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

[maddythebeagle]

and why do you work the extra hours? and are you compensated for it (or are you expecting to be compensated for it through a promotion, etc.)?

Work hours = time you figure are spent at the job or at home working on work product. Productivity is another poll.

Dont include the commute, unless you are compensated for it. I know some folks with field or sales jobs may be compensated for it.

[brewer12345]

Why? First and foremost, it is expected in my field and company culture makes it pretty much mandatory. Second, high effort directly translates to financial rewards.

[Dawg54]

Originally Posted by brewer12345

Why?* First and foremost, it is expected in my field and company culture makes it pretty much mandatory. Second, high effort directly translates to financial rewards.

Ditto.

[Andre1969]

My normal workweek is 40 hours, but occasionally I'll have to stay late. I get compensated for it, but not at 1.5X, just straight-time. In 2002 I put in 173 hours of OT, 139.5 hours in 2003, 195.5 hours in 2004, and 150.5 for 2005. Sometimes what will happen is at the last minute, a big-wig needs a report done up, so I have to stay late. Or we have a big presentation that requires a lot of late-night work. 50 hours of the overtime I worked in 2005 was clocked in just one week! And sadly, that paycheck didn't look all that great, once the gov't finished raping me with taxes and such.

So far this year though, I've only worked 3 hours of OT. I used to enjoy doing it, back when I needed the money more. But these days i just value the free time more.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Another one where people routinely overestimate their actual work hours. Its not hard to find someone who claims to work 60-80 hours a week...when they're actually working 30-50. Its considered "in style" to "live at work".

[nuisance]

What extra hours? A while back I convinced the company I work for to put me on an 80% plan, where I work 80% of the time for 80% of the money. It's worked out very well for both of us. I really like the extra free time, and they get a happier, more productive employee. (On top of that it's also a large factor in my decision to keep working here since I doubt I'll be able to find a job with similar hours at a different company.)

Tim

[Texas Proud]

A long time ago worked like a slave... in one of the Big 8 firms... (now Big 4)... 700 or so hours OT a year.. concentrated in the early part of the year...

Then was a 40 -50 guy, finally moved to a place that wanted 70 - 80 and we had a major clash... finally left and was back to 40 - 50.. now, am about 40, but put less than 40 as I do not work much OT and take a few minutes a day less to get to the bus... but just under 40.

[laurence]

Just a few hours OT, I get paid for it, or I can cut out early on the friday that ends the pay period if I already hit 80 hours. I can't complain.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

The real fun is creating perception of working.

My last 3 years "on the job" I worked from home. To be fair, 2-3 of those days I was on the road and in a hotel room. The rest of the time I was sitting at home in my pajamas half the time. But I had my office phone forwarded my cell phone and my email sent to a blackberry. No matter what time of the day or night someone called or emailed me, i'd pick up the phone or return the message. About 1/4 of them were off hours or on weekends. One guy called me on labor day. They're surprised when they didnt get voicemail at 6:30 in the morning or 8pm at night. Especially if it was a VP.

One VP used to call me "Mr. Always On, Always Available".

The perception was great. The reality is that I was goofing off most of the day. I thrashed together presentations, sat in on phone meetings on "mute", got all my paperwork in on time. Once I got bagged when I fired up the blender and didnt have the mute on :P

Definitely made the transition to ER a lot smoother.

So I guess you also have to take out from your in-house working hours the lunch breaks, water cooler time, web surfing stuff, time you spend thinking about something non work related, etc?

Or is "How much time do you REALLY work?" a separate poll?

[cj]

Originally Posted by nuisance

What extra hours? A while back I convinced the company I work for to put me on an 80% plan, where I work 80% of the time for 80% of the money.

Wow, Tim, I'm doing the same thing, and have been for more than a year. *I did 90%/90% for 2 years before that (took a 10% pay cut for every other Friday off). *It really does help a lot. *But, as I have mentioned in other threads, I also do 2.5 hours of commuting per day, so even though I only go to work 4 days per week, those are long days.

OK, I do work over my lunch hour at least a couple of those days. *And I log in from home on my day off and over the weekend to make sure everything is OK. *So I guess even though I "officially" work 32 hours per week, it's really more than that. *But then I spend some of my "work" time with all you nice people. *I guess I'll count that as my "lunch hour". * *

CJ

[nuisance]

Originally Posted by cj

Wow, Tim, I'm doing the same thing, and have been for more than a year. *I did 90%/90% for 2 years before that (took a 10% pay cut for every other Friday off).

So how did that happen for you? For me, I found some friends in a hiking group who both lived on relatively little money, but worked none and very little respectively. This got me to thinking that I didn't need all the money I make, and I'd rather have some free time. I wrote up a proposal for my boss, and with remarkably little bargaining I ended up working just 70%. Later I upped that to 80% (primarily because that's the cutoff for company health insurance). Having that Monday to unwind from the weekend is pretty sweet. :-) Every once in a while I think of how much sooner I could retire if I would work 100%, but I do think it's important to smell the roses along the way.
My wife's not jealous (or vice versa) because, as a school teacher, she works roughly the same amount of days in the year.

Tim

[SteveR]

I am in the near 51-60 hours club. Used to be in the 70+ club so this is a major improvement. Some of the time is because I have always worked for international companies and had to talk with sites across the country which required some strange hours to talk with sites in UK, Germany, India, Japan, East Coast, Midwest, and far West all in the same day. Also, management expected 60+ hours a week or you were not a "company man". That meant no promotions and only average wage increases.

Now my hours are more aligned with missing major traffic and to have some early "wake up" time in the office to prepare for the day. I am usually in here at 6:40am and leave around 5:30 pm. I don't take work home and I don't do holidays or weekends (anymore). Current management works longer hours than me but there is no pressure to work longer. I get what I need done in the time I have so my productivity is pretty high. It must be since I am here doing this right now and it is not even my lunch time.

[bow-tie]

Originally Posted by Cute n' Fuzzy Bunny

The real fun is creating perception of working...

So I guess you also have to take out from your in-house working hours the lunch breaks, water cooler time, web surfing stuff, time you spend thinking about something non work related, etc?

Or is "How much time do you REALLY work?" a separate poll?

Ah.... THAT is the real question.

The hours you are physically present versus the hours you are truly working on work.

I would love to be a fly on the wall in our cube farm. * To see how much screwing off occurs, or even to see how long it takes others to perform similar tasks.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Well, theres another part to it...some analysis shows that without the screwing off, peoples productivity actually declines. So if you take someone doing 30 hours of work and screwing off for 10, and you make them do a full 40 hours, you get 26-28 hours of productive actual work at the end of it. In medical studies, a serious dropoff in focus and increase in mistakes starts occurring after 7-9 hours...yet many doctors work 12+ hours shifts...

I'm reminded of some really old story and i'll probably screw it up. Henry Ford hires an efficiency expert and the guy goes all through the company and comes up with a list of stuff to improve efficiency. Henry goes over it and agrees with most of it. Then the consultant says "One other thing...I almost hate to mention it...theres this guy in an office on the 3rd floor, and every time I walk by his office he's sitting back in his chair, feet up on the desk, and doesnt appear to be doing anything".

Henry says..."well, that guy came up with an idea not that long ago that saves the company millions of dollars a year. And if I remember right, his feet were in the same place then that they are now".

Supposedly the guy came up with the idea to go from six lug nuts to five on the wheels.

In short, hours dont mean much. And more may not be better.

[cj]

Originally Posted by nuisance

So how did that happen for you? (80%)

How did it happen for me?* Years ago, I worked closer to home, but then took a job (same company) much further away from home.* The commute was starting to get to me, and I had a minor health problem at the time.* I negotiated it with my boss.* She is absolutely the best boss anyone could ever hope to have, and I sincerely mean that.* Easy to talk to, a really, really nice person, and an excellent manager at the same time.* I worked with her for a few years, then she got promoted & hired me to the group I'm in now.* She could see I was stressed, and she didn't want to lose me* so she let me go "part time".* I make a pretty good salary, and both DH & I knew that we wouldn't hurt if I cut back.* When I went to 80% at the beginning of last year, it was pretty much the same thing.* Only by this time, the boss knows I'm thinking seriously about ER, and wants to keep me happy as long as possible.*

So now, I am almost ready to ER.* I gave 6 months' notice in October, knowing it would take a while to turn over my responsibilities.* The boss is still trying to negotiate for me to come back maybr 60% or possibly contract work, but I don't think I'm going to do it.* I'm looking for less stress and responsibility. *And you are absolutely right about smelling the roses along the way!!! *I just don't think I could do the 60+ hours a lot of people do. *I guess that's just part of getting old maturing.

CJ

[CyclingInvestor]

When I used to do defense programming, overtime was compensated (at X1.0), so
I work as much as I could get authorized for - averaged maybe 50-55 hours.

Now I do financial programming, no overtime compensation, so I have worked
a flat 40 for years. The few times emergencies came up requiring extra work I
took comp time the next week.

[SteveR]

Originally Posted by cj

... I worked with her for a few years, then she got promoted & hired me to the group I'm in now.* She could see I was stressed, and she didn't want to lose me* so she let me go "part time".* I make a pretty good salary, and both DH & I knew that we wouldn't hurt if I cut back.* When I went to 80% at the beginning of last year, it was pretty much the same thing.* Only by this time, the boss knows I'm thinking seriously about ER, and wants to keep me happy as long as possible.*

CJ

I would like to be able to do that too. *My boss knows my hours are numbered but I keep hedging on the date so he won't feel the need to push me out before I want to leave. *Part time would be nice unitl DW retires but that is not an option with this company. *They just do not do that here. *I am glad it works out for some of you. *It is a nice way to transition out of the job and into retirement while still allowing some "enjoyment" from the job and all pretty much on your own terms. *

[Outtahere]

I voted I live at the office because I not only work here but I'm one of the owners. I'm on call 24/7 for computer problems but I'm only in the office 8 hours a day, I take every other Friday off and the alternat Fridays I work until noon. I'm in the office by 7 and outtahere by 3:30, even in the darkest days of winter I'm driving home in the sunshine. I have 7 weeks vacation time and take all but a week which I may or may not use during the winter for snow days. I also do work from home a couple hours a day but that's just get the program running and check it occasionally to make sure it's okay. FIRE is on the horizon.