Quote:
Originally Posted by peter12
I'm totally on your side with this one. Don't be a slave for a company.
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Agreed. I'm honestly surprised at the amount of people who are quick to say it's a good opportunity and to shut up and accept it. I know we are all feel lucky to have well paying jobs in Canada compared to other places. But to me that reeks of people who have been traumatized by living through various recessions where people they know/themselves have lost their jobs and they think everyone be happy to simply have a job.
To a certain extent that is true, but employers nowadays are taking advantage of that mentality to get more work out of their workers for less pay, now more then ever. A lot also depends on OP's situation. If he is a junior level worker looking to improve his skillset and make his name known throughout the company, then I agree with accepting the additional work with no argument. When you're the new guy or a fresh graduate, it's good to get your feet wet by getting to know all aspects of the company.
However if you're a 20 year vet with a long service record and family to take care of, you absolutely 100% ask for additional compensation. Remember, you're not a volunteer. As a blue collar worker your #1 objective isn't to do the company any favors or to try to save the company money. You're #1 objective is to earn a living to support yourself, and you do that by earning fair compensation for the work you do.
Last year we had some people leave my company and first thing the boss told me I was expected to pick up some of the slack, as no new hire was going to happen. I had already said yes to doing that the year before when someone left so I was fully loaded with work everyday. But now I was expected to have the responsibilities of 3 people with this request. I'm a pretty good ''yes man'' at my work and I know my boss was fully expecting me to comply. But this wasn't acceptable to me any longer. I straight up told him I expect additional compensation for doing this extra work. I told him if I wasn't paid accordingly, I would transfer to another position. While I wasn't given anything extra (doesn't hurt to ask), his refusal set the wheels in motion for me to get a new job with more pay and less stressful work a couple months later. Had I agreed to what he asked me, I would have been doing the work for 3 people for less pay then what I make now and living a life of stress.
Don't ever be a slave to the company and think that you will be rewarded for your eagerness to help. I've learned over the past decade and a half at my company that the real world doesn't work that way, and when it does happen it's few and far in between. That is especially true for large companies where you are simply a cell in a spreadsheet. The ONLY person who benefits from that is your own boss who can now tell his boss that he managed to save money by not hiring someone else and yet found a way to get the work done.
A good motto to live by is do your co-workers and work friend's favors to help out the team. But never ever do the company a favor because very rarely will they do the same for you.
This isn't some Asian country that is allowed to overwork their workers to keep costs low. This is Canada and you are entitled to fair pay for the work you do.