PatriotsReign

Do most people on this board have jobs that require 40 hours/week?

When I was a kid, my parents never worked more than 40 hours/week. I'll qualify that by saying my dad had 2 jobs for a while until my mom got into her hairdressing career.

I still consider the 40 hour work week sacred. I try not to work past 6pm or on weekends and take 100% of my vacation every year. But I see some people who actually proud that they work almost 7 days/week and don't take vacations.

I see that as a growing illness in America. Workaholism is very real and nothing to be proud of...it's a sickness that reflects severe underlying issues.

Having said all this, I work for a boss that would love me to work until 9pm every night and work at least one day every weekend. Everytime he encourages that, I just change the subject.

Whatever...I'd like to hear some opinions on what others do for hours and how they perceive American work ethic today.

Note: I am a recovering workaholic myself.

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"No one walking this earth knows what is truly righteous"

Drewski

PR - I currently work for a bank - in their in a BI group (SQL Developer), but up to this job had worked for small shop vendors.

When working at the vendor shops, it was expected you would be at a minimum there working 9am-630pm (if you left before 6 it would be mentioned in your review), with after hours work (both weekday and weekend) done as well.

At the bank (big corp) it definitely is more of a 9-5 attitude, however with my work load and "ethic" from my years in a vendor shop, I usually do 715am-5/530pm. So about 50 hours during the week and VPN in every Sunday morning for a couple of more hours.

I do the early mornings now so I dont have to work too late at night and can be home for dinner with my wife.

I think many people in general can still do a 40 hour week. But similarly to how the requirement for a college degree for a some jobs is now moving to a Masters degree requirement, many roles in the "white collar" job sector are moving toward a 45+ plus work week. "Gotta do more with less (workers)".

PatriotsReign

We have people like you working for my co. as well. I work remotely from home through VPN servers. I also dabble in some visual basic stuff in automating excel reports...wish I knew SQL Drew!

One thing about the public corporation model is that it's doomed at some point. Public corps want to grow revenue/profits at a faster rate than consumer spending is increasing. So co's have to be more efficient and do things like buy other co's. At some point, all new markets will be gone and it will be impossible to grow faster than spending and population growth.

I used to work 60-70 hours/week my first 4 years with my company. Then I pinched a nerve in my neck and was on worker's comp for 3 months. How did my co. and my boss reward my hard work and solid ethic? The decided to only give me 75% of my bonus, that's how.

So I figured if I wasn't going to be rewarded for working my tail off, then I might as well stop working so frikkn hard. Now I'll still work 45-50 hours/week, but my boss considers that a slacker!

I also realized working 60+ hours week doesn't give you a rewarding life. Work isn't life....not even close Drewski!

__________________
"No one walking this earth knows what is truly righteous"

Drewski

Ya its interesting. In the vendor shops I worked in, everyone was young (college grad to maybe 5 years out), and it was a "live to work attitude". Im only 28, so I "should" be still willing to do that. However I work to live, so I refuse to continue to work really obscene hours.

I do some VB work too. But more as an ETL tool in conjunction with SQL Server/Oracle. I had never worked on anything above Excel/Access in college, and stumbled into a job using P/L SQL (Oracle). Self taught, and have since learned T SQL as well as a number of BI Tools (OBIEE, Hyperion, Siebel Marketing, Apex, VSS etc etc).

Never wanted to do "computer" stuff, but it pays the bills so.....

Patriot_in_NY

I have 3 jobs......... one of which is volunteer only (no pay). I NEVER work less then 50-60 hours a week, and sometimes as much 80. I wouldn't have any other way.

It's how my daddy raised me. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's how ***** gets done in this country.

p.s. I don't do it out of necessity either. It's just who I am. I perform way better working many hours rather then working few. I think there is a growing segment of this country that is becoming lazy and not willing to work hard for an honest day's wage.

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Patroit_in_NY is now Patriot_in_ABQ

PatriotsReign

40 hours/week is not lazy....not even close.

Just my opinion, but working 70-80 hours a week can be super lazy. some people do it to avoid real life responsibilities like attending their children's events or nurturing their persona relationships.

Your daddy is irrelevant as is "I wouldn't have it any other way".

Workaholism isn't anything to be proud of and keeping in mind that it is a real sickness, do you think you could be one?

Bottom-line is that work isn't the most important thing in life...not even #2

I think the best way "things get done in this country" is when we have the most people possible working. So I'd prefer to see 2 people working 40 hours/week than one doing 80 hours.

If all I do is sleep, eat & work....what's the sense in it all?

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"No one walking this earth knows what is truly righteous"

The Brandon Five

The one guy has to work 80 hours because his company outsourced and he has to take up the slack to cover up for the fact that the people that replaced all of his co-workers don't know what they heck they are doing...just like the senior managers who implemented the sourcing initiative.

PatriotsReign

My co. doesn't outsource IT support...but we have 2 people supporting 250 employees in one office.

__________________
"No one walking this earth knows what is truly righteous"

PatsFanInVa

I have an official 40 hour week -- and then pile up comp time I won't use until a realllly slow period, and not because I want to.

But that's a kind of "flexibility" that makes sense: Work when it's crazy, until the job is done; take the comp time when it's slow.

(Unlike many, I don't get time and a half or any of that business... as is common when you get to the "better jobs." Hourly workers get time in a half, salaried workers get positive repute that they hope will one day impress someone. In government, up to a certain level you get overtime, and after that it's comp time, in recognition of this type of divide.)

In a previous period of economic turmoil, the Germans (I believe) had a public relations campaign urging people to not work more than the standard work week ("Don't be selfish" was the slogan, or something like it.)

Two guys working 12 hours is three guys worth of salary, and two guys worth of benefits. Free market purism at work. You do the math.

Of course if nobody had any benefits of any kind, I suppose that would reduce the need to make one guy do one and a half guys' work.

PFnV

IcyPatriot

Self-employed ... work 7 days a week ... somewhere around ~ hours per week. I know not possible but it really does seem like ~ as I get older. I buy 12 Massachusetts $5 lottery tickets once per month in the hopes I can cut it back to 40 hours a week. Seriously I have been working since I was 7 years old ... on a paper route and I have not stopped since. I am absolutely terrified of what will happen when I can no longer work. My dream job for the future as a senior citizen is to push a broom somewhere.