Hours of Work

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webrover

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Borisoff recently commented in another thread, "people usually work from 9 to 17".

I'm curious. What are typical work hours in your company or geographic area? 9-17 or 9-5 is a seven hour work day, assuming one hour for lunch. In western Florida, a minimum office day is 8 hours plus one hour for lunch. However in the last few years many people find themselves working through most of their lunch hours and working another half hour on each end of the day making a typical day 9-10 hours. And yes, we work 5 of them. At my company we've had flex time for quite a while, which means you can start earlier or stay later, but are still expected to be available for meetings from 9-4. (So your official schedule can be 7-4, 7:15-4:15, 7:30- 4:30, 8-5, 8:30 - 5:30, 9-6, etc.) You are expected to maintain a consistent schedule and not change schedules from day to day with the concurrence of your manager.

So my answer would be 8-5 or 8-17 with exceptions. What are your hours?
 
I'm a Pastor and my day begin about 6:00 am. I hit the office around 7:00-7:30 am, and go until my administrator leaves at 2:30 p.m. Lunch, then appointments, then supper with my wife, and then evening meetings or office work. I put in, on average, an 11-12 hour day most days.

I am working harder at taking my day off, however. There are always people who "need" to see me, staff who need direction, and projects to process. But if I'm going to make it to 65 years of age and retirement, I'll need to find balance between work and play!

What are other clergy experiencing with their hours at work?
 
webrover said:
I'm curious. What are typical work hours in your company or geographic area? What are your hours?
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My hours officially are 9-30 to 18-00. I wonder why you need that information?

E.
 
Borisoff said:
I wonder why you need that information?

E.
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Well I don't really need it. I had just seen/heard enough references to the "9-5" day to make me think maybe it was the standard and we're just overworking. But the responses so far make it appear that overworking is the standard. It's part of assessing balance.
 
Overwork is a symtom of more serious issues

I consider overwork a symptom of potentially serious problems. Possibly a person is not well-suited for a job, and takes longer on tasks that would otherwise be easy. Sometimes a person cannot set priorities and everything seems important, so they work until they are exhausted. Often people are not organized mentally or otherwise, do not focus, and are simply not efficient in their work. Others confuse activity with productivity, they are busy but are not getting anything accomplished.

Sometimes people just have nothing outside of work. I think this is why retired men have the fasting growing suicide rate. They no longer have the office, and find they have empty and meaningless lives.

For people with families, a person must also consider if they have anything left physically, mentally or emotionally when they get home. I know on days when I put in 12 or 13 hours, I come home a zombie and might as well not be there.

When I was a young father someone told me that if you are working over 50 hours a week, something in your personal life will suffer. It may be your relationship to your wife and children, it may be the time you should devote to personal renewal and growth, it may be the time you would spend in church or volunteering in the community. As I have shared this "rule of thumb" with people over the years, it is amazing for me to hear so many people who believe they are the exception. In psychology we call that denial, because there is too much anxiety attached to working fewer hours and having a better life. Some find it less stressful to work the long hours than to prioritize, to say "no," or to organize or work more efficiently.
 
The only problem for me when I leave the office earlier and come later is phsycology related: "What my co-workers and my boss think about that?" :)
 
Borisoff said:
The only problem for me when I leave the office earlier and come later is phsycology related: "What my co-workers and my boss think about that?" :)
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They give you a raise and a promotion for getting more done in seven hours a day using GTD they they get done in their 12 hour day. ;)
 
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