I work for a small business (8 people) and I'm not self employed. I only go over to the facility for about 5 hours a day, and I'd say I work about 4:45 out of those 5 hours. The bigger the company, the less each person feels a moral obligation to pull their weight. Cyberloafing is one of the biggest inefficiencies and biggest wastes of corporate resources due to the sheer amount of man-hours lost. I'm not criticizing anyone... I'm a working stiff, I've been there. I just find it interesting.
I work part time for a State Representative that didn't get re-elected so there's not much work to be done since not many constituents call. Most of my work is revising letters, printing out addresses on labels and making runs to the local mail office. I can usually finish my real work in just under an hour outside of waiting for the occasional phone calls. I've only had to stay late to work twice and that's for a last minute press release to blast e-mail and another time to wait for a fax that wasn't coming through. Working for the Rep. during session is when things are truly hectic though.
Yep, I joke around a lot but I actually prefer a busy work day over the alternative. We have our busy times and our slow times during the year. I look forward to the busy times and happily work my ass off once they get here. Unfortunately, Summer is one of the slow times, so I'm in hell right now.
Sometimes I work crazy hard, do extra work from home, late into the night, you name it. Other times, less than 10hrs total in a week. Depends on whats going on.
I work pretty hard during busy season. Normally 50-60 hours a week for 3 or 4 months. Then the rest of the time, its a lot more laid back, depending on what projects we have.
Considering this is my first post during a weekday since who knows when, I am working quite a bit. I've changed companies and have been at my new job for over a month now. I got a huge pay raise (over 50% increase in salary) but that also means more responsibilities and pressures. I got a call I have to get on in 8 minutes and then this afternoon, another call about another project. In between those calls, I have to work on 2 other projects that are very close to completion. So, yea I am busy.
I'm at a cut-throat law firm here in Chicago for the summer where, typically, I work 14 hrs a day (98/wk). CF is a great tool for me to keep my sanity, plus the pay is stellar. Usually I do 11-12 hours of actual work, and the rest of the time I'm surfing the Internet or reading a novel (why it's great to have an office).
I work on a state-wide political campaign so its between 70 and 80 hours a week on a normal week and can push over 100 on a crazy week. I'd go insane without stuff like clutchfans. Gotta take breaks before I lose my sanity and smash my computer.
If you are working 70 and 80 hours a week & that is a normal week for you - how do you have time to post here? Granted, you may not post as much as you used to (like me) but still working 80 hours a week is like working 11 to 12 hours a day for 7 days a week. If I was working that schedule, I think I would go to sleep as soon I got done working and then look for another job if that is the way it is going to be longterm.
Commute is okay because I am rarely stuck in traffic. It is 63 miles one way with no interstate but I can get there in an hour and 15 minutes. There's just no down time which I had a lot at the old job.
Yet apparently, US employees are fairly productive, and perhaps more productive than they've ever been. What in the heck was everyone wasting their time doing BEFORE internet. Writing out actual memos and waiting for the mail guy to bring the response by your actual physical inbox twice a day?
Well, I'm in a similar situation as the OP. My first internship, and my job is to verify IPOs (which is what lawyers are supposed to do, but the people here gave it to me as well just to give me something to do). I'm not going to lie, by listening to music I get work done faster, probably because it puts me in an upbeat mood. My working hours are supposed to be from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, but I leave at 6:30 pm.
I spend around a good six hours testing a website and learning how to program. Seemed pretty easy until the entire web QA staff got fired and the site getting more and more complex over time. Playdudes and strip tetris? Maybe a handwritten rotisserie baseball league.
Work two jobs and I am at the evening one currently. (Well duh I suppose), I work accounting during the day and it really depends somedays I do next to nothing but surf the web and some days it's busy as hell. Right now I am heading up a software migration as well as training a new employee on top of my normal duties. Someone wrote a book several years back about how he thought we all pretty much stretch our work to fill 40 hours and if we were pushed to do it we could do the same amount of work in 20. I tend to agree. For example the State of Utah recently switched to 4 10s thinking it would save money on electricity, etc. Come to find out they saved a TON on overtime because with a constant 3 day weekend the workers made sure to finish on time. They were happier and their work was of a higher quality as well.
Did your firm run in Race Judicata today? I work in financial/litigation consulting, so a lot of our clients are big name Chicago law firms. :grin:
