What happened to 40-hour work weeks?

[simonizor]

Quit complaining. A lot of people would gladly take that many hours. I'm lucky to get 30 a week.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

get over it. i used to get in the office at 8 and get out at 6 or 7. i remember missing plenty of 630 dinners with my friends because i was stuck doing stuff still. i did engineering too.

 

[Engineer]

I'm beginning to just hate working period. Seems that employers think that they literally own you, especially if you have a "salary" position. Getting pretty tired of the mess......currently giving around 60 a week and it's still not enough and it's going to get worse.

Slowing down this week even though I'm falling farther behind......and starting not to give a fuck if I do.

 

[dquan97]

Quit complaining. A lot of people would gladly take that many hours. I'm lucky to get 30 a week.

Would you work 60hrs while getting paid for 30hrs of work?

 

[IcePickFreak]

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.

Truly. The disaster I worked at was a 40 minute drive minimum each way. On top of that we had a 1 hour unpaid lunch. The work week all kind of blended together into one big never ending day. I started working through lunch (yeah, that'll show em) because it's not like I was getting paid for extra hours anyway.. I just needed some extra time to keep my head above water. What pissed me off is when they'd forward calls to me multiple times until I answered it during my lunch hour - kinda ruined the whole point of working through my lunch hour. Heck, we had 3 girls to answer phones and essentially forward 90% of them to me and my boss who had actual work to do, not sure what the strategy was there. Getting another person for our department was always a non-topic.

I really need to stop checking in on this thread, just remembering that place raises my blood pressure.

 

[simonizor]

Would you work 60hrs while getting paid for 30hrs of work?

No, I will never, ever, ever work on a salary.

 

[brianmanahan]

i once worked at a dennys and they paid me minimum wage for 3 years and kept saying 'next year man, next year youll get a raise' but that raise never came so i quit

 

[Slew Foot]

I love being my own corporation, I make my own schedule and get some swank tax write offs.

 

[Chaotic42]

Quit complaining. A lot of people would gladly take that many hours. I'm lucky to get 30 a week.
No, I will never, ever, ever work on a salary.

Interesting.

I sometimes have to work more than 40 hours per week, but it's not often and it is avoidable on the front end if things are planned well. I love my job though. I told my boss that I would sign a 40-year contract for the same pay (adjusted for cost of living and inflation) and same work. Unfortunately he doesn't have that power.

 

[iGas]

It is common for engineers to work more than 40 hours work week starting out unless you work for the government.

 

[JS80]

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.

Not likely when your government pension goes belly up and you have to take a haircut.

 

[Engineer]

It is common for engineers to work more than 40 hours work week forever unless you work for the government.

More like this....

 

[spacelord]

Salary engineering can suck. I normally work 40-45 hours week. However, I have to travel once in a while and this can lead to 16 hour days and weekends. 95&#37; of the time I get no overtime. Sometimes they approve it based on the situation.. but usually not. It blows.

Now I am working 40 hours/week..since I am leaving in a couple months to go freelance. can't wait. It may be more hours.. but I think I'll enjoy it more with more chance for rewards.

 

[RedCOMET]

I go the impression from speaking with my brother( former USAF officer, now in an MBA program ) and father ( Insurance industry ) that the 40-hr work wk doesn't really exist in some industries or in some functional groups.

Me personally, I'll work more than 40, but if its a going to be a normal occurrence, I expect the salary and other perks to compensate for that. And if it happens at a place i work at were the greater than 40 hr work wk comes about because of a shift in corporate culture, then I'll have to re-evaluate whether the company aligns with my career goals.

 

[spacelord]

And if it happens at a place i work at were the greater than 40 hr work wk comes about because of a shift in corporate culture, then I'll have to re-evaluate whether the company aligns with my career goals.

That's basically what happened at my work. They got rid of a certain group and dropped the bomb of their work on us, which included much more traveling. I was glad to have survived the many many layoffs.. but now that things are coming around.. it's time to move on. I think they kinda screwed themselves. There are quite a few people looking to leave now.

 

[FoBoT]

... thinking about things the wrong way, or is that just how it is now?

it has been that way for a long while, if you want less hours, you need a career that is paid hourly, then the management will want you to work less. if you choose a career that is salary, then management wants you to work more

just work an hourly job, like sales dude at best buy or something and you'll have plenty of time to spend the money you don't make at your low hours job

high pay jobs mean lots of your time spent in the cube farm

 

[AMCRambler]

Yep white collar jobs you should expect to work 45 - 50 hours a week. Some at my company do more but I draw the line myself. Our union guys work 8-4:30. I usually wrap up by 5:30. Every so often 6. Once I have kids though that might change to comin in early and leavin at 5.

 

[coloumb]

There are federal rules on which job titles are assigned "salary" and "hourly". My job title back a few years ago was considered Salary. The company share / yearly bonus was nice [well..until the big stock market heart attack hit], but since our hours were not tracked - we often worked 50+ hours per week. Then federal regulations were modified and our job titles were converted to Hourly wage - which meant profit sharing and overtime.

I could never go back to working salary unless it was at least 2x the annual income I currently take home.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I love being my own corporation, I make my own schedule and get some swank tax write offs.

"I make my own schedule"

Maybe this depends where you are in the growth of your business, but I'd say that starting a business will require your entire life (70-80+ hours/week) for the first few years. If setting your own schedule means working all the time, then I suppose that is in your control.

Even if you don't report to a boss, you report to someone. Your customers become your bosses and so you have to be available when they need you and you have to do the work they ask for - it's not optional and up to your whim.

Running a business is no easier, in my opinion, than a job, even though some make it out to be that way.

 

[DCal430]

No, I will never, ever, ever work on a salary.

I can't wait until I am promoted to salary position, here salary means 30 hour work week at 40 hour pay. Government work is the best.

 

[Vette73]

Not likely when your government pension goes belly up and you have to take a haircut.

Negative; I don't have a real pension to retire on, I have my TSP (i.e. Gov 401k). But hey you are not one to let things like facts get in your way so why start now.

 

[Kev]

When people tell me they consistently work over 40 hrs a week it just makes me laugh.

 

[gorcorps]

I work over 40 hours a week pretty consistently and don't feel overworked. It's all about the culture. It's pretty much a given in the engineering world that you'll be working a lot.

 

[JimmiG]

Not just the spotlight...but actually effect those of who aren't remotely affiliated with the union. When a union strikes and airlines/schools/builders/dealers/ect are shut down that impacts all of us.

Or when a union is at war and does childish (if not outright criminal) acts like vandalizing property, dropping nailbombs on highways near executive houses that endanger others (I live near CAT HQ and have unfortunately witnessed this) or see people being left on a payroll when they would have easily been fired in any other non-union shop it's hard not to draw a negative opinion.

The "pros" they provide mean very little to those of us non-union even if their existance has given us more competitive pay, better benefits, and certain legal protections. We can't directly associate the pro's like we can the cons.

Then again, unions don't have to do that. Sure, we have strikes too, but only when it's really justified. Corruption, hunger for power and greed can happen anywhere. Union leaders obviously have a lot of power to use or potentially abuse, like anyone else in power.

 

[SZLiao214]

I've been working 60 hour weeks for the past 8 months or so and don't recommend it. I live very far below my means and would love to go to a 30 hour a week job.

Something like the 3x12 one week and 4x12 next week would be great.