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For some years I've 
very happily worked a four-day week in a medium-sized company. But hard times have hit us, as they have many people, and I'm now feeling pressure to put in extra unpaid hours, as many of my full-time colleagues have started doing. If I do this, I'm worried that I will effectively become 
a full-time employee earning
 a part-time salary. If I don't, I think my colleagues and bosses may perceive me as not "pulling my weight". What can I do?

My view is that times are tough at the moment and I think it would be nice to be working in an organisation where you feel that you want to go above and beyond the call of duty, because it's genuinely the only way the organisation is going to thrive 
in this type of environment. 
But it also depends on your organisation, because there's a very fine line between
feeling like you're all in this together and an employer who's just taking the mickey.

I sense from the way the question's asked that actually this is an organisation where you're going to feel bad if you don't do it because you're surrounded by people who 
are putting extra hours in. So I would have a conversation with my boss and ask, is this genuinely needed and why is it needed? And I would explain that of course I want to help the organisation, but what I don't want to happen is for 
this to become the norm.

As an employer, I would say, listen, this is the situation, we can get through this, we can even be one of the companies who do well, but we're going 
to require a little bit extra from everybody. And while you're quite entitled to say you won't do it, it would be wonderful if you felt strongly enough about this business that you would actually jump on board.

Deborah Meaden is author of Common Sense Rules (Random House, £7.99). Read more advice from Deborah Meaden.

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