Have you guys been seeing an increase of this term “built in overtime”?
I've got a decent gig, only work three days a week with minimal responsibility but I'm always keeping my ear to the ground. I've been seeing more and more offers with this term. When I ask about why this is seen as a positive selling point, all communication stops. To me it just advertises an understaffed position where you will be expected to work way more, giving up more and more of your time to make what you should have been making for a standardish 40-hour week.
It seems pretty laughable to tell me that base pay is 65k but some net 85k after probably having to toil doing the jobs of two people or more. So, I usually ask if instead of built-in overtime maybe we could exchange that for profit sharing or stock options…. That's when they try to push me out the door. A month later I'm hearing from them again with the same lame offer.
I've had a few of these conversations this year. Usually when I have a sometime to burn or want to get out on the bike. Most times I get the “this is the standard pay for this position” type shit. My first question is, “are you dealing with the entire industry or me”? As soon as I advocate for myself the tone changes. I'll ask how long the position has been open for and why. The time these positions have been open for seem to be growing but the offers never seem to get better. So why the built-in overtime bullshit? It's because they don't want to offer anything significant to anyone even if the company is profiting.
Something else I hear is, “That's all I'm authorized to offer”. So, you're in charge of the revolving door here, not employee retention? It's an interesting phycological trick to get someone to think that company policy matters at all to anyone. Company policy says I can't get anything over an 8% pay increase per whatever? Okay then, see ya later.
I like to do a good job and take pride in my work but sometimes an attitude of I don't give a fuck will take you a long way too. Built in overtime…. yeah, go fuck yourself.