For you wage slaves, How many hours do you work per week?

[VoyT]

I could work more than 40 hours, but I've found that once Uncle Sam gets his hands on the $$, the result isn't worth it. Fortunately, I have plenty of co-workers who want the extra dough -- so they can pay toward my Social Security

[Spanky]

My work hours are 07:00a to 5:30p (9.5 hours) - that's close to 50 hours per week. Driving takes another 2 hours. I spend almost 13 hours away from home. More than 40% of the time spent at work are not really real work, i.e., meetings, disruptions from people and phone calls, trainings of procedures (documentation, development process, FDA regulations, record retention, sexual harassment, and so on). It's very difficult to be productive and actually have time to work on my project.

[Sheryl]

We get a salary based on 40 hours. If we work more we can take "comp" time off at a later date. But I'm having trouble even being able to take off the 3 weeks of vacation I am allotted, I don't know when I'll ever use the 8 additional weeks of comp time I've built up.

I hate frittering it away on half-day Fridays and long lunches... so I keep hording it. Maybe when S.O. ESR's we'll be able to take some trips.

Or maybe I'll just announce that I'll be gone for the next 11 weeks and hope someone can pick up the slack!

[Martha]

Didn't vote as I am not really a wage slave.

When I worked fulltime and was president of the firm, I billed about 1800 hours a year plus worked maybe another 800 hours running the place. And there were plenty of people who worked harder than I worked.

So far this year I have billed a total of 132 hours.

One way to retire--slowly disappear.

[HFWR]

Alternating weekly, 37.5 and 50 hrs; 3 or 4 days of 12.5 hr/day, for which I receive 11.5 hr of pay, 3.5 hrs of which are at time-and-a-half, for an effective rate of $34.57/hr...

[dunc0029]

I voted in the 40-50 category. Up until last August, I would have been over 60 and never compensated for the overtime ( exempt status ). My previous manager got in to work at 5:30 AM and sometimes worked until 9-10PM. I consider myself a "team player", but I'm definitely not in danger of workaholism. I worked the long hours because it simply had to be done. I mean, I could have left on time, but that would only have made every day after that much more stressful ( I was losing ground as it was ). Anyway, long story short, I am now in a position where I can leave at the stroke of 4 ( never stayed late once, came in on a weekend yet! ).

[HobbyDave]

I generally work 8:30ish to 7:00pm ish, sometimes spiking to 9pmish when there are reasons to stay later. I also have 4 hours of driving every day (2 hours each way), which takes a large chunk out of my day.

In general, I handle the large amount of time taken up by taking my time while I am at work. I'll post on message boards, read news, etc. I can't leave early (a lot of my work is support work), but I can work slower, which keeps my stress down. It's one way of handling things. And usually if I have to work til 9 a few nights, I'll Really take it easy the next few days. I end up "working" probably 50 hours, even if I'm in the office a lot longer.

[SteveR]

Originally Posted by Ceberon

I generally work 8:30ish to 7:00pm ish, sometimes spiking to 9pmish when there are reasons to stay later.* I also have 4 hours of driving every day (2 hours each way), which takes a large chunk out of my day.

... I end up "working" probably 50 hours, even if I'm in the office a lot longer.

Dude!
A prisoner may not be stamping out license plates for more than 8 hours a day either but they are still in prision all the time.

If you are at work even if you are not "working" you are still somewhere other than where you might want to be. I don't "work" all day long either but I am stuck in my place of work for as long as they deem it necessary for me to be here to do my job. If I am at work then I am not somewhere else and I am not free. Retirement is about being free to do what YOU want to do WHEN you what to do it.

[HobbyDave]

Originally Posted by SteveR

Dude!
A prisoner may not be stamping out license plates for more than 8 hours a day either but they are still in prision all the time.

If you are at work even if you are not "working" you are still somewhere other than where you might want to be. I don't "work" all day long either but I am stuck in my place of work for as long as they deem it necessary for me to be here to do my job. If I am at work then I am not somewhere else and I am not free. Retirement is about being free to do what YOU want to do WHEN you what to do it.

It's not as if I plan on doing this until I'm 65 either. I am on the retire early forum

At the time, it's a good position for my career. I'm 28, I still have a decent distance to go before it's time to throw in the towel on the career. At least for now, moving up the career ladder is a good thing for me, and as I've been promoted twice in around 7 months, it is working pretty well. Both "working hard" and "working smart" combined make for happy executives

[justin]

Voted 40-50. But when you factor in vacation time (3 wks/yr) it probably drops right back to ~40/wk.

Not sure why I work overtime. I'm on salary, no overtime compensation (besides I can occasionally sneak out early on a Friday if I got my "40" in). Sometimes last minute projects come up. I'm at a small company, so if I don't do it, it won't get done. I'll get better bonuses and raises if I work a little more than 40 hrs/wk.

Once I found out only 7% of our bonus is directly based on # hrs above 40 we work, I decided to cut back to ~40-41 hrs/wk.

[SamHouston]

Voted 40-50. I'm salaried and work a "9-80" schedule whereby at the end of any two week period I have put in an official 80 hours of work. The "9" part comes from the fact that I work a 9-hour day Mondays throuh Thursdays (six a.m. to four p.m.), and 8-hour day on one Friday, and off on the second Friday.

That's pretty much my schedule for all but six weeks of the year, when the scheudle goes completely out the window and I work a 60-hour week for that period of time.

[TargaDave]

40-50 per week. Small business owner (15 employees). Overseas customers (Europe and Asia).

[. . . Yrs to Go]

In at 6:30 AM and, lately, I've been able to leave at ~5:30 PM. (Eat lunch at the desk). But its been slow lately. It used to be I'd leave at 7:00-8:00 with an occasional 11:00-12:00 departure. I also haven't worked a weekend in a while . . . so things have gotten a lot more manageable. Which explains why they are talking about "downsizing" the department.

Why do I do it? I ask myself that every morning when the alarm goes off at 5:30AM. On good days I remind myself that I'll be able to retire in comfort at the ripe old age of 38, and that usually makes it seem worthwhile.

[stargazer08]

I used to be in the 40-45 hr work week. Company has been "right sizing" the past couple of years and I've gone to the 50+ hour work week. I'm salary and get no OT or any comp time. We get the most outrageous deadlines on projects now and I'm one of the few in my group that my boss knows if there is a possibility of actually meeting a deadline, I will be able to with little to no guidance. Basically, I do what needs to be done to meet the deadline. I love what I'm doing but hate the pressure of the obscene deadlines. I plan to retire at 45 in 26 months...boss doesn't know that yet. I told him 7 years...which he finds hard to believe because I'm only a few years younger than him. haha While he was putting in extra years getting his PhD, I was working my way through night school getting my BS, working full time, starting a family and saving $$. In the end, I'll be done having to work light years before him.

[BunsGettingFirm]

Originally Posted by 3 Yrs to Go

In at 6:30 AM and, lately, I've been able to leave at ~5:30 PM. (Eat lunch at the desk). But its been slow lately. It used to be I'd leave at 7:00-8:00 with an occasional 11:00-12:00 departure. I also haven't worked a weekend in a while . . . so things have gotten a lot more manageable. Which explains why they are talking about "downsizing" the department.

Why do I do it? I ask myself that every morning when the alarm goes off at 5:30AM. On good days I remind myself that I'll be able to retire in comfort at the ripe old age of 38, and that usually makes it seem worthwhile.

Let me guess, you're a VP ~ Senior VP in a financial services/investment banking firm.

[. . . Yrs to Go]

Originally Posted by BunsOfVeal

Let me guess, you're a VP ~ Senior VP in a financial services/investment banking firm.

Close enough.

[thefed]

I'm logging bertween 45 and 60 weekly.

40-45 at my 9-5 finance job (38 if Iw ant, 50 if I want)

And about 4-16/week at my own self employed job- opened an air duct cleaning business a few months back (for those who pay attention...it's going really well!)


Jason

[UVaOK]

Anywhere from 0 , when not staffed, to 100+ hours per week. Average probably hovers around 60, but closer to 70 if you factor in out-of-town travel.

[eridanus]

I worked about 35 hours per week last year. I'm at a flat 40 this year so far and I may switch to a 25 hour position in July. I'm self-employed and bill out hourly.