What happened to the 40 hour work week?

I work in IT, and have noticed in the last few years that most of the company staff (and the company's vendors/suppliers staff) seem to be working 40hr weeks - very little overtime. This is very different than what I experienced in the 90's and early 2000's, where it seemed most worked 50+hr week. No idea why this is the case, other than possibly the Gen Y slacker influence?
 
Sarah in SC said:
I once worked at a place that had an overtime culture, we got there early, stayed late, and it was just a given that everyone stayed over.... what a cool-aid cult it was.
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Yes, indeed; well said.

There's no credible reason for any civilized person to work > 40 hours a week.

Worth considering: "If you go up to someone in Europe and say 'I work 10 hours a day, six days a week, 51 weeks a year. Look how much I achieve!' you'll get the same reaction you would in America if you said 'I wash my hands exactly 169 times a day. Look how clean they are! Look! Look!!!'". See further: http://andrewhammel.typepad.com/german_joys/2005/07/the_european_wo.html
 
I got a new job and I don't work as long as some people b/c:

A) I think I work more efficiently - like the old saying work smarter not harder
B) Moved from Mgt to an Analyst role and I get a lot more done now that I don't have to sit on those effing conference calls
C) I don't sit around the water cooler and chat all day about the work I need to do or will do
D) I can only play with gigantic spreadsheets for so many hours before I start to confuse myself and do major damage :D

I may have slowed my $ progression down a little by jumping out of mgt but I feel more valuable in my current role skill wise. The way I look at it, I earn more $ per hour in my current job than some of the managers do.
 
Milton said:
Yes, indeed; well said.

There's no credible reason for any civilized person to work > 40 hours a week.

Worth considering: "If you go up to someone in Europe and say 'I work 10 hours a day, six days a week, 51 weeks a year. Look how much I achieve!' you'll get the same reaction you would in America if you said 'I wash my hands exactly 169 times a day. Look how clean they are! Look! Look!!!'". See further: http://andrewhammel.typepad.com/german_joys/2005/07/the_european_wo.html
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I wouldn't look to the EU as an economic or social model we would want to emulate in the US (Maybe in Canada, though...;) )
Lower productivity, higher unemployment, higher taxes, rising social unrest, a different strike every week by farmers, airlines, transit workers... you name it. Hell, in Italy the garbage is piling up in the streets because of the disdain for an honest weeks work that you so admire...
 
It sounds like setting boundaries/expectations is the name of the game. As you get older and more experienced, it takes far less time to do things. "Face time" is also unnecessary, unless it is true face-to-face meeting time with managers or internal clients/customers. If your manager doesn't understand the concept of working smarter, not harder (or longer), then you need a new manager or a new job.
 
70+ hour work weeks. Sales. Wants everyone to buy American.

Hey buddy, I'm interested in making your job easier... why don't you learn to work smarter, not harder!

We had one contractor give us an estimate of 60 hours to make a change. I did it in 2. Imagine where we'd be if I tried to work both harder and smarter!
 
Marquette said:
70+ hour work weeks. Sales. Wants everyone to buy American.
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Guilty as charged on all three counts. Trying to do something about the first count, no regrets about the second, unashamedly unapologetic about the third...:D
 
Most people don't work 40+ weeks – they just claim they do. They forget about the days they left early for the doctor appointment, to meet with a teacher... They also take the those rare days that they worked 10+ hours and extrapolate them into 60+ hour weeks.


I had a few mangers that believed they were working excessive hours. I logged their hrs for a month and showed them the results. Not one manager out of the 4 worked more than 40 hrs.


Business is down 90% where I work and we have let go 50% of the staff. If you ask almost any employee to do something out of the norm, the common response is I'm too busy. This can't be the case, but if they claim it, it becomes their reality.
 
siamamerican said:
Most people don't work 40+ weeks – they just claim they do. They forget about the days they left early for the doctor appointment, to meet with a teacher...
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... time spent browsing and posting on internet forums...
 
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I'm normally not on the clock longer than 40 hours per week. I actually work maybe 24 hours per week, but that is the nature of my job. I am strictly reactive and unless there is work at the job site I sit around watching TV or cruise the internet. It is odd watching TV when the boss comes in and not having to feel guilty about it. Any O/T clocked is paid at double time, so I really don't mind pulling it.
 
lets-retire said:
I'm normally not on the clock longer than 40 hours per week. I actually work maybe 24 hours per week, but that is the nature of my job. I am strictly reactive and unless there is work at the job site I sit around watching TV or cruise the internet. It is odd watching TV when the boss comes in and not having to feel guilty about it. Any O/T clocked is paid at double time, so I really don't mind pulling it.
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Why retire from that gig? :)
 
I agree with bigwonderfulwyoming. Sounds like you've got a good thing going, and 40 hours a week max on the job (24 hours actually working) should provide a fair bit of time to pursue other interests; especially if your employer is open to granting you a year off every now and again.
 
Believe me I'm not complaining, but I'm not sticking around any longer than I have to either. I figure it''s payback for all of the free O/T I pulled in the military...........................plus interest. :D
 
lets-retire said:
Believe me I'm not complaining, but I'm not sticking around any longer than I have to either. I figure it''s payback for all of the free O/T I pulled in the military...........................plus interest. :D
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When I served, I was told that I got paid for a 24-hour day (no need to get paid OT :rant: )...

- Ron
 
I work 40-44ish. I'm paid hourly and am effectively a software developer in the Biotech industry. One of the reasons I took the job is that I knew I'd be paid hourly, so if I was getting crazy hours(50+) I'd be rewarded for it.
 
siamamerican said:
Most people don't work 40+ weeks – they just claim they do. .
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I sure agree with that. I was managing a small team at MegaCorp my last few years of w*rk. It was common for folks to yak/brag/bs/moan about the long, unfair hours they worked. Most claimed to be putting in 60 hrs or more. So, at performance review time, I added a discussion of hours worked and my commitment to make sure they didn't have to work 60 hour weeks to the performance review agenda with each person.

It turned out no one was putting in those kind of hours. Typically, people were working 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM with an hour lunch. Because staying until 6:00 PM really eats into your evening, especially if you have a long commute, most genuinely felt they were working long hours and just guessed that it must be about 60. Yet, they were only working 45 and, in fact, most readily admitted occassionally needing an hour or two or three off during work hours which reduced that......... Typically most were actually only at their desk for 42 or 43 hours, a long, long way from 60!

During the performance reviews, I reaffirmed my commitment to them that I'd fight to be sure they didn't have to work the dreaded 60 hour weeks they were all moaning about! ;)

I think it's easy to get into a mindset that you're working massive hours when you're not. If you're actually working 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM with a brief half hour lunch (I count coffee breaks and water cooler time as time worked), you're working 47.5 hours. But, if you have a lengthly commute you probably leave the house around 7:00 AM and don't get home until 7:00 PM, totally consuming your day. So you feel you're spending your life working.....yeah, it must be at least 60 hours! Yeah.....right.....
 
youbet said:
I think it's easy to get into a mindset that you're working massive hours when you're not. If you're actually working 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM with a brief half hour lunch (I count coffee breaks and water cooler time as time worked), you're working 47.5 hours. But, if you have a lengthly commute you probably leave the house around 7:00 AM and don't get home until 7:00 PM, totally consuming your day. So you feel you're spending your life working.....yeah, it must be at least 60 hours!
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Yes, I agree.

The solution to long commutes is pretty simple: buy a modest house near where you work (for most people, in the city), rather than a mini-mansion located far away in the suburbs. You can take public transit and save on transportation costs, too.
 
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Milton said:
Yes, I agree.

The solution to long commutes is pretty simple: buy a modest house near where you work (for most people, in the city), rather than a mini-mansion located far away in the suburbs. You can take public transit and save on transportation costs, too.
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You talk funny. You aren't from around here are you.
 
youbet said:
I sure agree with that. I was managing a small team at MegaCorp my last few years of w*rk. It was common for folks to yak/brag/bs/moan about the long, unfair hours they worked. Most claimed to be putting in 60 hrs or more. So, at performance review time, I added a discussion of hours worked and my commitment to make sure they didn't have to work 60 hour weeks to the performance review agenda with each person.

It turned out no one was putting in those kind of hours. Typically, people were working 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM with an hour lunch. Because staying until 6:00 PM really eats into your evening, especially if you have a long commute, most genuinely felt they were working long hours and just guessed that it must be about 60. Yet, they were only working 45 and, in fact, most readily admitted occassionally needing an hour or two or three off during work hours which reduced that......... Typically most were actually only at their desk for 42 or 43 hours, a long, long way from 60!
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I don't know how it was in your area, but in the telecom where I worked, many put in 40 or so in the office, eating lunch at your desk while the phone is on mute. Then you would go home and put in 10-25 hr/week, to do the work you couldn't get done during the day due to meetings, calls, whatever. In my particular case, I was on call 24x7, so I actually did more work from home than I did in the office. I freely admit the office face time was often wasted, but it was required, so I count it.

When I read "The 4 Hour Work Week", the best thing I took away from it was to avoid the meetings and calls, and get your butt out of the office whenever possible. I was already retired by then, but it sounds like great advice. Of course, you need to be a top performer with a reasonable manager to get away with it. Few and far between.
 
What an interesting thread - accidentally discovered. As an officer in US Army, very rarely do I work less than 50-60 hrs/wk. Maybe that should be expected since we currently are involved in TWO wars. In fact, yesterday (Sat) and today (Sun) I'll put in 4-6 hrs extra to catch up on work. Sometimes I tell myself that I'm lucky not to be worrying about IEDs as some of my colleagues are right now.

I too have very little time for physical exercise except maybe 9 holes of golf early Sat/Sunday starting at 6-7 a.m. before going in.

My biggest complaint is that I'm too darn tired to go out for a run or do anything physical at the end of the day - and feel that over the long run these work hours will likely lead to early medical problems.
 
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