Working Hours

B

Blunther

Registered Senior Member
It seems to be assumed that folk in the USA work much harder, longer hours than Europeans, with less benefits (paid holiday, sick leave, maternity leave, etc). However, personally, I always think of Americans as being higher paid than we European dudes.

So...where are you from, what do you do, and for how long do you do it? And, if you want, how much do you get paid? And what benefits do you get?

Let's see the differences in working attitudes in different parts of the world...

Personally, I work Monday to Friday, 8.30-16.15 with half an hour for lunch. Basically, I need to work 36 hours a week, and can choose my own pattern between 8.00 and 18.00, except for core hours (10.00-12.00 and 2.00-4.15) where I do have to be in the office. I'm 19, a Data Administrator at a University, and earn £12,000 a year (well, £12,500 now, pay rise last week :D). I don't get sick pay until I've worked here six months (which is coming soon), but I get 25 days paid leave, plus 7 university closed days over Easter and Christmas, plus the normal 8 Bank Holidays.

Basically, I think I have it quite cushy. I hear that, in America, 50 hour working weeks are common, and it's normal to only get a week or two's holiday. :eek: I couldn't do that!

So, is this true, or is it bollocks? Is my situation normal (I think it's cushy for Britain, but more the norm in continental Europe), or am I a lucky bastard?

I'd also be interested to hear experiences from other parts of the globe.

I did a search for similar subjects, but couldn't find one, so if this has been covered, forgive me.

And I ain't gonna be able to reply till Tuesday... off to V2003 (a festival) :)

Cheers
 
Good Lord! :eek:

What do you do matey?

You must enjoy your job to devote so much time to it?

Wow, 84 hours...

12 hours a day, 7 days a week?
Do you not mind having so little spare time?

Woah.

Maybe I wont moan so much on Tuesday when I get up at 8 after reading that...
 
we see in a lot of movies that many people have a second job over there :D
well ,if you live for your work .... but we in europe rather spend our time at home or in holidays ;)
40 working hours is common in germany (20-30 days vacation a year)
 
I work from 9 til 8 every week day so that's 11 hours a day. So 55 hours a week. I get weekends off and occasionally the odd day off during the week like today when I got my exam results. I get a fraction of what I should get, only £100 a week. If I was just 2 months older I would be getting minimum wage.
 
Pentax:
Yep, I'd much rather spend my time with the folk I love in nice places, than with colleagues at work. I'm glad the rest of Europe seems to feel the same, since we're heading for further integration.

Thor:
Wow... you're being ripped off there. You're in Britain, yes? So you're being conned 'cos you're under 18? That's terrible that is, I don't see why the minimum wage shouldn't apply to under 18s - you work just as harder (harder it seems) than most people over 18, so what difference does it make.

I went for an interview at Supercigs when I was 17. 40 hours a week, at £2.02 an hour. Scandalous. £80 for a 40 hour week?? Sadly, I was desperate and would've took it. Even more sadly - I didn't get the job! :p

It shouldn't be allowed though, 55 hours for £100?? That's slave labour. What do you do, out of interest?

And when are you 18? You'll get a hell of a pay rise :)
 
It's not that bad in the US

I work in the US for a government. 37.5 hours a weekd, or 7.5 hours a day.

I have six weeks vacation a year, 3 week sick time, and seven personal days a year. This is in addition to national holidays which are fixed, like two days thanksgiving, two days christmas, two days new year, Martin Luther King, president day, labor day, 4th of July, Lincoln Birthday, ect....

I have been with various governments since I was a student and for the past 10 years, and I have 1300 hours of sick leave accumulated and 500 hours of vacation, so I can easily arrange to take a good six month off and travel the world while my check still comes in.

After 5 years of service you are eligible for retirement, with 3.33 percent of your salary paid to you for each service year. Meaning if I retire in five years when I'm 35, I'll have 15 years with the government and I'll pull half of my pay check and stay home.

We also have flex time where you start anything from 7:00 till 10:00 in the morning do your 7.5 hours and leave as early as 3:00pm or as late as 6:00pm. We have one hour lunch that you could ask your boss in certain day to diminish to half hour or not take one at all and possibly leave at 1:30pm.
 
I'm a computer programmer, and currently I do database reporting systems. I work 8:30-5:30 5 days a week, though I have a 1/2 hour flexability on either end, as long as I have 8 hours of work in. I can, in other words, show up at 9 AM, work through lunch, and leave at 5PM.

I have been working in this job for a year and 11 months, get ten vacation days and 5 sick days a year. vacation and sick time doesn't roll over to the next year. edit: also, 6 vacation days a year, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. If you are sick a sixth day, then you have to take vacation time. if you run out of that, then you have to make a special deal w/ the HR person, or you come under review (fired or pay cut or something)

I also own a bonsai/martial arts buisness which requires about 30 hours a weeks. I also volenteer as an assistant scout master with my childhood Boy Scouts troop. Also, on Saturdays, I drive two hours each way to clean my Mom's shore house between renters. I don't get paid for that. I go hiking on my own once a year, and rock climbing once a week (indoors).

I get paid $42k plus bonuses (which rarely ever happens) from computer programming, and currently the bonsai buisness is taking a loss (just started it a few months back). I should bring in $47,000 this year before taxes (taxes withheld is around $15k, though about $6k of that will come back in refund), and that is working off of an average 97 hours of work/volenteer time a week.


I do this much work, however, because at the end of 2004, I will be making around $46k plus bonus at my computer job, be fully vested in my 401(k) (which means I fully own all the money in it), get 15 days of vacation a year, my bonsai buisness should be making money, and I will be working towards a monitary goal of retirement.

I'm not working 'till I'm 55! I'll have worked hard so I can retire, and then I'll be too old to enjoy it fully!

I'm retiring to my bonsai buisness or possibly a park ranger (with the masters degree environmental science I will be starting in 2004) by the time I'm 35. Working no more than a 20 hour week. Once I have $400k in the bank at 3% interest, I can work virtually no hours, and have enough money coming in to survive comfortably.

Oh, and I'm writing a series of fiction books, I have three mapped out, and one has 4 chapters done. been working on it for four years. 3 cultures with their own history, language and religion, mariner maps of the planet, basic solar maps of the universe, tectonic plates of the world diagrammed. I'm also working on a fourth book involving the reincarnation of Lucifer on Earth as a human with a soul.

I'm a bit of a lazy work-a-holic. :) Working hard now so I don't have to later. If all my plans fall apart, and I hit 35 with no money, I'm still retiring. Money doesn't make happiness, it's just a tool like everything else. It would be nice to have enough that I could fall back on it if needed. Other than that, wandering the country as a vagrant sounds pretty good, too. :)
 
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I have no clue. I just do what I do and sometimes there's money and sometimes there's not. It all depends on matters beyond my control. What I am in control of is how much and when I work.

 
flores

3 weeks sick time

what is sick time ? you are "allowed" to be 3 weeks a year sick ? and after that time ? do you have to take vacations or do they simple cut your money ?

explain please :D
 
In my old job, I had 22 days sick leave. By that, it meant paid sick leave. after this, they didn't pay you if you were off sick.

I imagine it's a similar thing?
 
I get the impression that the techno savvy poeple here are better off than most people, in that they are either more minded to restrict their working hours, or better able to. The majority of poeple cant, they have not the power to do so. if they try to theyll get sacked. PLus they need to do overtime to keep the money coming in, not sure what for, except that the bottom layer of USA workforces cant afford decent housing, even on minimum wage.
Sorry to keep brining up the USA here, the UK is better in hours way, but worse in others. About the only thing tony Blair did right was introduce a minimum wage, and as that hasnt caused an explosion of unemployment, it is safe to say that the CBI and others propaganda was overblown.
 
I generally work from 7:30 till 5ish, roofing monday through friday.
When it rains, I get a day off... or when i fall off the roof and sustain some injury.. see thread "My Leg" somewhere in this subforum.
 
It seems to me Blunther that the main reason for people in capitalist countries work 'full time' hours is for the protection of the country. Anyone who doesn't work 'full-time hours' is looked down on, and everyone seems to be trained to aspire to this.

After reading certain books it seems to me that most of this money goes to the protection of the country: even though we may not see it there are constantly ships patrolling the seas, and planes keeping watch on the skies. Taxes etc are pooled and they go towards a national defence, something that cannot be regulated on an individual level; missiles, planes, vehicles, weapons, missiles, bombs, laser targetting, etc. are all there to 'defend' us, but I'd rather not have it to be honest. What are our countries doing wrong to require such protection?? I bet it is what most of our countries' expenditure goes on too! Thus we must work full-time hours to keep the country 'afloat'. Personally I do not want to contribute to the rape and oppression of other countries, and I would much rather take it easy by working fewer hours. I'm sure if changes were made our populations could find cheaper ways of living too, however our countries would not be able to 'defend' themselves then.

What do we need protection from: what are we doing wrong??!
 
It depends on what day it is, but generally I work between 35 and 40 hours a week. Though, I am currently looking for a new job because I don't get paid enough. I'm also looking into entrepreneurial work, where I will probably spend more than 8 hours a day dealing with it, but it will be all good. ;)
 
Well since i am still in school i only work 18 hours a week, but ill tell u guys about my mom's job

She leaves the house at 7 AM and comes home at 7 PM, every month she ususally has a week long buisness trip, and she gets one week of vacation.
She owns her own buisness so when she is at home, half the time she is brainstorming w/her buisness partner (who lives w/us).
She sells promotional products to companies such as Sony, Hitachi, Lucas Arts, Capcom, and many others.
So basicly she works 60+ hours a week with one week of vacation.
 
It seems that minimum wage sucks all over except in Canada. Here we have two minimum wages....the student wage ($5.25/hour) and the regular minimum wage ($6.85/hour) so you hafta make at LEAST the student wage, if you're not then the business should be reported.

I just finished school so this summer I was still working student hours....I got about 20-25 hours a week most of the summer at $7.65 (i got a raise part way thru)

hopefully within the next month I'll be changing to a full time job (the definition of full time here is 40 hours/week)
 
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