> A Gameloft employee, who asked not to be named, said a clause in their contracts allowed for a "reasonable amount" of unpaid overtime. why is that kind of language allowed at all in contracts?
I tend to accept it if it's rare (like - release work with some pressure, for a limited time). But - it was a learning curve for me.
When I started my first 'real' job I was constantly working overtime (10-12 hours, daily), no compensation (and a low salary). I sold myself far too low - but at that time it didn't occur to me. Evil team dynamics can make this even harder: IF someone from our team decided that 22:00 is late enough and packed up, we'd half-jokingly complain about him being on half-time. In retrospect, this idiotic behavior just helped our employer to milk more time (not really work, I'd argue.. Productivity goes down fast after a while) out of us.
My last contract again included this clause, but I grew up and learned to say no, leave if I'm tired and turn off my mobile. If you're no jerk about it I'd expect it to work flawlessly. Of course your employer would love to see you work more for less/the same. And he certainly is free to ask me to 'do this one thing'.
And I can always decline, and do so most of the time now.