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This shouldn’t be news to people but it is.
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Did agency make it one of the job requirements?
Then No.
Agencies also have the right to say No to clients.
It’s the constant Yes that perpetuates the mental health problems as a whole from burnout and overworking.
It’s completely unethical to fire someone for not working on weekends. Our jobs are not curing cancer. There was 40 hours in that weeks available for this to be accomplished. It is up to the management, client, and employee to schedule their time effectively in order to get the job done in 40 hours. This would obviously be different if the contract stated different hours.
There is much more to life than working.
We’re in SE Asia (Singapore and Indonesia), but our clients are everywhere / all over the world.
(And when I talk about our rates being lower than average, I mean in comparison to any international-standard agency/studio/production house – we’re *not* a cut-rate Asian resource. We’re actually far more expensive than our local peers.)
(Plus Singapore is expensive AF – you don’t go shopping for services in Singapore and expect a bargain.)
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I think they’d just look for another reason
If this is just one person in an agency of people that do work the weekend from time to time, I’m guessing the agency won’t have to look far to find another reason.
Are you giving comp time to your team for having to work nights and weekends and/or giving them a spot bonus? Alternatively, could you ask people to shift days so you get the “full week coverage” without burning them out. Maybe stagger them to get the project done? We do this for colleagues all the time when there are client activities that must occur on the weekend.
I WANT people on my teams who set good boundaries, communicate needs, etc. We’ve built a collaborative and trusting culture this way where people are willing to help nights/weekend because they know it’s rare and that we are all in it together
Research seems to support that we shouldn’t be working more than 50 hours/week if you want to optimize productivity, health, relationships, etc. I really subscribe to this model as a manager and client lead and we exceed our forecast every month and have very happy clients. Obviously we all want team players...so if you need/want this person to overwork in the short term, maybe finding out what motivates them (comp day, $$, etc) could be helpful.
@SVP you nailed it. It’s not always someone not being a team player, but someone saying enough is enough already.
I’ve personally finally after six months said enough is enough. Deliverable X won’t get done with the resources we have right now. It may have come across as not being a team player, especially when someone says “we are all over allocated.” Here then lies the problem.
Being over allocated for over six months isn’t someone having to work a weekend, it’s a systematic problem that keeps being over looked bc no one says anything. More importantly, it doesn’t get addressed until it affects the bottom line and a deliverable is missed.
Zero reason anyone should have to work 60 hrs a week for over 6 months.
As the owner of an agency that takes work/life balance seriously, I would say that this is open to interpretation and depends on the circumstances. To start with: if working on weekends (in addition to a full-time M-F workweek) is even a SEMI-regular occurrence, that's bullshit and the agency management needs to get their act together. Hire more people so that the work can be done during the actual workweek and set proper boundaries with clients. It's not that complicated.
On the other hand, if you're creative lead on an account and a massive launch is about to happen and it needs to go live on Monday at 6am and there are loose ends that need to be tied up over the weekend (and this isn't a regular occurance; it's a one-off), then you're kinda a dick if you refuse to do it. All industries have *occasional* nights / weekends.
So, to me, the key here is: how often is this happening, and is it something that actually *needs* to happen over the weekend? If it's once in a while (like no more than every few months) and it's for legit reasons, then people should be responsible professionals and handle their duties.
If it's shit that could have been done Monday through Friday and is being pushed to the weekend because of understaffing or shitty client boundaries, or if it's happening all the time, then you absolutely should refuse to do it. (With the caveat that... yes, there's the very real possibility that they'll fire you, as fucked up as that is...)
This is the business we’ve chosen.
i never asked who made the call...
If the agency doesn’t have some sort of agreement or policy that it’s OK for people to not work weekends all the time, then I don’t understand how anybody could make such a statement. If work needs to get done in order to hit agency deadlines and this person is not available, and if any of that work falls behind, then that person needs to be replaced with someone who is more available. Again it all depends on the policy of the agency.
As for being fired, you can be fired for pretty much anything or in some cases nothing. Happens all the time.
Having said all that, everybody has weekends where it’s simply impossible to work because of personal commitments. But if there’s some sort of reason were you simply cannot work the weekend every single weekend, I think this is something you would have to work out in some sort of contract.
I would advise to document. And find a good labor attorney.
Yes! Agree.
It’s absolutely not fair to fire someone for not working extra hours. Even if the die hard capitalists in agencies say otherwise. A good manager will motivate and inspire their teams to want to go above and beyond especially when it’s crunch time for big projects. If you can’t accomplish this and win people’s loyalty and respect, then that’s on you as a leader, not them. The best work comes when people are motivated, inspired and ambitious rather than forced to participate
We devote 5 of our 7 days to working for someone else. We get 2 days for everything else in our lives. Expecting those 2 days to stay protected isn’t ridiculous or toxic, it’s fucking essential.
Candidly - it depends on what was agreed at the point of hire. If a person agreed to working weekends when they joined and now refuse, then they should be looking to negotiation a formal change in the expectation.
If this is more of a "creeping in" expectation, then I agree with most of the sentiments here that it's a gross misconduct on the part of the business. Leaders in agencies need to be advocating for their people and making GREAT work - not making work.
PRO TIP: when you're joining an agency you absolutely should be checking on their culture around working conditions and factor that into your decision making.
This question is a perfect example of why unionization should be a topic we talk about more.
Don't be scum.
Possible? Yes. Fair? Debatable.
You can be fired for anything other than what's legally prohibited.
Depends on what state you live in. If you live in a "Hire and fire at free will" state, such as NY, they don't need a reason. So, if they don't like the shoes you're wearing, they would just fire you without a reason, and you would never know why. In this case, if the boss said you have to work, and you didn't, you could get fired for insubordination. Or, they could just lay you off. You never need a reason for laying off someone. Bottom line...if they want to get rid of you, they will.
isn’t all of the US at-will employment?
Promote that person.