This may be a case where we think in extremes: staying late vs. leaving early. What about getting in on time and leaving on time? Productivity is more important, I think. If we learn to manage our time then we can get lots of work done in the 8 hours we’re hired for. Maybe less chatter with the ‘friends’ at work, hmm?

Staying late? Insist on overtime pay or compensatory time off, gainful employment is not a volunteer position. A good supervisor will reward subordinates who work late to resolve emergencies, but working late as a rule means the office is understaffed or unqualified to perform the workload.

As for the staying late at work, it depends upon the culture of the workplace. If you’re still not getting a raise or promotion, why not ask for it? If they still don’t give you that, then I think the wise decision is to ship out and find a better job.

After darn near dying of overwork and concomitant stress — with years passing and not even a COLA increase, to say nothing of a real raise in pay — I came to the conclusion that you should put in only as many hours as you are paid for. Then stop. So, eventually, did several of my colleagues.

We now provide as much work as the Great Desert University pays us for, and no more than that. You are not paid to work yourself to death!

Case in point, I am always friendly with the Janitors and Cleaners and they have always given me supplies right away when I ask. But on the other end I have gotten to be friends with a few coworkers and lets just say I wished i was not. What I mean is that they start to ask me to do all sorts of things just because they think I’am their best friend.

On another note, where you say that people should leave on time. I have gotten different opinions from other books and other people that I have talked to. All of these people have told me that you should arrive early and be the last one to leave, so-to-speak. I have seen the staying late philosophy receiving more attention in my own workplace. My boss has mention numerous times various coworkers who have stayed late to finish jobs and they mostly have own employees of the month. I think it is more perception than anything, those who stay late are seen as those who are dedicated and hard workers. It might be good for you to leave early, but in the eyes of others it might not be.

Noooo…..

My best friend got hired by another of my good friends, who was director of an academic program in the department where I was teaching. She got the job partly on my recommendation. Said “best friend” systematically undermined the program so that she could engineer a salary three times what her new position would ordinarily earn. The long & short of it: the program ended up without support staff and lost the office space its director had fought like a cat to acquire — “best friend” engrossed the position and the office space to build her own little empire elsewhere in the College.

Since she knew our mutual friend would relay tales of this Machiavellian project, the alleged “best friend” cut off all communication with me and forbade her husband to speak to me. She’s making a ton of money in what is actually a support position — as much as the program’s director, a tenured professor with twelve years’ teaching and administrative experience at the institution. Hope it was worth it.

Personally, I’d advise the exact opposite: make friends outside the workplace and build a polite but healthy distance between yourself and coworkers. Never do business with friends!