Re: Average Hours Worked

[Ruth Charles <ruth -at- tao-group -dot- com>]

Well, I've recently switched jobs, and working hours was one of the 
primary motivators.  I am now working an average of 43 hours, spread 
over 5 days, with lunch taken at my desk - this seem pretty normal for 
the Thames Valley (UK).  My stated contractual working hours are 40/week.

In my previous job (with a US multi-national) I had no formally stated 
working hours.  The company portrayed itself as a 'flexible employer' - 
flexible working hours, working from home, child care provisions etc.

I regularly put in 50 hour week (mon-fri, weekend working was heavily 
discouraged). I completed the tasks I was given in the time allocated. 
However, I received heavy criticism from my managers because my working 
hours were not considered long enough. I was told that the company had a 
'long hours culture', the issue of delivering good quality work on time 
appeared irrelevant to this discussion - it was the actual hours chained 
to my desk that counted, not the work.

Higher management then started talking about redundancies, and the long 
hours culture became even longer. A strong blame culture developed 
within the tech author team, and the atmosphere (which had never really 
been good) became poisonous. So I left.

I agree with all the comments here about the inverse relationship 
between productivity and hours worked.  As you get older, you see 
through the promises of share options, and other incentives.  The 
software industry is a really just a 21st century factory. I come to 
work, I do my job, I go home. Exceptionally, if an employer needs more 
out of me than that, I'm generally willing to give it. If it becomes a 
regular occurrence, I will start looking to move.

Cheers,

Ruth


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