My scheduled hours are 7-4 with an hour lunch. I like doing 7-3:30 with a half hour lunch. But I've been training in a new position and doin my old position so the hours have been crazy. Like I had 27 hours of over time on my last check.
Once I'm settled in and the new girl starts in my old position, it'll go back to my scheduled hours with some over time at end of the month.
Post by delawarejen on Jul 26, 2014 11:41:15 GMT -5
I'm an accountant and I work 8:30 - 5. I do work a little extra around the fiscal year-end and calendar year-end, but that's mostly for my own sanity (I'm there by myself so I'm not getting interrupted and losing my train of thought). I do have to be flexible sometimes with the timing of my shift though (there are times I have to come in at 7 am, and times when my coworkers on earlier shifts need to stay late).
I work for a fairly large non-profit - probably 1500-2000 employees worldwide. I work 7-3 and do not take a lunch. this is MY choice, I'd rather leave at 3 than take an hour for lunch and leave at 4. I've been doing this for probably at least 15 years. Each evening I access my work email from home and weed it out, takes me about 10-15 minutes and makes my life easier the next morning. I handle 300-500 emails a day while doing my actual work. My boss does not even want me doing that. She wants us to work our scheduled hours and nothing more. If we do need to stay over, she wants to know about it and keep track of it. This did help us recently get approved for 3 more staff members.
Post by LoveTrains on Jul 26, 2014 12:25:05 GMT -5
Technically my hours are 8 am - 4 pm. That is pretty standard for my line of work. However I often work until 5 or later, plus there is travel plus events on evenings and weekends. I am expected to reply to emails during nights and weekends, which I do. When there is a big project I sometimes do many hours of work on the weekend or in the evening at home.
DH works 8-5 with an hour lunch. He's an engineer. Occasionally he'll work a bit later but never later than 6. When he's stressed about his desk, he'll go in early so he can get stuff done before people start bothering him but it's certainly not required. He does travel maybe one week a month and it can be unpredictable. Like he rushes home, packs a bag and gets on a plane an hour later. And when he's onsite, he works pretty much nonstop. He used to travel a lot more and thankfully he doesn't now that he's moved into management.
Overall we're very lucky. When I was working I worked from 8-8:30 ish to 5. I worked in insurance on the company side.
Companies are just trying to eek more work out of their workers for the same pay. They can do this because there are more workers than jobs (in large part because they've turned what used to be three jobs into two). A win for them, a loss for workers.
Another government employee signing in, I work 8-5 and usually workout at lunch. I've only had to work more than 8 hrs a handful of times in the six years I've worked for the government. When I worked in the private sector my hrs were more like 8:30-7:30 and a couple Saturdays a month + tethered to my bib at all times.
I work for local government. My hours are 8:30 - 5, with a 90 minute lunch. Most peoole are able to maintain just these hours, unless they are in the midst of a trial.
This thread is making me jealous. I work from 6pm Sunday to 5:15pm Friday (commodity market hours). H and I take turns waking up in the middle of the night when things are going on in the market. I also sometimes work on Saturdays if I'm falling behind and we haven't taken a real vacation in 4 years. H and I have been seriously thinking about going back to office jobs even at 60+ hours/week and a major pay cut.
I think that sometimes, when they mention stuff like this in an interview, they are exaggerating a little bit. Or, treating the higher volume weeks as a "norm"... I hear people doing this (to an extent) when we interview people.
I think that sometimes, when they mention stuff like this in an interview, they are exaggerating a little bit. Or, treating the higher volume weeks as a "norm"... I hear people doing this (to an extent) when we interview people.
This is what I'm hoping. Both jobs are much closer to home and hopefully more stable than my current job.
Teaching. I work 7-3, some days 7-4 with 2 evenings per year (BTSNs). 20 minute lunch (which goes by fast, LOL). I do not take work home, except in extreme cases. I don't have to attend a lot of meetings during the day (I teach an elective) so I actually get to use my planning time to grade and plan, not attend stupid meetings. I also don't *hang out* during my planning period--I actually work. I also eat at my desk during lunch, but that's more so people can't bother me.
This is part of why I am so crazed about early retirement. My role requires business travel, which really gums up the whole time thing. Sometimes it is awesome (Paris, Dublin, London, San Fran) sometimes it sucks (boring cities for boring conventions or client meetings.)
I am way better off than the stereotypical management consultant, as I do work from home often when not on the road (no commute!) and I am somewhat regularly on the 7:30a - 4:30/5:30 schedule, after which I completley unplug. I remember resisting a Blackberry back in 04 because I was worried about being always on. A bigwig I really admired said: "We aren't doctors, when we don't respond, NO ONE dies.". He was a good role model for....kick ass at work, and when you are done, shut your email down. I think that has helped a lot.
But, the end result is 5 days a week of going at about 10-hour days, fuck I just can't get it up to love my job enough to commit that massive amount of time for decades more. Newp. I think it would help if I had no hobbies, but unfortunately I have all the hobbies and all the interests.
I am not sure I would hang my hopes on "maybe they are just being aggressive" when they talk timelines. If you get an offer, just ask to speak to a few current employees (not supervisors, but worker bee types) they tend to give the real unvarnished truth.
I'm a professor. I could work 8-4 (or 8-5) if I wanted. Some of my colleagues do (there's no expectation here that we respond to emails right.this.second which makes that possible.) However, I prefer to sleep in (sometimes WAYYY in) and work late. I also like to break up my days. It turns out the grocery store is nearly empty at 2pm on a Tuesday
I think you can find those jobs but, in my experience at least, you give up some earning potential to do so.
DH has a good thing going where he only schedules patients from 8:20 to 3:40 (lifestyle specialty so no inpatient, very few emergencies) but even he will regularly work evenings (from home at least) to submit research papers, put together talks, etc. It just depends on your field and your goals, I guess.
ETA: I also think this is city dependent. When I worked in NYC, no one left before 6/6:30, but here, the roads are bumper-to-bumper at 5:05 and the traffic is gone 40 minutes later. The work culture is much less intense.
Post by sarapocalypse on Jul 27, 2014 15:18:34 GMT -5
I work in state government and I typically work 7:30-4:00 (taking a half hour lunch). In recent months, I've ended up working a few extra hours per week (around 45). I get comp time so it's not too bad. There is definitely an expectation to work as long as you need in order to get stuff done. But overall. I don't feel pressured to put in a ton of extra hours just for the heck of it.
I work for a state university and have this kind of life. They put a big emphasis on flexible work schedules so I work 7:30-4. I could make more money in the private sector, but I very much appreciate the work life balance. I am never leaving this place lol.
I have a MS in accounting and am a Fed. I work 40 hours a week in the office but work countless hours from home. I am expected to be available 24/7 and to respond within ten minutes of any email. This includes nights, weekends and most leave. I recently took another job (supposed to start in two weeks) because I am beginning to feel really burnt out and that sucks when in theory I really do enjoy what I do.
ETA: I don't actually work in an accounting field, but there is a "business" component to what I do.