighty and bash on about being lazy workers etc whenever it's your HOLIDAY for gawds sake and you are damn well entitled to it and for your employer to try and make you think otherwise is really chancing their arm. if they are so keen for you to go on the course (i.e. they think it will be of value to THEM) then surely they should pay for you to attend. people mentioned that it's for your benefit too, well yes it may indeed be but if it was only for your benefit they would hardly send you on the course.

also, an additional point - as people have said before, the company will treat different people differently, i.e. some people they will phone on their day off and ask for help etc, and other people they wouldn't dare phone. once you set a precendent they WILL just walk all over you. sad but true.

Toerag

If you have, say, 1st friday a month off, and that's when the course is and they can't change it then I'd press hard for a day in lieu. If you do go, then it's an extra bargaining tool for you to use in appraisals etc. A 1 day course is likely to be **** though.

scooby-new

It's not a worker V mgmnt issue....its whether a company tries to take the p*ss and do everything on the cheap ie not pay you for your time. The only time it would be worthwhile would be if you can get the training at their epxense then p*ss off to a decent company who wouldn't dream of abusing their staff in such a manner.
As for mundane jobs- I have that "bad" attitude- I work 6 months out of 12 (by choice) own a scooby, Golf GTI and various properties in the UK and elsewhere and live in the south of France- that's where my attitude got me today!

Scot123

Lets look at the worker vs the management issue for a minute.

Companies are in business for one reason - PROFIT. To make money.
Profit must be maintained at all costs. If sales are falling for what ever reason ie downturn in the market or *BAD MANAGEMENT*, history has shown us that it is usually the 'workers' who suffer first. (After all the CEO and upper management must have the inflation busting rises which they are accustomed to even if it is at the expense of some poor sods on the shop/office floor)

If people, sorry- work-shy jobsworths, hadn't stood up against unfair management, we would still be working in conditions the likes of which we seen centuries ago.

The them and us senario also suits management as well.... Do you really think we button up the back? Its funny how its normally them who are unwilling to be reasonable and fair when the **** hits the fan.
I think its a bit unfair to label employees who work their contracted hours and look forward to going home to see their families as lazy gits. You may find some of these people as your most productive workers. You should be expected to work hard to keep your job/help you company survive but nowhere in your contract does it say you have to be prepared to come into work, drop your trousers and bend over in the name of profit!

As for 'making a good impression' surely you can do this by taking a pride in what you do and doing it to the best of your abilities? Trouble is all those good impressions count for buggery when the axe falls. I know that from experience. I also know from experience that the 'ones' who get kept on or further themselves are usually the truly lazy wretches who indulge in 'extra curriclua' activites for their superiors. Chaffuering the boss and his drunk pals back from the golf club, doing his garden, decorating the house, taking the wife shopping etc.

midget1500

Scot - TOO TRUE. All of it.

Leslie

It appears to me that firms these days are too eager to exploit their workforce. I think it is disgraceful that people are expected to work hours and hours of unpaid overtime with the unspoken threat of not appearing to be "part of the Team" against them if they dont. We all need our own time as well as working to be with our families etc and to get a bit of a rest from the pressure. That is the best way to get the best performance out of people anyway.

I bet there is some bright spark who will make capital out of the fact he conned you into attending this course without being paid for your time. Its up to you but I would tell them to get lost!

Les

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

Do the course
And take 2 days off sick as compensation

Regacy

you're all fired