If you work shifts, extra hours creep in from everywhere: you cover a colleague who called in sick, you stay late to finish a handover, or you come in on a rostered day off. The question is always the same — how do those hours get counted? They count when you can prove them.
Overtime is any time you work beyond the shift assigned to you in the roster. Your shift is eight hours and you worked ten? That is two extra hours. You were asked to cover on your day off? That is a full day on top of your schedule.
The most common mistake is counting from the moment you walk through the door instead of from the start of your rostered shift. Fix that before you do any math.
Use the same order every time so you do not lose track:
Fifteen minutes missing here and there adds up by month end, especially if you work a twelve-hour shift pattern.
Many employers treat night hours and rest days differently from ordinary daytime work, often at a higher premium. But those rates are not uniform across companies.
So do not apply a percentage you invented. Ask human resources directly: is there a night-shift premium, is Friday a rest day or a working day, does a public holiday count double, and is the premium paid on the extra hours or on the whole shift? Keep the answer in writing.
Memory fails after two weeks. A simple log with the date, the shift type, your clock-in and clock-out times, and the reason for the extra hours is enough to protect you.
Keep it on your phone or in a notebook of your own, and save the messages where your manager asked you to cover the shift, plus a photo of the posted roster. That is where «Shiftat-E» helps — logging your shifts, your hours and planning your leave in one place instead of loose notes in your pocket.
At the end of the month, put your payslip next to your log and compare them line by line. Ask yourself: did the extra hours appear, was the night premium included, and did the rest-day work show up at all?
If something is missing, raise it early with your supervisor or human resources, with your record in hand rather than a complaint.
No single number applies to every workplace. Rules differ between the private and public sectors, and between one company and the next. Kuwait Labour Law No. 6 of 2010 governs private-sector work in general terms, but your actual hours and premiums live in your contract and your company policy.
Read the working-hours and overtime clause in your contract, and keep the written answer you get from human resources.
Start today, before the shift details fade. Download «Shiftat-E» and log your hours as they happen: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.q8dm.shiftate
