TL;DR: want to ask for a raise but don’t know what a reasonable amount would be
Hey everyone, I’m burned out and need advice on how to demand either a raise, fewer hours, or both.
Backstory: I was raised by boomer parents to be a good little corporate slave-never take days off unless it’s an emergency, earn what money you do make, don’t turn down extra opportunities for work, yadda yadda. It’s turned me into a coward when talking with people who could potentially fire me, so I end up spinelessly agreeing to everything. All the dumb hoops to jump through, all the extra shifts, almost anything for their convenience because ‘staying at one place for a long time looks good on your resume’. It’s screwed me over when working for past jobs and it’s really screwing me over now.
Anyways I recently moved halfway across the country to have more of a social life. In doing so, I found a job related to my expertise that paid enough to afford a place to live/bills/etc. It’s working 12 hour graveyard shifts on-site, 3 days on-4 days off-4 on-3 off, rinse, repeat. Wasn’t thrilled about the graveyard but they gave me decent starting pay and a small sum to help with the move, plus the sliver of hope that I could move to days when the schedule allowed. Whatever, at least it’ll pay my dues and I can be closer to friends. That was 10 months ago and I feel cheated. The work itself isn’t bad, but the long hours, especially overnight really get to me. We only get 40 hours PTO per year (the bare minimum they legally have to provide for full-time employees in my state). Because of this I haven’t taken any sick days and have only been ‘late’ once (called in ahead but they still counted it as a tardy because it was for a vet appointment, not a human medical reason). Three other people have left in my department in the past 4 months – all for valid reasons. This has left the nights on other half of the week without sufficient coverage for over a month now meaning I’ve been the primary one picking up that OT. Sure the money is a plus but it has left me with 0 time to have a life. Since I’ve been bending over backwards for them (not to mention rent is increasing 7% this year), I’d like to ask for a raise but am unsure of how much to ask for. What would you recommend, or am I being unreasonable?