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What's an Honest Day's Work to You?

Junkyard said:
So my company recently transitioned back to summer hours until Labour Day. A normal day for salaried employees is from 8:00 to 5:00 with an hour for lunch. Summer hours are 7:30 to 5:00 Monday to Thursday and 7:30 to 1:00 on Fridays. Of course, with restrictions over half the force is working from home, so who knows how closely time is monitored. I'm not accusing anyone of anything, just mentally comparing their situation to mine.

I am very rarely in the office, nor do I rarely start at 8:00 or finish at 5:00. I got to thinking the last few days what constitutes an "honest" day for me. Take Monday, for example - I left home at 4:45 AM to be on site for 7:30 and left site at 2:00 arriving back home at 5:00. Assuming a half-hour commute as "normal" does that mean that I put in a ten and a half hour day?

Suffice it to say that this happens often enough that when a day rolls around and I want to go play 18 holes there aren't a lot of questions asked so it mostly washes out in the long run but I'm curious as to how others see it. Let me know your thoughts below!
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Maybe slightly related, I think it's in Your Money or your Life: calculate your real salary, taking into account all the extra time spent commuting, getting ready for work, preparing or just thinking about work in your free time. Do you check emails outside work hours? Yep, that counts.

You may find this helpful in future job decisions, beyond raw salary numbers.

What's an honest day of work for me?
I like being useful. My definition of useful does not always match what my colleagues from product development envision, but we make do. I mostly find enough time beyond the necessary for some tinkering and improvement.

My official time is 40h per week. There are core times of 10:30-14:30 you're supposed to be present.

I have worked days of anywhere between 4 and 20 (don't tell labor! ;)) hours, depending on what work was required and how engaging I found it.
 
Any day I work/fly. As an airline pilot, a bad day at the “office” for me would make news headlines around the world, so I always try to be 110% prepared and ahead of the jet.
 
I find it very productive to work very hard and very focused for 50 minutes, followed by a 10-minute break (where I THP more often than not!) - I'm a 1099 contractor and I don't bill for that 10 minutes, but I feel like the 50 minutes I give are worth at least as much as a straight hour, especially in an 8-5 scenario.
 
About 2 hours is a full day for me now days
 
pattyboy21 said:
I find it very productive to work very hard and very focused for 50 minutes, followed by a 10-minute break (where I THP more often than not!) - I'm a 1099 contractor and I don't bill for that 10 minutes, but I feel like the 50 minutes I give are worth at least as much as a straight hour, especially in an 8-5 scenario.
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You need to work like an attorney. 10 minutes on, 50 minute break, then bill for 2 hours.
 
DataDude said:
You need to work like an attorney. 10 minutes on, 50 minute break, then bill for 2 hours.
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I knew I was going wrong somewhere! lol
 
Our hours here are 7.30-4 with an hour for lunch. I'm usually here at 6.45 because I can get some downloads and reports done before anyone else gets into the system and starts slowing it down. I use the weekly comp time to take off at lunch on Tuesdays to get 18 in.
 
Junkyard said:
I can't remember the last time I took more than 20 minutes for lunch... I would say at least three days a week I don't even stop
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Man, thats not good. You need to take time away to get your mind to relax for a min. I get it being busy and all, at my dealership we are slammed with appointments and cars not getting completed on time and the phone ringing nonstop but you need to take a break or you will break. You can only get done what you can in one day, the rest will come and unfortunately not everyone will be please all the time.
 
I am a sales guy so some people would say I have never done an honest days work.

For me it is about delivering results. If I hit my numbers then nobody cares how I do it. That said it varies greatly. I manage a team in North America and need to support them and their customers. When I travel (which I have started to do again) things get a bit crazy. I have days I duck out early to play golf and days I work 12 or 13 hours. Sometimes I leave my house at 5 AM for a trip and get to the hotel at midnight. Over time it evens out.
 
An honest days work is: Work the hours you are supposed to. If you get paid for an 8 hour day then work 8 hours, don’t come in 30 minutes late, take extra time at lunch or go home early.
 
I appreciate and agree with most of the responses my original post has received - however they have also made it clear that my initial post was likely misleading. My original thought when creating it was comparing myself and my input to those of my co-workers. That being said, I've known for a long time that my definition of an honest day varies substantially from some others. Heck, they have a ping-pong table at one of the other offices!

Truth be told, I know for a fact I work too much. It has gotten me into trouble several times, to a point where I pay the price for months at a time. What is really frustrating me (and it's becoming more common) is that when someone asks something of me, I do it. Flip the equation around, however...... it's like they take it as a suggestion instead of a request. I really can't stand it when they talk down to me when I'm the one who cleans up their mistakes.

So to clarify my original post - if it takes me 3 hours each way to get to a site and I spend 3 or 4 hours (or more) while there have I put in an equivalent day to that of my coworkers in your eyes? Or have I only worked a half day based on what I spent on site?
 
Some years ago I was salaried at one on the Big 3 (when there was such a thing). 8am -4pm with the expectation of “casual overtime” of 5-10 hours per week (unpaid). I got that the job needed to get done, at the pay and benefits were top notch. My union family members were distressed, “time is money.” As family responsibilities grew, those 10 hours did become a problem.
 
I work for myself. Somedays, it's 7 AM to 9 PM. Somedays, it's golf then a few hours of work. Once in awhile, golf and then more golf.
 
Junkyard said:
I appreciate and agree with most of the responses my original post has received - however they have also made it clear that my initial post was likely misleading. My original thought when creating it was comparing myself and my input to those of my co-workers. That being said, I've known for a long time that my definition of an honest day varies substantially from some others. Heck, they have a ping-pong table at one of the other offices!

Truth be told, I know for a fact I work too much. It has gotten me into trouble several times, to a point where I pay the price for months at a time. What is really frustrating me (and it's becoming more common) is that when someone asks something of me, I do it. Flip the equation around, however...... it's like they take it as a suggestion instead of a request. I really can't stand it when they talk down to me when I'm the one who cleans up their mistakes.

So to clarify my original post - if it takes me 3 hours each way to get to a site and I spend 3 or 4 hours (or more) while there have I put in an equivalent day to that of my coworkers in your eyes? Or have I only worked a half day based on what I spent on site?
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My .02 - If the 3 hour commute is part of your normal day to get to your regular work site, that's on you - but if it's not and you're traveling to an offsite location to do the job, that's work time to me. If it took you 3 hours to get there, 4 hours on site and 3 hours back to your home office/wherever you are based, that's a 10 hour work day. If your coworkers are working from home or sitting in an office, your work day is more than equivalent to theirs.
 
I always looked at a full days work, not so much how many hours were involve, but the amount of work that was accomplished.

Everyone had a schedule to keep on their assigned tasks. As long as the schedules were kepted, I was a happy camper
 
An honest day is getting what work that needs to be completed, complete. I bill typically 42-50 hours per week on top of my manager duties. I am paid for my mind, not to make widgets so as long as my clients are satisfied, my company is satisfied. My superiors also know that I will do just about anything that is required when emergencies or high priority stuff Comes up.
if someone wants me to work from 8 AM to 5 PM just because that is what is normal, then I am going elsewhere.
 
It seems , since working from home, a number of folks think they have to prove their loyalty by never being away from the machine.

I am salaried and paid based on 37.5 hours per week. Thats what I work. I have stuck to my schedule during the pandemic. 8 to 4:30

There are no "Staff drop in" coffee / water cooler chats. I turn on my tunes and work. I do more work now.

Management have lots of feedback; they can check my activity time, customer satisfaction and other online activity I need to complete.

It isn't my job to show my "loyalty" through non paid time. Hire more people.
 
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