I have to get certifications as part of my job and because all of my coworkers and I keep failing these really hard tests, we aren’t allow to study during downtime on the clock. We were told to study on our own time.
Getting certs is part of what is required for me to get bigger raises and get promoted and all that jazz. I don’t want to use my personal time for this. None of the people who are in this predicament do.
I have a meeting in a few days to discuss goals and I need to figure out how to tell my boss that using my own time for work shit is unacceptable.
I really like this job other than this one aspect of it and I don’t want to make anyone mad, but I need to express my boundaries and all that
Unless you are willing to tell your boss to fuck off and go find another job, I don’t think it’s in your interest to tell him that. Someone with the mindset to tell you to study on your own time isn’t going to take it very well.
Either say fuck the certification and promotions and don’t study, or just study on work time surreptitiously, or suck it up and study on your own time to get the certifications to make yourself more valuable to get a job somewhere else where they don’t have that sort of mindset.
In the end, if it’s a valuable cert, that cert belongs to OP and can be used for future jobs, so personal time investment is acceptable.
If the cert is a “company cert” and is only usable within that company, then that’s training for the job and should be provided on company time and dime.