is 8 to 5 normal working hours

[Splurge997]

Flooble said:

Basically that is doing two jobs - 66 hours a week would fit two people doing 33 hours each, with 2 hours spare for "not lucky Fridays".

So either you are being paid twice the average salary for your field, or ...

That's not including commuting time either. I've never minded the long hours and regrettably, I have a fair chunk of experience that isn't easy to find on the market. We've tried, and failed to hire someone to share the workload so I just have to suck it up unless someone magically appears with the right skills.

I enjoy what I do 90% of the time so it's never an absolute chore going to work. It is also an endless stream of phone calls, meetings and lunches so it isn't too brutal. Could I work these hours in a role required manual labour? no fking chance. I'd crumble.

[egor110]

Splurge997 said:

Flooble said:

Basically that is doing two jobs - 66 hours a week would fit two people doing 33 hours each, with 2 hours spare for "not lucky Fridays".

So either you are being paid twice the average salary for your field, or ...

That's not including commuting time either. I've never minded the long hours and regrettably, I have a fair chunk of experience that isn't easy to find on the market. We've tried, and failed to hire someone to share the workload so I just have to suck it up unless someone magically appears with the right skills.

I enjoy what I do 90% of the time so it's never an absolute chore going to work. It is also an endless stream of phone calls, meetings and lunches so it isn't too brutal. Could I work these hours in a role required manual labour? no fking chance. I'd crumble.

Don't these hours affect your relationship with mrs/mr splurge?

You must barely see each other.

[johnwilliams77]

mph1977 said:

or do they ?

work expands to fill time the available ( or deemed culturally appropriate )

Yes, I have already told you they do. As do many small business owners also.

[p1stonhead]

johnwilliams77 said:

mph1977 said:

or do they ?

work expands to fill time the available ( or deemed culturally appropriate )

Yes, I have already told you they do. As do many small business owners also.

I agree. 'Available time' is 24hrs a day so I don't understand how some people think those doing long hours are only there to be seen or have a hidden agenda. A lot of people are simply getting the job done and it requires long hours sometimes. If you have a vested interest in the success of the business (like the owner of a small one) the hours extend accordingly.

It's not ideal to work long hours, but it's what's required sometimes.

[egor110]

p1stonhead said:

johnwilliams77 said:

mph1977 said:

or do they ?

work expands to fill time the available ( or deemed culturally appropriate )

Yes, I have already told you they do. As do many small business owners also.

I agree. 'Available time' is 24hrs a day so I don't understand how some people think those doing long hours are only there to be seen or have a hidden agenda. A lot of people are simply getting the job done and it requires long hours sometimes. If you have a vested interest in the success of the business (like the owner of a small one) the hours extend accordingly.

It's not ideal to work long hours, but it's what's required sometimes.

The key word is sometimes.

[mph1977]

egor110 said:

p1stonhead said:

johnwilliams77 said:

mph1977 said:

or do they ?

work expands to fill time the available ( or deemed culturally appropriate )

Yes, I have already told you they do. As do many small business owners also.

I agree. 'Available time' is 24hrs a day so I don't understand how some people think those doing long hours are only there to be seen or have a hidden agenda. A lot of people are simply getting the job done and it requires long hours sometimes. If you have a vested interest in the success of the business (like the owner of a small one) the hours extend accordingly.

It's not ideal to work long hours, but it's what's required sometimes.

The key word is sometimes.

exactly rather than the presenteeism culture of the salaryman


http://www.alexcartoon.com/ and search for 'jacket'

[brickwall]

egor110 said:

p1stonhead said:

johnwilliams77 said:

mph1977 said:

or do they ?

work expands to fill time the available ( or deemed culturally appropriate )

Yes, I have already told you they do. As do many small business owners also.

I agree. 'Available time' is 24hrs a day so I don't understand how some people think those doing long hours are only there to be seen or have a hidden agenda. A lot of people are simply getting the job done and it requires long hours sometimes. If you have a vested interest in the success of the business (like the owner of a small one) the hours extend accordingly.

It's not ideal to work long hours, but it's what's required sometimes.

The key word is sometimes.

Certainly there is no culture of presenteeism or 'face-time' at my company. In fact quite the opposite - managers are rewarded (through 360 degree appraisals) if they can give their teams a great lifestyle. But it's a client driven environment, and often there is just a lot to do, against sometimes absurd deadlines.

In my world, clients are paying to get stuff done, fast, to an extremely high standard. My job is to do exactly that.

[egor110]

brickwall said:

egor110 said:

p1stonhead said:

johnwilliams77 said:

mph1977 said:

or do they ?

work expands to fill time the available ( or deemed culturally appropriate )

Yes, I have already told you they do. As do many small business owners also.

I agree. 'Available time' is 24hrs a day so I don't understand how some people think those doing long hours are only there to be seen or have a hidden agenda. A lot of people are simply getting the job done and it requires long hours sometimes. If you have a vested interest in the success of the business (like the owner of a small one) the hours extend accordingly.

It's not ideal to work long hours, but it's what's required sometimes.

The key word is sometimes.

Certainly there is no culture of presenteeism or 'face-time' at my company. In fact quite the opposite - managers are rewarded (through 360 degree appraisals) if they can give their teams a great lifestyle. But it's a client driven environment, and often there is just a lot to do, against sometimes absurd deadlines.

In my world, clients are paying to get stuff done, fast, to an extremely high standard. My job is to do exactly that.

So in a normal month how much of it is spend hitting the clients targets and how much is downtime?

If you work mega hours for a fortnight and ' week 3' is quiet does your employer then give you a 3 day week or only work 12-5 ?

[brickwall]

egor110 said:

So in a normal month how much of it is spend hitting the clients targets and how much is downtime?

If you work mega hours for a fortnight and ' week 3' is quiet does your employer then give you a 3 day week or only work 12-5 ?

If you're on a project then it's the full-on hours I described.

If you're not on a project then the only rule is that you make yourself useful - e.g. Recruiting events/interviews, lend a hand to any projects struggling, etc. "Working from home" is completely allowed. You're absolutely expected/encouraged to chill out.

Projects are typically 6-12 weeks long (sometimes a bit longer). Might expect max 1 week between them, but highly variable - in reality I haven't had a gap between projects since the autumn.

[p1stonhead]

egor110 said:

p1stonhead said:

johnwilliams77 said:

mph1977 said:

or do they ?

work expands to fill time the available ( or deemed culturally appropriate )

Yes, I have already told you they do. As do many small business owners also.

I agree. 'Available time' is 24hrs a day so I don't understand how some people think those doing long hours are only there to be seen or have a hidden agenda. A lot of people are simply getting the job done and it requires long hours sometimes. If you have a vested interest in the success of the business (like the owner of a small one) the hours extend accordingly.

It's not ideal to work long hours, but it's what's required sometimes.

The key word is sometimes.

I work in construction and am responsible for 4 projects which are all in full swing. There hasn't been any downtime since about October and won't be until about September when a couple finish.

[Splurge997]

egor110 said:

Don't these hours affect your relationship with mrs/mr splurge?

You must barely see each other.

The last Mrs Splurge and I parted company 2 years ago. Since then, I've been I'm part of the exclusive "single and entirely unwilling to mingle" club. I daresay 4 years down the line when I've hit 30 I may have a monstrous and early midlife crisis. As my manager reminds me, I'be already had a menuporsche!

Edited by Splurge997 on Monday 9th May 19:32

[0000]

I tend to find places that keep you in the office for longer hours are less enjoyable, less rewarding places to work. One place sticks in the memory as they did 0830-1730 and there was a slow moving queue to the safe room where the hard disks were stored overnight. You can imagine the clock watching involved in trying to beat that queue.

Working for myself I'll start somewhere between about 7 and 9am usually, won't work much after 6pm and limit myself to about 37.5 hours a week, so I'll often have little to do on a Friday.

[Sammo123]

djones123 said:

I have worked 9 to 5:30 but 8 till 5 seems a lot. Is it normal? never heard of 45 hrs per week.

Edited by djones123 on Friday 29th April 16:40

Seriously? I currently work 7.30-6 Monday to Friday and every other Saturday. I don't know of anyone else in my group of friends or family that works dissimilar hours to me.

[toon10]

Sammo123 said:

Seriously? I currently work 7.30-6 Monday to Friday and every other Saturday. I don't know of anyone else in my group of friends or family that works dissimilar hours to me.

Around 40 hours per week is the norm among my family and friends. If I've worked more than 40 hours, something has gone seriously wrong or I'm travelling (which seems to be happening a lot recently.)

[Bullett]

I don't actually know what my hours are officially. Normally sat at my desk around 9 and pack up between 5 and 6.
Work from home 4 days a week on average. So I don't commute and if I'm visiting clients then it's on the company dollar.
Being home based it's about what I do rather than the hours I work.

[alec1975]

Sammo123 said:

Seriously? I currently work 7.30-6 Monday to Friday and every other Saturday. I don't know of anyone else in my group of friends or family that works dissimilar hours to me.

What do you do?

I know many taxi drivers and people in news agents and take aways work over 10 hours a day.

[Z06George]

Reading some of these posts makes me jealous of many of you. As a chef I have the joy of doing stupid shifts which vary from 5 hours in a day such as today (12-5) or 12-15 hours (AFD). On a nice normal week I average 45 hours a week if I do 5 days, or on a rubbish week I can do up to 67.Just got to think about the money!

[MattHall91]

9-5 mon-thurs and 9-4 on Fridays. Although I'm field based so it isn't as simple as set hours, sometimes less, sometimes more.

[gradeA]

Nominal hours when at the office are 9-5:30 with an hour for lunch, but I tend to start and finish early. On-site or when travelling, it's whatever hours are required to get the job done. Can mean a 4hr day, or an 8hr day followed by a 13hr flight followed by an 8hr day. No clock-watching or management looking over my shoulder; as long as the job gets done and I clock a minimum of 37.5hrs a week then I can pretty much come and go as I please. Wouldn't swap it for a rigid schedule..

[PurpleTurtle]

37.5hrs working week for me, nominally 9 to 5:15 with 45 mins lunch but I tend to arrive at 9:30/10am, short lunch, work a bit later. We have a flexible working culture, I can work from home 2-3 days a week, helps me help out my wife with our 14 month old sprog with sorting him out in the morning, rather than me rushing out of the door at the crack of dawn.

This is for the UK arm of a German company where everyone in the mothership is out the door at 5:15pm prompt, as it should be. There are one or two martyrs in the UK who pull 60hr weeks to try and climb the greasy pole but the general view is that of you can't do the job in the allotted hours then you could be the problem.

We scored highly in the Times Top 100 Companies to work for on people enjoying a good work/life balance.