What happened to 40-hour work weeks?

[IcePickFreak]

I'd take 4 10's over 5 8's whenever possible. Hell, I'd prefer 3x12's and the occasional extra shift.

I agree 110% there.

I think right now the job market is really inconsistent because there's a lot of places running skeleton crews that expect 5 people to do the work of 10 after they laid-off 5. It's not every place - there are still some places that take care of their employees, but at least around this area they are definitely the exception.

 

[purbeast0]

when i interview that is one of the first questions i ask. if they say working 45+ hours is normal, i don't even bother anymore.

fuck that, my time is more valuable now than ever because I have less and less free time, so I'd rather not work somewhere if i'm working more than 8 hours a day.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

when i interview that is one of the first questions i ask. if they say working 45+ hours is normal, i don't even bother anymore.

fuck that, my time is more valuable now than ever because I have less and less free time, so I'd rather not work somewhere if i'm working more than 8 hours a day.

I would normally do that, but right now I don't have the luxury of being picky about jobs =\ I am pretty sure the one I just got is 48 hours a week =[ I might be able to talk them into saturdays off when I go to sign paperwork

 

[Capt Caveman]

when i interview that is one of the first questions i ask. if they say working 45+ hours is normal, i don't even bother anymore.

fuck that, my time is more valuable now than ever because I have less and less free time, so I'd rather not work somewhere if i'm working more than 8 hours a day.

I would never ask directly like that. I would ask about the company's culture and if people work insane hours.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

In one position I held, my boss held an incredibly large number of pointless meetings. Finally, my coworker and I complained. We told me we weren't able to get our work done if we were in meetings 40% of the time. He actually told us:

It is your responsibility to make up meeting time on your own time.

After I got done laughing at him, I made it a point to never let that happen. I told him it was his responsibility to schedule resources and workloads appropriately and that if meetings were important enough to be held in the first place, he had to readjust priorities to account for them.

 

[Saint Nick]

I would never ask directly like that. I would ask about the company's culture and if people work insane hours.

Huh? So you would never ask about it...but you would ask about it.

wat

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Huh? So you would never ask about it...but you would ask about it.

wat

You should ask it, but in a roundabout way. For example, you'll interview with your potential coworkers at many companies. Ask them to describe a typical day. If they give the predictable "No day around here is typical," respond with "I see. Would you care to elaborate a little more?" You'll be able to tell from the reactions if it is a sweat shop or not.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Huh? So you would never ask about it...but you would ask about it.

wat

I wouldn't ask directly, can I expect a 40 hour work week. I would rather know instead if the corporate culture is tries to strike a work/life balance or they work as long til the job/task is complete. It's pretty easy to ask a question or a series of questions in an elegant way to get a vibe or answer.

 

[blackangst1]

I love my shift...3x12 one week, 4x12 the next. Means I only work 7 of 14 days. My short weeks (when I have 4 days off) sometimes feel like a vacation.

 

[purbeast0]

I would never ask directly like that. I would ask about the company's culture and if people work insane hours.

why not?

i like to know exactly what i'm getting myself into before i get myself into it.

i ask it not in that direct manner though, i just say "so are typical work hours 9-5:30 with a 30 minute lunch break?' and see how they respond do that. i also ask about having leave mid-day for doctors appointments and stuff like that, where i don't need a full day off.

it usually is nice to know your schedule before you sign onto a job heh.

 

[Juddog]

I agree 110% there.

I think right now the job market is really inconsistent because there's a lot of places running skeleton crews that expect 5 people to do the work of 10 after they laid-off 5. It's not every place - there are still some places that take care of their employees, but at least around this area they are definitely the exception.

^^ Sadly this seems to be the case right now even for companies that were doing well. It's as if they just used the economy being in poor shape as an excuse to make everybody work harder without increase in pay or re-hiring positions that were vacated, instead of just closing the positions and making everybody else pick up the slack of the person who left.

 

[JS80]

40 hour workweek is for suckers who want to work until they are 75. I'll gladly work 50-60 hours regularly and move up the ladder to C-level and work 10 hours a week and retire in my 50s.

 

[vi edit]

40 hour workweek is for suckers who want to work until they are 75. I'll gladly work 50-60 hours regularly and move up the ladder to C-level and work 10 hours a week and retire in my 50s.

Assume much? Most people really don't want anything to do with climbing a corporate ladder. And many people could easily retire in their 50's if they had half an ouce of foresight and planning and actually started saving when they were in their 20's. If you have your house paid off(which you should), and your kids taken care of for college in your 50's there's not much reason at all you can't knock back your hours.

My Mom worked 40 hours a week making barely above minimum wage for years and only making a transition to a desk a job in the last 4 years. She's retiring at 53 years old this summer. Her house is paid off. Her car is paid off. And my Dad is only hanging around to max out his retirement benefits at 62 that he gets and to give them some extra fun money without tapping into retirement savings.

My wife and I will be in much the same situation and we mostly work 40 hour weeks.

 

[Vette73]

40 hour workweek is for suckers who want to work until they are 75. I'll gladly work 50-60 hours regularly and move up the ladder to C-level and work 10 hours a week and retire in my 50s.

Hahahhahahhaaaa... Yea cause everybody that works 50+ hrs will get that promotion that is always being talked about.

Several people in this thread have already shown that is not the case.

But hey good luck thinking that.

<-- Works 40hrs a week and will retire, with wife, in his 50's if not sooner.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

40 hour workweek is for suckers who want to work until they are 75. I'll gladly work 50-60 hours regularly and move up the ladder to C-level and work 10 hours a week and retire in my 50s.

Yeah, good luck with that. As many have already shown, it doesn't generally work out like that.

 

[96Firebird]

I called them back but the guy was in an interview, so he will call me back sometime today or tomorrow. I also have a phone interview tomorrow for a "graduate program" at another company, where they pretty much test you out in a few different areas for a year to see where you fit in. I have a feeling this won't pay much, but we'll see. Then, the place where I am working part-time right now while still in school (getting 20/hr part-time) has hinted that they would consider me for full-time later on this month. There are only 4 people that work here, so its a pretty small company. I like having choices, but its hard to pick the right one...

I'm going to call my girlfriend's uncle tonight and see how he likes it there, and see if he knows how many hours the engineers put in each week.

 

[ShawnD1]

That's the other hidden killer...is it's not just a "40 hour week". You have lunch cutting in there for another 30 minutes to an hour a day, plus I'd wager that people in these positions are commuting from the 'burbs so 30 minutes might even be on the low side. And then you have the time spent in the morning getting ready. And then you have checking email from home or or any other task you might do that's work related.

It's even more of a % than you figured.

True that. My day is 8 hours of paid time and 30 minutes of unpaid time (lunch). To do that, I wake up at 6:30AM and I get home at 5:30PM. Suddenly my 8 hour day is actually 11 hours.

I don't know how people work 12 hour days. Add in the 3 hours it takes for prep, lunch, transportion in both direction, and suddenly 15 hours is dedicated to work. That means you get home and you have 1 hour to eat supper before going to bed to sleep for 8 hours. Have fun with that.

 

[hanoverphist]

no one works 40 hours/week anymore.

i do. its a rare week that i have to put more than 40-44 hours in. im on salary as well, so its all good. the closer i get to completion dates the more chance there is that ill have to work 50+ hours, and i try to make sure that doesnt happen. we do have 2 PMs here that regularly work 50+ hours on salary and then bitch about it, but there have been many conversations on how they could avoid this if they organized better. no sympathy.

 

[Electric Amish]

I agree, it's bullshit. The people that do it willingly really screw expectations for the rest of us.

I don't work more than 40.

 

[dighn]

40 hour workweek is for suckers who want to work until they are 75. I'll gladly work 50-60 hours regularly and move up the ladder to C-level and work 10 hours a week and retire in my 50s.

I bet most people who work 50-60 hours or more don't go anywhere either. Working your butt off doesn't really buy you much if it's the norm at your place.

 

[96Firebird]

They came back with a fairly low (IMO) offer of $42,000/yr starting, then a "re-evaluation" after 6 months. I'm thinking this is very low, since I said I wanted to start at $50,000. Am I expecting too much, or are they low-balling me? I have a BS in Mechanical Engineering, with 2 six month co-ops under my belt...

 

[BurnItDwn]

Salary is not an excuse for a company to rape the employees with 50+ hour average weeks. It's one thing to put somebody on call and expect them to work a few extra hours every every few weeks on a rotation, it's something completely different to expect shittons of hours every week.

Anyhow, I can't complain, I usually stick to 40, sometimes maybe 50, but, ocassionally 37 or 38 if I need to leave early or come in late for appointments or whatever... I probably average about 43 or 44 hours, but that's not too bad compared to most people.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

They came back with a fairly low (IMO) offer of $42,000/yr starting, then a "re-evaluation" after 6 months. I'm thinking this is very low, since I said I wanted to start at $50,000. Am I expecting too much, or are they low-balling me? I have a BS in Mechanical Engineering, with 2 six month co-ops under my belt...

with that experience, they are low balling imo. tell them 50k or bust. did they give an overview of that re-evaluation? how much could you make after that re-evaluation? My job does 90 day evaluations, if you do good they give you a 50 cent raise. not much, but it happens 4 times a year, so I could potentially gain an extra $2 / year + whatever I get from other raises (which you get from commendations, good customer reviews, ect). Actually, typing it out that sounds really shitty, but I make half of what they offered you.

 

[AlienCraft]

There's your Globalized Labor Market forces at work for ya!

 

[AlienCraft]

True that. My day is 8 hours of paid time and 30 minutes of unpaid time (lunch). To do that, I wake up at 6:30AM and I get home at 5:30PM. Suddenly my 8 hour day is actually 11 hours.

I don't know how people work 12 hour days. Add in the 3 hours it takes for prep, lunch, transportion in both direction, and suddenly 15 hours is dedicated to work. That means you get home and you have 1 hour to eat supper before going to bed to sleep for 8 hours. Have fun with that.

Hence the term: Wage Slave. D: