How Many Hours Per Week Do You Work?
It is commonly accepted that “full time” employment equals 40 hours per week, but that doesn’t seem to be the reality in the modern American workplace. I can’t tell you how many coworkers I have (or have had in the past) who routinely work 50 or even 60 hours per week. Has 50 become the new 40? Is there even an advantage to working so much overtime? Or are American’s simply workaholics?
What Exactly Does “Full Time” Mean?
When you’re an hourly workers, the distinction is easy: by law, 40 hours is considered full-time employment and your employer has to pay you overtime if you work more than 40 hours per week. So while you may be asked or even required to work more than 40 hours per week, you at least get directly compensated for it. Many people wouldn’t mind working an extra hour or two per day for time-and-a-half.
Full-time salaried employees, on the other hand, don’t have it so easy. Being an “exempt” employee means you aren’t eligible for overtime pay (at least in the U.S.). The prevailing theory is that salaried employees are paid to do a job and should work as many hours as necessary to get it done. Many if not most Americans buy this garbage hook, line, and sinker. They waste their youth in the office, neglecting their friends and family in pursuit of the almighty dollar. The irony, of course, is that the more hours these workaholics work, the lower their hourly pay. I have personally worked with highly-paid software engineers and managers who, by virtue of their 60 hour work weeks, probably get paid something like minimum wage.
The flaw in the above logic is obvious if you think about it: just what is meant by “until the job is done?” If your office is at all like 99.99999999% of the offices in this country, the “job” is never done. There is an endless stream of work to do. If you finish today’s task by lunch, it doesn’t mean you get to go home after lunch. To the contrary, there will always be a brand-new task to get started on. Does that mean you are ethically obligated to work 24 hours per day (remember, the “job” is never actually complete)? Of course not. And yet that’s exactly what you are saying when you say salaried employees should work as many hours as necessary to “get the job done.” What employers really mean when they say this is that they want you to work more hours for the same amount of pay. They call it “work ethic.” I call it inefficient mediocrity.
Full Time Means 40 Hours. Period.
As a professional, I have to work at a pace that is sustainable for me. Sure, I could kill myself working 60 hour weeks for what amounts to minimum wage to get tons of work done, but what’s the point? No job is worth my health, my sanity, or my social life. And even were I inclined to work that much overtime, I wouldn’t be able to maintain such a pace forever. Eventually I’d have a breakdown, and that wouldn’t benefit anybody.
All this isn’t to say I’m completely against working overtime occasionally. If there’s an important project that requires my attention, I’m asked nicely, and I’m rewarded for going the extra mile (be it via comp time, a raise, or at least a thank you) I am more than willing to work the occasional Saturday. It’s when working late nights becomes expected by my employer that it becomes a problem.
Do Workaholics Get Promotions?
It’s often said you have to work hard to get ahead. Those first to arrive in the morning and last to leave no doubt believe what they’re doing will get them a promotion, a raise, or at least a hefty bonus. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen this actually happen in the real world. I have certainly seen co-workers who believe their promotions were the result of working so much overtime, but everybody else in the office was perfectly aware these individuals would have been promoted even if they worked only 35 hours per week. In the end, it’s how efficient you are with the time you do spend at work that counts, not the quantity of time.
Do you think working more than 40 hours is an effective way of getting a promotion? How many hours do you typically work?
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I STRONGLY feel that if you aren’t working at least 10 hours a day for the first 5 years of your career or new job, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
There is so much to learn, than putting in single digit work days doesn’t cut it.
Best, FS
We were in the purchasing department of a medical equipment company. Our JOB was to make sure we had enough of EVERYTHING to service our patients. The professionals that we worked with knew that they could rely on us to source unusual items. We had a large pediatric patient base as well as hospice patients. Working a few hours extra could mean that a patient was more comfortable and was always worth it.
To put my pencil down when the clock struck 5:00 pm would have been irresponsible as I have higher standards for MYSELF. Having flexibility in my schedule enabled me to have children, and participate in their lives, while still working (joyfully) and climbing the corporate ladder.
The “hourly” mentality is self-sabotaging. I’ve rarely seen anyone promoted that turned off their light because it was 5 pm. If you feel gypped because you put in some “unpaid overtime” then you’re in the wrong field!
I work right at 40 hours a week. I do put extra time in after work about 5 hours a week. I get paid extra for this. I think working extra hours can result in promotion if you’re doing things that affect the bottom line and your boss is regularly made aware of this fact. Unfortunately, politics can prove this wrong in a heartbeat.
Janny, my experience is the complete opposite. I’ve never seen anybody promoted because they worked overtime. Of course, many of them DID work overtime, but it had absolutely nothing to do with the promotion. It is common to assume overtime was the culprit when it was not. I am 100% confident in stating that overtime has absolutely no bearing on career advancement. It’s how you use the time you’re there, not how much time you spend at work.
And why did you HAVE to stay late, anyway? Could it perhaps be that you weren’t as efficient as you could have been the rest of the time. I get as much work done in 40 hours that my coworkers get done in 50 or 60 hours.
“The “hourly” mentality is self-sabotaging.”
No it isn’t.
“I’ve rarely seen anyone promoted that turned off their light because it was 5 pm.”
You completely missed the point. I didn’t say they were promoted BECAUSE they left at 5. I said the amount of overtime worked was irrelevant to the promotion. Besides, rarely if ever are people promoted as a reward for a job well done. That is a corporate myth. Businesses aren’t run that way.
i work over 40 hours a week but it is on my personal projects, my blog included. When i was twenty i had a job that where i was working 13 to 15hrs a day 7 days a week!! not only was it tiring but also not that well paying(in retrospect). While i was almost always on time and a model employee, i rarely got noticed by the boss and certainly no promotions came my way. I was lucky that i had to go back to school so i had to leave. But aside from that, the experience and lessons i gained there were invaluable. Bottom line, the harder you work at your own businesses and income revenues the better off you are in the long run instead of busting your back for an employer who may not even notice your slave labour
I’m lucky to work at a job that doesn’t expect me to work more than 40 hours. Occasionally, as most of us find, there are extra hours that need to be put in. But, overall, my company understands that we have lives and should go live them, as we’re more than competent at getting our jobs done while we’re in the office.
It depends on the work. Does your overtime get paid? Is overtime really necessary?
I used to work as a Tech support rep where we would be required occasionally to work overtime. No big deal, it was paid anyway. To me, what’s bad is if you do overtime even if the bulk of work you’re given doesn’t really require one. But if you think that by doing overtime you’re contributing to the overall growth of the company and it is not being detrimental to your lifestyle, then do overtime by all means.
Being an IT Manager, I have almost always needed to work more than 40 hours aweek to get the job done. And, I have never minded doing it, because I am well paid and I have gotten ahead through my efforts. That’s what professionals do, when they have pride in their work. They get the job done, regardless of where the hands are on the clock.
However, I have workd for a couple of companies that just grind people for maximum output and expect everyone to work ridiculous hours. I avoid these types of companies, because the loyalty only runs one way. It’s just like the movie Office Space, where they force peope to work weekends because they are “behind on your projects”. But, then they lay off a bunch of people to save money and expect you to pick up the slack. No matter how many hours you put in for a company like this, they will never appreciate you, as a person or as an employee.
Good companies will expect you to work overtime. But, they will also expect you to leave early to once in a while to catch your daughter’s play. And, they will respect that you have a family and/or life, because they know happy, stable and reliable employees are productive.