Sunday 17 March 2019

Would you rather get paid for your OT hours or get time off?

I have been working late for the past 2 weeks and my colleagues and I do have conversations about working overtime with them.

Among my colleagues, there are polytechnic graduates and they earn less than $2500 and the rest of us who have degrees, earn more than $2500.



So then, they are eligible for OT pay. Assuming we stay back about 3 hours each day and for 5 days per week, this means they can claim for about 15 hours per week.

This can add up to a substantial amount since it's been about 2 weeks consecutively that this has been happening and there is more to come.

On the other hand, when our boss heard that since we earn more than $2500, then we are not eligible for OT pay, she suggested for us to log down our hours and claim off with that.

I have to say that it was rather nice of her to suggest that.

My colleagues were actually asking me if I preferred having the time off or to have OT pay, I told her that I would prefer having the OT pay instead.



She mention that she was happy with the time off as it meant that she could have more off days to go on her trips or to rest.

According to the MOM website, the OT rate is $11.80 per hour so if we were to take 3 X $11.80 X 1.5 =  $53.10 then we OT for 2 weeks so 10 X $51.30 = $513. 

Wow, a pretty substantial amount can be earned through that 2 weeks. There were even 2 Saturdays where we went back to office to work.

Of course, everyday was so tiring as we reached home late and needed to be back in office to continue that same routine. 



This would be going on for some time so we would need to take care of ourselves as us being sick right now would mean that our colleagues would need to cover for us.

But I am glad that my colleagues and I have slowly gotten close and with most of them around my age, we do have many common topics.

And considering the amount of time we spend together everyday, I am just happy that we enjoy the company of each other.

Next week would also be a busy period as the company undergoes system migration, hopefully everything goes well so next month wouldn't be as busy.

1 comment:

  1. If possible I prefer a combination. I think most will prefer OT pay up to a certain level of work intensity, be it in terms of hours or stress (both mental or physical). After which, time off in lieu would probably be more precious. My own threshold is probably around 60 hrs per week i.e. more than that & I'll go for more time off.

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