I've been working at a small company for a while now in an office. I've been “on call” without additional pay since July, working almost 70 hours a week.
I shared in early September that I was burning out and not able to continue working so much. We have put an after hours answering service in place finally but it took an additional 9 hours on top of my on call hours to get everything set up.
I have bipolar disorder (something my employer does not know, he has under 15 employees and I would not have protection or the ability to have reasonable accomodations through the ADA). I do not do well under intense stress or overworking. I manage my symptoms with medication, a strict routine and appropriate time to recharge. Without the ability to decompress regularly I struggle.
2 weeks ago my operations manager mentioned I seemed frustrated.
I was. I sent a message after hours explaining that I was upset no one took any after hours shifts of on call or ordered help when I said I was burning out. I had asked for help and was told their time with family was important.
I have recently been given official hours of 7:30-4:30 Monday through Friday with a lunch by the Operations manager. Yay. It has also included a new job description I haven't signed. They want me to continue doing two jobs until they “find someone”.
I asked for a raise as I had been promised 3 months ago and my boss tells me I'm not a team player and since I insisted on 40 hours a week he's having second thoughts on giving me a raise. He will reconsider in the future if I continue to show commitment to the company.
Should I leave? Absolutely. But I really can't. I work 5 minutes from my house and I am paid reasonably well ($53k). The job market is trash.
All this to say, going above and beyond is crap. You will never be on your death bed wishing you had worked more. I won't get back the 6 months I've killed myself for this misogynistic tool. I will however maliciously comply and stop going above and beyond.
New project? No thanks I don't have the bandwidth. Want me to train the new person? Sorry I am not managing them, you can have some notes but that's beyond the scope of my job description.
And at 4:30 on the dot I'm clocking out and shutting off my phone.