How Many Hours Do You Work? Actual Work.

[Deleted]

I'm in the office from 9 till 5. But how many hours I actually "work" varies. Realistically, I probably could take on A LOT more work but the way things are broken up, it is difficult to do with the way things are divided up. So I end up finishing my stuff pretty quick and having a lot of free time.

How bout you?

[Clifford]

I work from 7:45-5:30. Without distractions, I could complete most/all of my work in around 5 hours...but life is not without distractions. I do leverage some of my free time - when I have it - with moonlighting and studying for certifications...and posting on this board. Maybe you could use the time studying in your office for a work-related certification. May not help much now, but may help secure the next job.

[Waffle]

It varies, but I probably wouldn't have a job if my boss realized how many hours I don't work. I'm in the office from 8 to 5 with an hour for lunch (sometimes lunch is longer than an hour if it's a lunch with a supplier).

Right now, I'm in a lull period where I can get everything done in probably about 4 hours a day. Occasionally a project comes along that keeps me working the full 8 plus some. I like it best when I have about 6 to 7 hours of work a day - some time to relax, but enough to keep pretty busy.

[Cookies Galore]

I work 8-4 (35 hours, there's an hour lunch in there) and I can say with confidence that I easily have 30 hours of work a week. I will admit to having distractions (I am here), but I am working at the same time. I find that when I'm working on some projects, taking a break is needed for my eyes and my mind. There are days that I'm on a tight deadline and won't be here, but then there are days when I'm staring at the same thing for hours on end and I start to see things, which is never good.

[Deleted]

When I worked, it depended on the day. Mondays and Fridays were really busy. Wednesday wasn't busy, but I needed to be there to get one thing done. Tuesday and Thursday, I had a lot of down time and just random surfing. I eventually went to part time and worked only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. My company got all the work for 3/5 of the salary.

[ktunes]

it depends on my workload...there are times when i may only work a couple hours out of the day...then there are the times i may work 18 hours out of the day...right now i'm a little slow that that is soon going to change...i'm not locked into a set schedule which i'm very thankful for...

[sheilaincali]

In the winter I work from 7:30 to 4:30 but probably do 25 hours worth of "work" a week. In the summer I work from 7:30 to 5:30 and do 50 hours worth of work, plus some evenings and weekends. Just the nature of our business. Dec to Feb are always slow. March starts up the bidding process of the season's projects and that's when I start working what seems like every minute of the day.

[dragonfly7]

Unemployed at the moment, but in the various customer service positions I have worked, there were clearly days of the week with downtime and others when I was lucky to be able to eat lunch. In my last position (40 hours), I could count on customers to be in the store for about 25 of them. I spent between 1-2 hours each day taking care of routine tasks like returning calls and emails, filing, and inventory, so I think I actively worked about 30-32 hours. The rest of the time was just being there in case someone called or walked in.
I personally prefer a job with a balance of interaction with downtime, whether the downtime is routine tasks or completely inactive. As an introvert, being "on" full time is exhausting.

[Deleted]

I'm in "management" now and I have come to realise that endless meetings really do qualify as work. Nonmeeting time my stuff takes about 2 hours a day.

[Gardening Grandma]

Zip. I'm retired.

[jkscott]

My company has gotten REALLY strict recently with coworker talking and internet/phone usage. They are firing people over it. I have been there for 3 years and have seen many people come and go. The company used to be so laid back but we have gotten so big over the last 2 years, things have really changed.

I seem to be on the good list because I was on a very short list that got raises this year. However If im honest, I work about 5.5-6 hours a day. It's impossible to sit at your desk for 8 hours and work nonstop. Humans are not robots. My eyes start hurting eventually. Can only analyze so much data at a time.

[cronewitch]

This week about 10 hours a day I usually work about 3 out of 8 but am doing someone else's work and it is my busy time so I am too tire to think. I am writing a bank deposit now, covering the switchboard and posting. I am going to rest for 45 minutes answering the phones and finishing my deposit then go back to my office and finish or start a few things. If I don't I might come in tomorrow. I am salaried and they don't really care if I work 3 hours a day as long as my work is done.

They are interviewing for the replacement of the woman I am doing her job for her. She was way behind and I caught her up but it takes her 5 hours to do what I can do in 5 minutes then it isn't right.

[debtheaven]

Zip. I'm retired.

GG, a very close friend of mine has kids nearly the same as my two oldest kids (hers are 21 and 23, my two oldest are 22 and 24.) Growing up, her kids used to spend part of their summers and school vacations with their grandparents (her parents). The grandparents live in Brittany, walking distance from the beach, in a modest but beautiful home with a lovely garden.

When her youngest was seven, somebody asked her, "So what do you want to be when you grow up?" She answered, "Retired, just like Mamie and Papy." LOL

[debtheaven]

I would say I work about 30h a week, even though I am only paid for 12. I have / I am in the process of converting myself from a print journalist to an ESL teacher. I have several jobs, like five. Some pay less (much less) than others.

But I am working as hard as I can to make that my most highly-paid job (which happens to be my favorite one) rehires me next September, hopefully for even more hours.

But I am also realizing that I can't keep this "hustling" for new teaching jobs up for too many more years. At this point my goal is to keep working till DS3 finishes college, another eight years.

[Elizabeth]

I work mostly a full 40 hours a week, although sometimes it's a bit slower. Like another poster said, some days I don't even have time to take lunch, and others I am on the internet all day taking care of other business or researching something I want to know more about. But the biggest part of my job is multitasking and remembering who I need to follow up with and what I need to finish, since I am interrupted constantly. It's part of the job.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I don't work outside the home anymore.

My wonderful DH's workweek really varies ... when he's deployed, he pretty much works 7 days a week and fairly long hours. When he's NOT deployed, he can still work 12-hour days fairly often ... even longer if you factor in being out of town, traveling, etc. Other days? He's at the "office" for about 8 hours.

(He's a military pilot)

[tloonya]

I loathe you office rats!

I wake up at 2:30am every other day and working until 5:30pm NON-STOP!

Whiners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mtshastawriter]

I spend about 4 hours a day doing DH's dialysis treatments and about 2 hours a day writing. One of my clients pays me $100 per doc to write, and last week I had a doc that only took me 1 hour to do. I made $100 for one hour's work. That was the most money I have ever made. Typically, the documents take about 3 hours each to do...

I am trying very hard to learn to work smarter and use less time to generate quality work.

[atlast30]

We're in a lull right now, so I'm doing actual work about 3.5 hours a day. Makes the day go by extremely slow. I need to be busy.