Re: Average Hours Worked

[surfer924 -at- ameritech -dot- net]

My average as a technical writer in software is a 40-hour week. Despite 
claims to the contrary, that seems to be the norm for my peers in this 
area.

After working for over 20 years in both government and the corporate world 
at both ends of the spectrum (security guard and middle management), I have 
always been, and continue to be somewhat suspicious of those who claim to 
work 16-hour days and 80-hour weeks. I can remember working my way through 
college as a security guard nights and weekends at a large Dilbert-like 
facility. Many of the full-time employees would stay well past 8 pm and 
would come in on weekends. Funny, as I made my rounds through the hallways 
I could see them at their desks playing solitaire, reading the paper, etc.

I can remember bosses who routinely claimed to work 50-60 hour weeks and 
wonder why, now that I was in "management", I didn't do the same. These 
were the same bosses who took 2-hour lunches and played golf every Thursday 
afternoon. Did they count that as work?

I can remember working for the government and working weekends to prepare 
for an inspection. The "working" consisted of coming in on Saturday, and 
having coffee and donuts and talking about the upcoming inspection, 
something we could just as easily have done during the week. I suspected 
that coming in on the weekend had more to do with being able to say we 
"worked all weekend to get ready" than anything else.

I once knew a lawyer who routinely bragged about his 80-hour weeks, and the 
fact that he made $80,000. a year. At the time, I was working 40 hours a 
week and making $40,800. a year. The only difference I could see was that 
my kids knew who I was when I came in the door.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem working long hours - when there is 
work to be done. I have worked until midnight several nights in a row to 
get a project in on time. I once worked for 28 straight hours, took 6 hours 
off, and went back to work. Sometimes that's just the nature of work. I've 
also left at 3:30 several days in a row. That's the other side.

One of the best bosses I ever had was fond of saying "If you can't get it 
all done in 8 hours, you either have too much to do, or you don't know how 
to manage your time."

Surfer924

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