<p>A discussion among our family this weekend was the somewhat demise of the typical workweek - the days of the 8 -5pm , 40 hr week.</p>
<p>Amongst our family members, variety occurs. Myself, I work part-time, 30 hrs a week, though since I am a “one-man show” in my position, I work to get the job done and done well- so the above usually translates into about 30 hours AT work, and emails/phone calls done after leaving most days at home for another 1/2 hour or so.</p>
<p>Another family member works often from home, but works for a major media player so his hours often add up to 40++++! He does have the perk of a generous vacation time package.</p>
<p>Another family owns his own business and has had the luxury more recently of working from his office or via laptop from his boat (summertime) while some assistants oversee stuff directly IN the office. But, he often has to cover for other employees so one week could entail 50+ hours of work.</p>
<p>D has been working a post grad internship where her officemates seem to work a 8 - 6 (at least!) schedule with often no break for lunch (lunch at desk). This was/is surprising to D who did not expect her 40 hour week to actually entail 48!</p>
<p>Are 40 hour weeks in the past? If you work more than 40, are you compensated in anyway at your office? (comp time, bonuses, NOTHING…)</p>
<p>Surely many of us are in the “less people to do more work” situation at our places of work.<br>
What becomes depressing is looking at a salary and noting that if you are required or find yourself working beyond the original intended (40 hours), your “hourly” wage certainly diminishes.</p>
<p>DH works about 50 hours a week plus he travels some. He is well compensated, but does not get extra. He was in the military for 27 years where the joke was at Christmas time they worked half days–12 hours.</p>
<p>I am required to be on campus 20 hours a week for my college teaching job during the school year and I am salaried. I might put in another five to ten hours a week at home. My hourly rate is pretty good.</p>
<p>Working more than 40 hours a week for a salary is one reason my husband and I started our own engineering consulting business 12 years ago. My hours vary greatly, depending on the engineering/drafting needs of the projects my husband spearheads. He definitely works more than 40 hours a week, BUT he gets paid for almost every hour he works. Even taking into account the lack of paid sick days and vacation days, our income is much better than it would be as employees. Consultants charge much more than employees earn per hour.</p>
<p>He likes being able to work from home. We built an addition, and our office looks onto beautiful woods. We sometimes see owls, deer, wild turkeys, etc. as we work. We’re usually home when the kids get off the bus, too.</p>
<p>The main downside is trying to collect what we’re owed. Some clients don’t seem to understand what “due in 30 days” means! Lately, though, everyone has been paying on time.</p>
<p>I have my own small company and put in a regular 50 hour week. However, in the summer, my partner and I switch off taking every other Friday off. (Surfs up!)
My dear H has retired from the film industry. One of the reasons being that his job entailed him being on the set for 75-80 hours a week. His (often sleepy) drives home terrified me.</p>
<p>I’ve always believed that people who are salaried should not expect that their work week is a set number of hours. I felt that way when I worked full-time while putting myself through grad school and my husband through law school, and I don’t see that that has changed today. If you’re salaried, rather than an hourly wage-earner, it’s expected in most jobs that you’ll work the hours necessary to get the job done.</p>
<p>In my career, I’ve been self-employed and thus able to set my own hours to see patients/clients. My H has always worked 12 hour days, sometimes longer, often on weekends, and always is contacted when we’re on vacation. It’s the nature of the job. However, he is extremely well compensated and when you go into law, you know this is the nature of the profession. </p>
<p>I think that in many professions a work week that exceeds 40 hours is the norm.</p>
<p>I have only been able to work part time for years which is our response to my H being hourly, but 50-60 hours weeks are more common than not. He is compensated, but because it is very physical & stressful manufacturing work, the extra money is not worth it to me, because it takes away from family time and wears him out so much that even on the days he is home, he is exhausted.</p>
<p>I really flex my flex time to deal with my younger kid’s activities. Luckily my job allows me to work from home at times. So during the school year, I’ll leave at 2:30 and get them to their activities or settled in with their homework, then log in to work from home for an hour or two every evening. </p>
<p>When my mother was sick I was putting in less that 40 hours a week because I was going up to the nursing home instead of doing my evening hours from home. So I blew through my leave time and my work suffered a bit.</p>
<p>But now that she’s passed, I am back to forty hours. Last year we were very very busy and I was putting in time before and after work from home, as well as some time on weekends. My week in August last summer I probably spent 2 hours a day on work stuff every day that week, checking in early AM and in the afternoon and evening.</p>
<p>I appreciate the flexibilty they give me, so I am happy to go the extra mile when they need it.</p>
<p>I arrive at my place of employment between 6 and 6:15 and leave around 5. I have a 30 minute break for lunch and try to answer e-mails during this time. I work 4 or 5 hours on the weekend, but it’s work that I bring home with me. </p>
<p>My sister works a similar number of hours, although she starts between 8:30 and 9. I think long hours are much more common than in the past. Everyone has to do more with less.</p>
<p>As a high-stress-career mom it’s such a relief to GET to work extra hours now that my kids are big! The pressure of staying ahead on deadlines while having to leave on time to get kids to various activities was rough. I used to envy the guys would could leisurely hang around and finish up stuff while I had to get to work super-early to finish and leave by 4-4:30pm! And, of course, no matter that my workdays started by 6-6:30 you’d still get comments about “leaving early” if you left before 5pm. </p>
<p>I have the opposite view of MaineLonghorn. When I worked for myself (as an independent contractor) I felt so pressured to log billable hours that I couldn’t enjoy time off. I much prefer being a salaried employee again with 4 weeks of “paid vacation”!!!</p>
<p>my work has all different types of shifts. It’s weird they way they do it. We are salaried for 40 hours a week. If they are offering overtime, they will calculate out what your hourly rate would have been if you were hourly and pay you time and a half of that amount over 40 hours per week. If you are just stuck a half hour late or something you can take comp time and leave half hour early another time. (I was there 15 minutes late tonight, so I’ll probably just put that in as OT… unless I decide I want to leave 15 minutes early on Friday… ) Most people work varying schedules that amount to 8 hours per day for 5 days straight. We have some people who work four 10 hour days with a random day off during the week… we have some people that work 10 hours Monday and Tuesday, 8 hours Wednesday and Thursday and have a half day on Fridays…</p>
<p>Currently I typically work about 34-38 hours a week. That’s even with working typically between 6 and 10 days straight before a day off. When August 10 comes around, I’ll be working probably anywhere between 40-45 hours a week with the POSSIBILITY of having Sundays off. I don’t work a “normal” schedule and often my weeks are different every week.</p>
<p>If I do go over 40 hours in a given week, I get overtime. If I work on a holiday, I get paid 8 hours PTO PLUS get the time I actually work. I do get 30 minutes (unpaid) at lunch, but that doesn’t mean I actually get 30 minutes off really. I’m expected to take 30 minutes for lunch if I’m working 8+ hours in a day. Some days that just isn’t possible and although I typically do clock out for a period of time, I normally don’t go the full 30. </p>
<p>I never work 8-5, 9-5, etc. Today I worked 10-6; tomorrow I work 5:15AM-1PM; Thursday I work 12-8PM. In the fall, I could potentially have days where I work from 5:15AM-noon and then again from 2:30-10PM. I had a couple days this spring where I worked 5:15AM-1PM and then 2:30-9:30PM.</p>
<p>My husband does cancer research. He spends 9 hours a day at the lab, and then comes home and spends another 1-3 hours every day, reading papers, writing grants, writing papers, judging grants etc.</p>
<p>I have my own business. When the kids were small I didn’t want to be working full time. It’s pretty variable, but anywhere between 20 to 40 hours. I often meet clients in the evening or on weekends.</p>
<p>I used to have a 40 hour week at my old job. Then, earlier this year, I joined a new company where 45 hours is the understood minimum. Since my boss is single, with no kids, and no family close, she likes to see a 50 hour standard. I resent it. </p>
<p>My husband owns and runs a small company. Depending on the ebb and flow of contracts, he might work 30 - 70+ hours in a given week. He also has to travel at a moment’s notice. One of the best things we ever did was build his office above the garage. At least we get to see him during the busy spells.</p>
<p>I work 20 hours a week - in theory. In reality as our company has grown and I have taken on additional responsibilities, I now rarely work less than 30. I would love to stay part-time, by full-time is looming and it is not a question of if but rather when. Hopefully, that will only average out about 40 hours/week.</p>
<p>Wow amazing really. Seems most everyone is working a non-traditional schedule! And it seems, for most, they are willing to go along with the eb and flow and often the flexibility of a non-traditional schedule.</p>
<p>Well, during the school year much of my schedule is based off of sports schedules. And those games have to be played in the afternoons and evenings so that’s when I have to work. I actually prefer working in the evenings…</p>
<p>I own and manage a small retail store. I am on call all the time (24/7/365), and I am also the person who steps in if a daily manager is out. My normal schedule is 8-6 MTW, 9:30-2 Thursdays in the summer, and off (but on call) Friday, Sat, Sunday. One of those days is a “working from home” day when I concentrate on marketing and advertising.</p>
<p>Because it’s retail and we need to be OPEN during OPENING hours, there’s not a lot of flexibility. Our ordering and receiving schedules are fixed by our suppliers; if I don’t order dog food on Monday by 2 pm, there won’t be any in the store that week!</p>
<p>I’m fortunate in that I have a full time manager who works 40-45 hours per week and can handle most everything that comes up. I am still the animal expert and in charge of all buying and bill paying.</p>