I'm still finding it hard to conceive that you guys have no idea what you're time is worth.
Some of you are talking about working 40 - 60 hour weeks, away from home, being on call 24x7 and seem to have no idea what your time is worth.
I have no idea how much your job fulfils you, but with no idea of your remuneration how do you know that you're not better off working down at the golden arches? working fixed hour days, of less time, with less stress, having more free time to spend with your family, and with no idea of what your take home is.
How do you know whether you'd get paid more or less for this much simpler life?
On the point of overtime, it's not the case that salaried workers cannot work overtime.
I would assume that everyone here has a contract, and inside that contract would be a section on contracted hours.
If you choose to come into the office early, and if you choose to stay late, and if you choose to check your mails at home or at the weekend, that's not overtime.
That's volunteering or being really committed.
And when you go to your boss and say that you worked all weekend can you be paid for it, they are going to say no, because they didn't authorise it, they didn't budget for it, and you can't just choose when to work overtime... -seriously, how many of us if we could just choose to stay later at work and get paid more would just to earn a little more money? -and how is any company going to forecast this?
If you find that there aren't enough hours in the day to do your job then that's something that you should take up with your managers, if you're too scared to do that, or you don't want to do that then you can choose to spend all your free time working.
staff shortages should be the companies problem, not yours!
Before anyone gets smart about it.
Yes, in most contracts there will be a clause that allows for some unpaid overtime.
This is covered in the complying to any reasonable request.
It would not be unreasonable for your boss to ask you to stay 10 minutes late one day to finish a project rather than waiting till the next day. it's even not unreasonable to ask you to work a 12 hour day one day rather than an 8 hour day, and work a 4 hour day the next to give you back the time.
It is unreasonable to expect you to work 4 hours extra a day, everyday.
It might be that you have to go very far above and beyond the call of duty if someone else has left, filling in for them, and this may be for an extended period of time, but it shouldn't be forever!