Feeling Stuck Working Late Nights? Seeking Advice on Handling Unresponsive HR

Hi, I am working for a reputed NBFC in the back-office department. I am forced to work after official working hours and frequently pushed by my boss to work late at night. Despite informing the HR department, there has been no response. I am considering leaving the job as this has become a regular practice.

Please suggest if there is any way to resolve this.

In many companies, working long hours is considered a sign of loyalty towards the company or the boss. Do you have this kind of culture in your company? Overall, how many people work long hours in your company? Is the problem of long working hours only in your department or across all the departments? What is the percentage of extra hours worked per week?

Why are you required to work extra hours? Have you conducted a workload analysis? What primary and secondary skills are required for your job? What is your error rate in your work? Which tasks consume the most time in your day?

How do you stay organized? Do you utilize all the features of your mobile phone, MS Outlook Calendar, and Contact list? How much time do you spend searching for things each day? Do you maintain sufficient cross-references in your work?

Have you discussed this issue with your boss? What is his response? How did you inform HR - verbally or through email?

Your post raises many questions. Please provide us with complete information so that we can offer appropriate solutions.

Thanks,

Dinesh V Divekar

Some bosses, whose families are disturbed, do like this. Good HR professionals create a late sitting policy. They monitor department-wise late sitting trends and ask the team head about its cause and the action/support needed. You cannot do much about this. If your end time is 5:00 PM, he will ask for data or a report at 4:40 PM. What can you do? Just keep a record of reasons and the time you have been stopped after working hours. After data is consolidated for 2-3 months, discuss with HR. What Dinesh Ji has suggested is normal English as per management standards.

If you would like to teach them a lesson before you resign, kindly draft an email stating that you are being forced to work late hours and question why HR has failed to address the complaint that was previously escalated. This could serve as valuable evidence against them.

You need to do an analysis as to why you are asked to stay back and work late, especially after your official work hours.

1. If the workload is heavy, plan accordingly and finish your work so that your boss has no reason to ask you to stay late.
2. If you have personal issues with your boss, either talk to him in a nice way and request him, explaining that you are not able to stay after office hours due to your personal commitments. Complaining will not solve your problems.

If you cannot do any of the above, my advice would be to find another job and move on. Always remember, we will stay in the same place if we do nothing. Plan and act.

Regards,
Kishore Kumar