Be Flexible in your Work Hours
Highly Effective Work Habits: Flexible Work Hours
As I mentioned before, with more and more companies out there retaining their existing employees and not hiring new talent, job roles are expanding. Along with this, employers are looking for their employees to be more flexible in their work hours. In the IT world, this is nothing new. However, for people who aren’t used to this, it could come as a shock. Whether you are dealing with month/year end activities, early morning production deployments, or preparing for a supplier/dealer meeting, you often times have to put in extra hours to get the job done.
This may seem unreasonable, but for a salaried employee, this is expected most of the time these days – usually without any overtime compensation. My first job out of college paid us for any overtime above the standard 40 hours. However, I haven’t seen that since. It is definitely the exception rather than the norm.
If you happen to work for an employer who understands the importance of a good work/life balance, you can usually negotiate when you will work and as long as you get the hours in one way or another, they are happy. Some employers, however, may not be so flexible and may require you to work specific hours. In those cases, if negotiation doesn’t work, you may have to structure your family life around your work schedule / shift (or get a new job).
Being flexible can go a long way towards future salary increases and/or promotions. Most sane managers will favor flexible employees over ones who refuse to work extra hours. I’ve certainly worked with those types of folks before – those who come in late, leave early, and don’t put in any evening or weekend time. And, they are always the ones who have negative marks against them during review time.
No one likes working extra hours – unless you REALLY like your job over your personal life 
So, my advice is to realize this is expected in most professional careers and to be as flexible as possible when working with management and your peers.
