Work hours

[Jupitus]

All you people doing more than your contracted hours without overtime are mad.
If you're paid to do 35/37.5/40 hours then you do what you're contracted to do. If your employer expects you to work longer hours then you're perfectly within your rights to ask for overtime or ask for a pro-rata increase in your salary. Working more hours than you're contracted for is a mug's game. The manager/employer is the one laughing because they're getting £x or $x extra productivity for free.

Those who say that you have to work long hours to make sure your job is secure are kidding themselves. Businesses don't give a rats ass about individual productivity and loyalty.

All the engineers in my company follow the same "work to rule" all the time. We've all had management try it on in the past and told them to stop it. Management now have to ask us if they want us to work past 6PM and it is up to us (the engineers) to decide whether to do overtime or not. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

Unfortunately, quite a few people now have the phrase 'plus extra time where necessary' or similar in their contracts which makes it all very murky from a legal point of view...

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

I've done the 70 hour week thing in the past. I currently enjoy being merely an employee and have zero intention of getting into that malarky again unless a crisis situation develops, which although unlikely is possible given the nature of my job. It would very much be the exception though.

We do 11-hour shifts in our department and you basically get to work and sleep on the days you are on shift with very little time for anything else inbetween, though certain shifts are quieter than others and the rotation means you get some easy cheesey and some manic. As said above, swings and roundabouts.

Throwing some numbers out there, look at a working day like this:

8 hours sleeping.
11 hours at work.
1 hour prep before work, less if you don't care about hygiene or your appearance or enjoy a racing start to the day.
Allow 2 hours for travel to and from work. Even if its 30 mins door to door you need to allow time to be on time. This will vary for a lot of people but its a reasonable average to throw out there.

That leaves 2 hours for non work related activity in a day, including perhaps getting an evening meal.
Naturally, some people will sleep less, have less time taken getting to and from work and some people never wash so you can cut out some time right there. Its fairly reasonable averages I've posted I think and based on experience.

The current situation in the economy means some employers will naturally take advantage to turn the thumbscrews on employees to squeeze more work out of them. Some might genuinely need to up the workload to stay afloat.

One thing worth bearing in mind about the human body: despite the way we tend to treat ourselves, our bodies crave regularity and routine in many things. Alternating shifts screw up natural rhythms. Again this is based on experience.

I'd suggest that a more even working week each week would be more beneficial to a company unless there are very specific demands on work schedules. Being slightly cynical I bet also on the 'short' weeks you might find you end up doing longer shifts to 'help out' due to peer or employer pressure.

 

[00dave]

All you people doing more than your contracted hours without overtime are mad.
If you're paid to do 35/37.5/40 hours then you do what you're contracted to do. If your employer expects you to work longer hours then you're perfectly within your rights to ask for overtime or ask for a pro-rata increase in your salary. Working more hours than you're contracted for is a mug's game. The manager/employer is the one laughing because they're getting £x or $x extra productivity for free.

Those who say that you have to work long hours to make sure your job is secure are kidding themselves. Businesses don't give a rats ass about individual productivity and loyalty.

All the engineers in my company follow the same "work to rule" all the time. We've all had management try it on in the past and told them to stop it. Management now have to ask us if they want us to work past 6PM and it is up to us (the engineers) to decide whether to do overtime or not. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

You'd be surprised how few "rights" you actually have in the private sector outside the protection of a union.
Legally speaking there isn't much they can do to if you refuse changes outside of you contract but they can make your life hell and get away with it. Companies can also put pressure on you to jump rather than push you, this nearly happened to me once. Sure you can try taking them to court if you like but chances are you'll be wasting your own time and, unless you have a friend clued up in legal practices, your money.
And with reguards to companies not caring about individual productivity, you are joking right? In the private sector they would time your toilet breaks if they could.

 

[Starman]

Personally I work 7-3pm (Anything after 3pm is x1.5 and after midnight x2 time) Monday-Friday but I also am on call every 5 days till 7am the following day. But anything after 4am in the morning I get the day off fully paid.

 

[Pfy]

5*11 + 5*5 = 80

thats 5 more than your 2*37.5 = 75

whats the reason for the fucked up hours

- 10*0.5hrs (unpaid lunch)?

 

[Will]

And with reguards to companies not caring about individual productivity, you are joking right? In the private sector they would time your toilet breaks if they could.

Heh, my work (last day today!) actually do that. No more than 10 minutes a day allowed.

 

[TdC]

you're kidding! it usually takes me at least that time to squeeze a decent poo out o0

 

[Will]

You have some dietary health issues.

 

[Chilly]

real men measure their shits in hours, not minutes.

 

[nath]

I measure my shits in Picross puzzles. If it lasts a 15x15 then that's a pretty decent one. More than a 20x20 and I need to be getting more fibre.

 

[TdC]

or your poos are tiny. I also read, once apon a time, a thing about boarding schools in Japan, where you were only allowed to wipe using two sheets of paper and that was it.

that made me decide that the toiletry regime there was designed purely to torture kids and that I would never go there.

 

[Malecheon]

Two sheets ?!? That's definite cruelty. Next they'll be forced to suplement their diet with toilet paper, so that it wipes on the way out.

A guy I used to work with claimed that he only ever needed three sheets, one up, one down and one to polish, but then his diet was awful so he was probably like a mr. whippy machine everytime he went.

 

[tris-]

The best log I ever did was a foot long unbroken, seriously. Was firm enough to say in that shape, not one of these curly fuckers.

I dont know how it happened, but it was like a miracle I didnt even know I was pooing untill I got that empty satisfaction feeling inside.

 

[GReaper]

I think this shit belongs in the [thread=236776]Poo day[/thread] thread!

 

[SilverHood]

I was working 55 hours a week because the business I was in was tethering on going bust, despite only getting paid for 40 hours. We then read on Reuters that our department (which was making money) was being shut down to improve cash flow. Some dipshit way up had talked to the press before our business branch even knew about it.

So lots of hard work wasted, and I decided to stick to a 40 hour week unless it was an emergency. I told my new boss that I'm happy to do more hours, but either I get paid for it, or I take time off in lieu. That will change if I go permanent, but then, I'm asking for stupid money (60k as a 24 year old), so I could probably live with it for a few years.

 

[Yaka]

crikey, wish i did some oif the hours u guys do, sadly self employment sucks

 

[Yoni]

I have a horribly senior role within an organisation and with that seniority come responsibility that the job is done regardless of the number of hours. I have two contracts one in the UK which is 37.5 hours per week and one sitting on top which is for my secondment to the Netherlands which is 40 hours per week.

Normal month
Week 1 - 70 hours
Week 2 - 60 - 70 hours
Rest of the month c. 50 hours

Hard close (accounting term for those not familiar meaning when the fucking unintelligent auditors come in and ask stupid questions and then fail to find the real issues)
Week 1 - 90 hours
Week 2 - 70 hours
Rest of the month c. 50 hours

Year end (Statutory accounts (Dutch Gaap) as well as internal reporting IFRS in January)
Week 1 - 100 hours +
Week 2 - 80 hours
Rest of the month c. 60 hours

I don't mind the hours as long as those that be let me get on and do what I need, when and how I want to (something that those I work for in the Netherlands don't understand.

In the UK after a though couple of weeks I could just take days off during my not so busy time without booking holiday, again the lovely dutch subsidiary I am seconded to does not permit this.. although with time this WILL change

 

[chipper]

40hour week generally with 1 saturday in every 3 if needed at 4-8 hours depends how long it takes

can do a 60h week when the overtime is on, a 5 day week of 12's we get paid overtime 1.5 for that tho so its quite nice in some respects

must say some of you have some horrificaly shit jobs to work all the hours you do for minimum wages

do work round the clock shifts tho 6-2 2-10 10-6 which is a bit shit cos i cant raid in wow but hey its good money and i get every weekend off more or less