Does anyone work a 40 hour week anymore? especially in IT?

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: Unheard
We work 37.5 hour work weeks here.

Same for me. P.S. I am not in IT.

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer
I worked 60 to 80 hours a week for 20 odd years before I gave corporate food service the boot and took a massive pay cut. Now, I work hourly instead of salary, 40 hours or less a week and, have never been happier.

Damn, man. What was your position?

 

[child of wonder]

I'm in IT and, since I'm still new, only put in 40 hours per week typically. However, the other guys on the team seem to routinely work 45-60 hours per week.

I'm of the same opinion as many others -- I work to live, not live to work. Being married and father of two, my free time is far too valuable to hand away for free.

 

[WT]

Originally posted by: trmiv
I do. We can't even work OT without prior approval. I'm an hourly IT guy though, so I'm sure the salaried folks are different.

Same here.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
in a bad job market, beggars can't be choosers. if you can afford to not land the first job you get offered, more power to you. however, i know people who have been looking for work for over 8 months. they would kill for the chance to work 50 hours a week.

That's a bad attitude to take, though... For every desperate employee who's willing to bend over and allow their employers to screw them out of their free time, there is a manager who's keeping track of "man-hours" in a spreadsheet and wondering if they can get the same "productivity enhancements" out of their other co-workers.

In other words, stop screwing it up for the rest of us!

 

[quakefiend420]

i've been cutting back, 55ish hours a week lately...was doing 65-70 for the first 3 months of this year...started getting burned out, no time to unwind...i was dreaming about the fucking office...horrible

 

[judasmachine]

not IT but: 7AM to 4PM Tues - Fri.

 

[arcenite]

40 on the nose. IT.

 

[mAdMaLuDaWg]

Work in Front Office IT for an Investment Bank... oh boy, hours have been crazy for me 10-12 hour days are not uncommon. Longest I've ever stayed was 16 hours. If I had a choice, I'd definitely quit and get a new job but in this environment its impossible to even get an interview... so I've decided to save up my money and goto grad school next year.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
in a bad job market, beggars can't be choosers. if you can afford to not land the first job you get offered, more power to you. however, i know people who have been looking for work for over 8 months. they would kill for the chance to work 50 hours a week.

That's a bad attitude to take, though... For every desperate employee who's willing to bend over and allow their employers to screw them out of their free time, there is a manager who's keeping track of "man-hours" in a spreadsheet and wondering if they can get the same "productivity enhancements" out of their other co-workers.

In other words, stop screwing it up for the rest of us!

no, you just described the world of consulting. It's always like that and will always be like that.

 

[tyler811]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: SacrosanctFiend


If you start allowing accumulation or start calculating comp time for exempt employee hour by hour, the employee is no longer recognized as exempt and the company would be liable for OT backpay. (Note: This applies to private companies)

Exempt employees are usually compensated at a higher rate than hourly employees because they may be expected to work more than 40 hours. Likewise, if they work less than 40 hours (except for certain reasons) they are still paid for their full 40.

What you're saying professionals are advocating push to hourly-only, and I don't believe that for a second.

Then push for salaried non-exempt. What I'm saying is people are waking up to work/life balance and pushing back on working more than 40 hours and rightly so. Many companies are also recognizing work/life balance as a means to improve what is arguably pretty miserable morale.

As a former store manager for a national retail chain I would work 55-60 hours. During the the holidays this would increase to 80 hours. There were time I would go in at 7am and work thru till 4 or 5am the next day. Just to get the shit kicked out of me for a bad visit from a V.P. and have my job threatened daily. The money was great but the stress level and no family time were killing me.

I finally took a several thousands of dollars pay cut and went hourly That was one of the best decisions I ever made. The materialistic things I used to buy went away but the time I was able to spend with my son and watch him grow up are priceless.

 

[Goosemaster]

Last job was 50-60+ for approximately 2yrs.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: tyler811
I finally took a several thousands of dollars pay cut and went hourly That was one of the ebst decisions I ever made. The materialistic things I used to buy went away but the time I was able spend with son and watch him grow up are priceless.

Yep. When you work too much, you buy toys to try and maximize your "living" during your off time. It's a complete waste of money. For $1 in bait and gas I can go fish for four hours.

I used to be hard-core about working OT, but then I realized that while I was busy waiting for my life to happen, it was busy passing me by.

 

[tfinch2]

Usually work 9:30-7:00, then a few days a week I work from home at night. Typically ~55 hours a week or so.

Doesn't really bother me.

 

[RaistlinZ]

40 hours here. No weekends ever. No holidays ever.

Gub-ment job FTW. :thumbsup:

 

[Kirby]

Originally posted by: RaistlinZ
40 hours here. No weekends ever. No holidays ever.

Gub-ment job FTW. :thumbsup:

Same here. 44 one week, 36 the next. Every other Friday off FTW!!

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: tyler811

As a former store manager for a national retail chain I would work 55-60 hours. During the the holidays this would increase to 80 hours. There were time I would go in at 7am and work thru till 4 or 5am the next day. Just to get the shit kicked out of me for a bad visit from a V.P. and have my job threatened daily. The money was great but the stress level and no family time were killing me.

I finally took a several thousands of dollars pay cut and went hourly That was one of the ebst decisions I ever made. The materialistic things I used to buy went away but the time I was able spend with son and watch him grow up are priceless.

That's the point I'm trying to make. People are waking up that work does not equal life. 40 hours means 40 hours, you pay me for my time, experience, knowledge and anything above that means you will compensate me.

I'm glad you realized this, so many don't as they kill themselves reaching for the golden ring. I find it funny that other consultants are saying work more than 40 to get ahead, the converse is true - you work less than 40 to get compensated at what you are worth. If you have to work more than that then you're underselling yourself. Time = money, work = money and when that doesn't happen you need to get out.

You call me and ask for help after hours and you had BETTER be able to pay for it. Take your life back people, tell the employer that you work during normal business hours and anything else is not acceptable.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: tyler811

As a former store manager for a national retail chain I would work 55-60 hours. During the the holidays this would increase to 80 hours. There were time I would go in at 7am and work thru till 4 or 5am the next day. Just to get the shit kicked out of me for a bad visit from a V.P. and have my job threatened daily. The money was great but the stress level and no family time were killing me.

I finally took a several thousands of dollars pay cut and went hourly That was one of the ebst decisions I ever made. The materialistic things I used to buy went away but the time I was able spend with son and watch him grow up are priceless.

That's the point I'm trying to make. People are waking up that work does not equal life. 40 hours means 40 hours, you pay me for my time, experience, knowledge and anything above that means you will compensate me.

I'm glad you realized this, so many don't as they kill themselves reaching for the golden ring. I find it funny that other consultants are saying work more than 40 to get ahead, the converse is true - you work less than 40 to get compensated at what you are worth. If you have to work more than that then you're underselling yourself. Time = money, work = money and when that doesn't happen you need to get out.

You call me and ask for help after hours and you had BETTER be able to pay for it. Take your life back people, tell the employer that you work during normal business hours and anything else is not acceptable.

Good luck getting a non-government or non-mcdonalds type job... most of us working professionals are salaried and take it up the butt when it comes to working overtime

 

[Chronoshock]

Where I work, there is no real expectation of standard work hours. You start when you want, you leave when you want, and you should put in at least 40 hours. If you get your work done, then everyone's happy.
In fact, we've gotten e-mails from management before our regular software release deadlines instructing developers NOT to work more their normal hours, and to actively postpone feature requests for a later release.
I think this makes a lot of sense, because it ensures a stable release, prevents code from becoming sloppy due to haste, and keeps morale up.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: tyler811

As a former store manager for a national retail chain I would work 55-60 hours. During the the holidays this would increase to 80 hours. There were time I would go in at 7am and work thru till 4 or 5am the next day. Just to get the shit kicked out of me for a bad visit from a V.P. and have my job threatened daily. The money was great but the stress level and no family time were killing me.

I finally took a several thousands of dollars pay cut and went hourly That was one of the ebst decisions I ever made. The materialistic things I used to buy went away but the time I was able spend with son and watch him grow up are priceless.

That's the point I'm trying to make. People are waking up that work does not equal life. 40 hours means 40 hours, you pay me for my time, experience, knowledge and anything above that means you will compensate me.

I'm glad you realized this, so many don't as they kill themselves reaching for the golden ring. I find it funny that other consultants are saying work more than 40 to get ahead, the converse is true - you work less than 40 to get compensated at what you are worth. If you have to work more than that then you're underselling yourself. Time = money, work = money and when that doesn't happen you need to get out.

You call me and ask for help after hours and you had BETTER be able to pay for it. Take your life back people, tell the employer that you work during normal business hours and anything else is not acceptable.

FYI...consultants (unless you are you own consultant) have no choice. You either meet utilization, or you don't. You cannot fudge numbers either. Each project only has so many hours and if you start fudging numbers to cover your utilization, you end up making projects go over budget, which makes you look bad and you cannot charge your client for work you did not do. If you lie about hours worked and do not fully post time, then utilzation looks bad and you are toast. Granted utilization goal are not 100%, but when take account the non billable hours you have to do during the day, it becomes hard.

Then there is the stuff you have to "improve methods with in the group". Guess what, that is unbillable. Then there is always the hour taken away when someone needs to borrow your brain. Unbillable. Mentoring....UNBILLABLE!

when you work with clients, forget about it. firms will not hire temp staff to do consulting work, so it sucks when it gets really busy. i am not saying I disagree with you, I am just calling it as it is. I also happen to work a more relaxed work-home balanced oriented firm too....and I still want out.

Ofcourse, you also have to realize that if you work greater than 40 hours, you get straight pay...PROVIDED that you sum of BILLABLE hours exceeds 40.

 

[StinkyPinky]

My last job I worked about 35 hours a week. This job is 37.5, but I have no set time so sometimes I'll do 40 and other weeks 35.

People that constantly work 50+ hours are wasting their lifes. Seriously.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Good luck getting a non-government or non-mcdonalds type job... most of us working professionals are salaried and take it up the butt when it comes to working overtime

And that's why I got out of that gig. Once you start realizing that time = money and working on that model it all falls into place. I chased the golden ring on the merry-go-round only to have it move further out of reach. Get paid for reaching and your skills/time.

Time is money. Money is time. I can save you money or I can save you time. Pick one, that's what skills can do.

 

[Red Squirrel]

When I first started it was 8-5 but they changed from 8 hour shifts to 7.5. While it's less money I prefer it tbh. That extra half hour does wonders believe it or not. I hate finishing at 5. 4:30 is better as at least by the time I go to the gym and all, it's not 6:00 yet.

 

[Gibson486]

Hmmm...maybe it's your industry, but i have only had one job where 40 hours was the norm. That was when I worked for Bose. It's a great place to work and a great place to retire, but it sucks if you are an aspiring engineer. The engineering at that place is so slowwwww. They do not have dealines. They are never in a rush to get things out the door. It is done when it is done. That said, right before I left, they were talking about changing that and setting deadlines for the products because they realized that it cost more money to not have a time frame for releases.

 

[dbk]

40