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Are Work Hours Declining?

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by john connell

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In today's Wall Street Journal there are some points about the labor market that I find particularly thought provoking for TechRepublic members.

The Labor Department reports that workers in ALL job categories are working less hours for the secondmonth in a row. The average workweek is a reported 34.1 hours.

An analyst at Merril Lynch claims in the article that the work input has not been this low since early 1992.

What do you all think about these figures? Most things I've read here on the site suggest that IT pros work far more than what is suggested in the WSJ article. I realize that these are national averages, but I take issue with the condition that this affected "all job categories."

Have you all noticed a decline in the IT workweek over the past couple of months? My guess is that IT is a segment that shouldn't be included in this trend. What's going on?

98 replies

by lukem

For me the work week has only gotten longer over the past three years. It's currently about 60 hours on average. How's everybody else doing?

by motman

If you are salaried and your company sends in 40 hours not the 60 you work the figues are wrong!

by marty.mccaghren

I agree with Luke. My hours have always been at least 50+ hrs a week - and more. Of course, I have not gotten paid overtime since 1978. (Interesting how they work you more when you are 'salaried'.) Currently, I am in the 50-60 hour area, but have finally gotten a company to allow me to telecommute (even though it's just one day per week). It's also been my experience that customers/supervisors think (1) that you have to be 'on-site' all the time and (2) if you're not 'on-site' then you are'not working'. My current boss is one of those who is afraid that I'm somehow 'not doing 100%' because I work one day at home. He does not realize that I can do more in one telecommute day (2-3 times) than one work day because people do not botherme.
Another beef not mentioned in this article but in one by Tim Huckabee is how us 'gray-hairs' are being ignored, etc. It would behoove the current generation to listen to the experiences of us 'old fogies' on these issues.

by jstegall

I am an IT instructor (yeah, those who "can't, teach" lol). Only an IT pro realizes how quickly technology changes and how much reading or other forms of research to learn is required. I keep stacks of books beside my bed for my "relaxing before bedtime routine." Somehow all this time is not calculated in the work time. How many of you have to pick up new skills just to keep up?

by mpotratz

I've run into this the past years. With pagers, cell phones, follow-me numbers and networks running 24/7 (God, what a cliche..) the higher up management EXPECT that you are always reachable which means you can't get away from the job. This past Thanksgiving, I had a staff member come up to me 1/2 hour before we were leaving for the holiday and asked me to stop by a nearby office and pick up a CD. When I asked why, she said she needed copies of the CD and wanted me to burn them over the holiday. When I asked when they were needed all I could get was 'soon.' When I pressed the issue they really weren't needed for days AFTER the holiday. But it was the fact that I was just expected to do this during my holiday days off that really tripped my trigger. Never more....

by donq

Hay y'all - if we each received full pay for ACTUAL WORKING minutes (not time spent chatting, restroom and/or lunchroom breaks, telephone time with someone NOT pretinent to our work, playing PC card or video games, etc. AND WE WEWE HONEST we would be surprised at our employers actual average cost for work COMPLETED. Pretty sad situation at most companies of any size other than the employee ownes companies???

by gculp01

You are 100% right about "you ain't working if they can't see ya". I used to work for a company like that. It was an eye-opener for my manager at the time to finally discover how much work I did get done when working stricly from home over a 10 week period. I was able to complete what was scheduled as a 1000 hour project in less than 500 hours! I hope your company can finally see how much you get accomplished and tries to expand that one day telecommute to three (3) days a week - just thinkhow much more would be accomplished!!!
IT MANAGER - you hired this person - TRUST HIM!!!

by mwarras

Luke, I agree... The work day is def. becomming longer as the weeks pass. Although I know things will get better, I do not see an end in site right now.

by jsoto

I am constantly taking home materials to work on. So even when I go home at "5:00" my day hasn't ended. But, to be honest I enjoy what I do so it's hard to draw the line to determine what I'm doing for work or what I'm doing for fun.

by greggw

I have to agree with Luke, my average work week is in the 60 per week range and that doesn't include travel or working from home at night. Never mind working on weekends. Were do they get these numbers?

by gculp01

I bet most companies turned in 40 hours or less per employee. A look at the raw data along with a quick followup with some of a compaies employees would tell you a different story. I bet the hours are much closer to 50.

by dsandbrook

Flexible hours and plenty of vacation time.
Workload is steadily increasing but I am handling it so far.

I have a great boss and a great employer.
Set my own work priorities make time for fun stuff.

After reading of all these other horror stories I feel pretty good.

by wayne m.

I think this is one of those meaningless statistics that are highly dependent upon the method used to calculate them. I don't think IT is alone in this regard, as it seems the median (typical) work week for salaried professionals still appears to be well above 40 hours per week.

by al1633

Normal work week for everyone in the firm is not less than 50. Those working 50 consider themselves lucky

by tech

I live in a highrise in the middle of office highrises. When the sun goes down I can see into hundreds of offices. If people were really working the hours they claim, I would expect to see those offices occupied in the evenings and at weekends. I don't. By 6pm almost all offices are empty.
Now, I receive plenty of these polls about working hours and I have no idea how to answer. Does 'work' include:
* commute time (average 45mins in this city)
* on-call time
* reading technical resources,like this one
* thinking about work-related issues
* lunch time
* drinking coffee/chatting in the office

My own experience is that I accomplish much more when working alone on an intense technical project than when I'm doing something that involves a number of small tasks and being constantly interrupted by phone calls/emails/vistors. In the first case I work 5 8am-5pm days and feel bushed at the end of it. In the second case I work 6 or 7 long days and simply feel frustrated.
Under which of the previous situations should I be paid more? When I accomplish most, or when I work more hours?

by packratt

Well, if you asked my manager, HR, or the users in my company how many hours the IT staff worked you would hear something like the figure you stated. But if you asked us, you would hear that we work way over the hours per week stated, not including on call or telecommute time.

Why the difference... Well, people here (including our managers) have no idea what we do or what we have to do in order to fulfill their insane project demands. (nor do they care) We are but simple clerks who do thingswith computers that they can train monkeys to do, according to them. Thus it stands to their reasoning that we can set up 4 servers, wire them in, install and configure the NOS, attach them to the SAN, install and configure that new application we've never seen from some vendor, and be held responsible when the software doesn't clean the windows like the vendor said it would.

Ugh, don't mind me, I've been here since 6:00pm and won't get to go home until 3:00pm, have a great day/night/morning... whatever it is now...

by donq

The truth will only hurt you unless you can effect some changes that force some demand accountability back on management where these unrolistic requests come from. For that I use "Business Notation" and it works wonderfully!

by techie girl

Someone has definitely missed the boat somewhere. Our company has been working mandatory overtime since before the holidays. Luckily, they spared us the weekends of Christmas and New Years, but we were mandated for each Saturday the entire month of January and also for Martin Luther King Day. Exactly who and where were they polling?

by smithjj

I think this result may be explained by the greater use of temporary workers. Rather than hiring in boom times and firing in busts, companies hire temporaries to fill in odd amounts and types of work. This reduces the unemployment rate and the work week.

IT also uses temporary workers, but to my knowledge, they're kept busy full time or more.

by blaine moore

I wish I had MLK day off...that would be my birthday. But, I get to come in and work for 9 hours. Which, being a new employee at this company, is nice, since I don't know their software package enough yet to warrant all the over time they are going to be expecting in a month.

At least I'm one of those temporary people, so I get paid for my over time.

by webdiva

I gotta tell you, I'm tired of the standards we've set for ourselves. While I appreciate the knee-jerk response everyone has --we've all put in long hours to get the job done-- I disagree that we should accept these hours as the standard. Walking around with a badge of courage on our arms for the 16 hour work day we put in is getting old, fast.

Who amongst us hasn't judged a coworker or been judged by a coworker for ending a work day before six? It doesn't matter that they've put in 11 hours already...no, they're not as dedicated, they aren't as committed to the project. Well that is ridiculous!

It's time for a change...why don't we start working to live, not living to work? I promise, I won't think any less of you if you decide to leave in time to tuck your kids in or catch a movie with your significant other. Go ahead...leave before the moon is out, I dare you!

by packratt

...To spoil the IT bunch.

Once one person in the department starts working extra hours it puts the onus on everyone to do so if they wish to keep their job.

An interesting thing happens where I work. We supposedly have a 36.5 hour work week, half day Friday for everyone. But, when you work IT there are things that you ahve to stick around for until completion, that's life. Well, the managers tell us that if we work late we should take comp time the next day to make up for it. Well, if I'mupgrading or installing something that has to be available to users the next day I better stick around to make sure it works or else I'll get bawled out.

So, take time off after that long shift, but I'll yell at you if you do what I tell you to do. Hmm, but it's ok that they take time off to golf and such because it's "networking", as opposed to the IT networking.

by jeff dray

I do a set 40 hour week in tech support. Then go home and do another 15-20 hours freelance, consisting of private tuition, writing and on site repairs and upgrades.

In this way I can finish the month without falling back on my overdraft.

by circlea3

You said it. When I first started in this industry 11+ years ago I worked incredibly long hours. But, I was hungry. Hungry to accomplish and advance. I loved it. I also did NOT have a life.

It took a while but for the last 4 years I have taken my life back. No longer is my life for sale to the highest bidder, just my skill set. At a 40 hour per week rate. Fortunately I have learned a lot over the years and can accomplish more in far less time. However, there is still a finite number of hours in the day.

I do what I do to provide for my family, not because I am an indentured servant. If I can't enoy it with them what's the point.

I still work a 45 - 50 week on the average with an occasional need for 60 hours, but I always take my extra time back. Fortunately, I can do that now, but it hasn't always been that way.

by pnmiller

In my case it's a case of "location"; I don't have to put in as much time in the office, behind the desk... but I make up for it with a PDA and a cell phone! I don't know about the rest of you, but when I get the call in the middle of the night about a server issue.. I consider it working - even if I'm not in the confines of the building.

The only time it's a short workweek is when I'm on vacation!

by randyv

If the poll is an annual percentage figure, then I would say that I fall into declining hours. Working for the Controller has many positive benefits. He refers that I don't work over 40 hours due to premium time. The only real negative is that tasks don't get completed, but the best benefit is that I am not the fall guy for the major disaters. This really takes the pressure off. With being a one person It department of a 5 site WAN, it would be nice to get an extra twenty hours a week or another body to do the first 40 (a new car would even be nicer).

by loraine

I would like to elaborate on what WebDiva said. First, I should say that my experience in this area comes from journalism, which traditionally attracts lots of workaholics and other types of aholics. But, I've worked in technology and my husband works as a software developer.

I'd like to propose that co-workers are as much a part of the problem as management and sometimes, more. I've been in places where people draw a line and management respects it, but in the same place, other people work too much and resent co-workers who draw the line. So, they criticize them and make remarks ("Wish I could leave at 5." "Must be nice to have a life." etc.) that put pressure on co-workers who try to keep regular hours.

So, in my experience, management certainly can create an environment where people have to work overtime, but in general, they will (resentfully, I'll grant you) respect boundaries. After all: There are laws they have to obey.

It's the co-workers who don't-- either their ownboundaries or the boundaries set by their peers.

by d. brinson

I support various applications at my company. I do try to stick to a 40 - 45 hour work week and usually I do a pretty good job of it. However, when something goes wrong with an application, it has to be fixed immediately. The role of IS means that alot of times, everyone else goes home and we stay all night fixing a problem. Unfortunately that is part of the job.

However I do draw a line between the true emergencies (where I put in what ever amount of hours are necessary to fix the problem)and regular, project work. I refuse to give up my personal life because someone tries to set an arbitrary deadline that had no basis in reality. I have found if you state your intentions and expectations up front, people will respect them.

by jaydev

Did they take in account that there was bad weather in IL and other states. No one could get to their jobs becuase of blizzards. That makes a big difference. 1,000,000's of people not attending work because of one reason or another. We're still working 40+ hours. In my case i'm working 9+ hours a day 5 days a week. So what are the wall street people smoking. I'll make sure I don't have any of that stuff.

by raptor168

You have put another spin on the sitaution that these smokers certainly did not think about!

However, I must admit, and I think everyone can agree to some extent, it is the nature of the beast that we work the hours that we do. We are dedicated to our profession, and there are so many dynamics involved.

I actually tried to set some boundries and limit my hours once, but then the next project came up, and well, you know what happenned. I do try to keep it under some kind of control, but it's difficult. In my case, I learned how to better manage my time so that I could be more productive and still have a life. It's not easy, but it can be done!!

by edwardhammerbeck

you choose to set those boundries for yourself. My boss, for instance, works a 50-60 hour week. I could too if I wanted to because the work is certainly there. And maybe my performance evaluations will take a hit, but I have made my boundries clear to my boss. I made them clear in the interview and I have not wavered. I told him in the interview I did not do pagers or cell phones, and that was a condition of my employment. He wears a pager; I don't.

I get my work done during the workday, and work late if I have to. But I don't make a habit of it, and I don't bring work home with me. I don't think about office problems at home. Work is work; home is home.

Fortunately I have a good boss that respects those boundries. He knows I stick to my values, but he also knows that I work hard while I am at work so its not like I am a big baby and a slacker both.

I don't know. I made a choice a long time ago about whether I wanted my job to define who I am, and I decided that it should not. My job is how I afford the lifestyle I desire. My family and my home are my priorities, and I try never to let work intrude into that domain.

by bmossing

I don't know many IT professionals who work less than 40 hours -- usually more.

In my experience, similar to what Loraine said, the IT workers bring it on themselves. Sure, sometimes management wants to meet a deadline or get a project done. There has to be some pushing to get things done.

To me though, IT professionals possess some good traits that they sometimes extend beyond the call of duty. They tend to have a high level of dedication to their work, want to do a great job, learn all they can about the thing they're working on, and are simply more interested in IT than most other stuff in their lives.

Thus they end up working more than the national average number of hours per week.

by hardy utley

Two years ago when I got out of bed at 5am the first thing on my mind was work. When I left work at midnight to get 4 hours of sleep the last thing on my mind was work. On average I was working 90 hours a week easily 2 years ago. A lot of the pressure was from me and my peers. That old "We've got a lot to do and not enough people to do it." attitude. Companies will always fix the problem if you indicate the necessity of working less hours. If all projects are necessary then they should hire more staff. Otherwise nix some of those projects..priorities are very important!

These days I work 40-50 hours a week on average, this includes my pager time and my cell phone time. I decided that I want to work to live not live to work. Amazingly enough, the rest of the world has changed for me also. I never have a fear of getting fired (in this IT boom?? people are throwing jobs at you, trying to make you catch one).

I'll tell you this, the quality of my work and my overall happiness has increased dramatically since I changed the work time hours. I would have a hard time asking anyone to spend their life at their job these days.

by wayne m.

Working 40 hour weeks is largely in your own hands. Determine your schedule and set an arrival time and a departure time. I put my departure time on my calendar schedule and get a pop up notice 15 minutes before my intended leave time. If you have to, join a car pool to enforce your arrival and leav times.

I'm not saying you won't occassionally have a crisis which demands you work late, but these should not happen more the 1 - 2 times a year. Daily overtime is simply silly. Prioritize your work, get the most important things accomplished, and drop the rest at the end of the day.

When I was younder, I used to laugh at "clock punching drones," and I was afraid that leaving at a set time would hurt my evaluations and promotions. What I found out, though, was when I cut back my hours, my attitude and energy levels imrpoved and I was getting better evaluations even though I was trying to do less. I must reiterate though and say scheduling is important and as long as you are accomplishing the hot issues in a reasonable time, management is happy.

by stephennorman

I dont think as you say this reflects the IT industry where as contractors especially if we are hourly paid will work all the hours we can, as the more we work the more we earn.

I am currently contracted on a fixed rate for 40 hours per week but always end up doing 45

by abramson50

I think that WSJ needs to go back and be a little more specific. I think IT companies are mandating either longer work hours (overtime) or requireing their employees to finish projects in a specified amount of time that requires them to put in extratime. WSJ should break down what areas are and are not putting in the extra hours.

by raptor168

I'll be short and sweet about this. Work hours for IT pros are NOT shrinkning. I take issue with this statement as well. In fact, my hours are actually on the rise.

In this time of a slowing economy and shrinking budgets, the clear trend here is that companies are trying to keep control of that "bottom line" by doing more for less. Included in that equation is the fact of short staffing, less training, and more load on existing staff. IT should not be included in this ludicrous generalization.

by wlakey

All new associates hired on here are now forced to a 32-hour workweek. This is because they are afraid of paying overtime for anyone anytime. I'm still on a 40-hour week, but every hour of overtime I get I also have to have an approval form signedby the department manager. Kind of paranoid.. ain't they.....

by jiglover

Depends on how the poll was taken. Did the report factor in vacation time for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years?

Granted, not everyone takes those days off. But I can say for a fact that everyone in my company - myself included - were on the job few hours per week the last two months because of the holidays.

Also, did it factor in hours at the office only? What about telecommuting? Maybe we need more info to have an intelligent conversation about this?

by garbski

Did they also consider the flu bug that's going around? What about the bad weather the past month that kept some people away from work? My office, for example, pretty much closed down during Christmas week, so this would have skewed our data on the low side...

by chacci2

I am an IT consultant. I work 9-5 4 days/week keeping 1 day/week open to allow me to be able to keep up with technology. IMHO, I think any company that wants their employees to keep up with current technology so they can do their job to the fullest should not expect 5 day/week productivity. Of course, if you work at one of those country club businesses (you know who I'm talking about), the above does not apply because you probably aren't very production anyways.

by lordinfidel

It's the workload. My company has never asked me upfront, hey we want you to work 7 days. Sadly enough it is our depts choice. We know that we get no O/T, but there are just things you can not do when there are users on your system.

Not to mention when you need to make massive changes to your web servers, you need to wait until the whole world is sleeping.

I would love to take a day off, but when you have a mission critical job, it's becomes a fantasy.

My employer actually tells us to take days off. But the sad truth is that we can't and when we try to we wind up coming back in because of an emergency. But this is the career we chose, we are well paid so we have no place to gripe.

by c0mputer6uy

I used to work in customer service, but switched to IT when the Network Admin possision open up. I got my MCSE in 6 months, (and no I didn't Braindump my way through it) and have saddled up to the job. It's not easy, but I'm constantly learning, problem solving and exploring new technology. I have no problem with the hours I work, because I enjoy it, and I stay productive during business hours, and cram as much as I can into the day. I learned how to multitask during my Customer service days. Believe me their pace is worse than ours. It's simple if love what you do it's not work.

by circlea3

I have been working as a Engineer/Adminstrator for just under 12 years.

My employer pays me to do a job, fundemantally that makes them my customer. They should expect good customer service from me in the form of, dedication, high productivity, etc. However, they don't have any right to expect indentured servitude. Who determines where that line is drawn? I do.

Unless a person is bound by contract, salaries are based on a 40 hour work week. An employer pays a salary to a person based on their skills, experience, ability, education, etc.

We are paid varying salaries based on varying traits, & a constant 40 hour work week. The more hours you work the worse your salary becomes.

My employer hired me to do a job. Nothing more and nothing less. Only, by my own choice do I give them more then they pay me for - a 40 hour week - regardless of salary. If I am expected, cajoled, and/or coerced to work anything more I have every reason to "gripe," as does everyone else.

Just because a person chooses IT as their career doesn't mean they should expect to work longer hours. I work under the guidlines of "mission first." If that means working hours on end until completion, so be it. However, the extra time of mine that my company did not pay for (in excess of 40hrs.) is a loan to the company. I adjust my schedule, to get it back.

If I went to my company and asked for time off, when I didn't have it coming to me I would get one of two answers; No, or, Yes, without pay. So, as long as they aren't giving out freebies, I'm not either.

by kstair

I agree that the company doesn't require us to work. I've also found that sometimes I end up working more just because I think I am more indisposable than I really am. I work for a hospital and my staff has dwindled to almost nothing with one on maternity leave and the other only a part timer. We have 5 servers and over 300 PCs to maintain, hardware and software. I've gotten myself to the point now where I work my 8 hours and go home. The only time I work over is when it is a REAL EMERGENCY (ie server crash). I figure if the employer doesn't care enough about IT to give me the help I need, why should I?

by pjs_2000

IT should definately not be included in those reports. How can IT Professionals work fewer hours when the demands of the workplace require IT people to be on the cutting edge of technology.

How many IT people out there have taken work home with them, I'd say about 74% probably more.

With more and more demands being made on IT staff, the time to actually sit down and learn something new or read the latest article relating to your business is gradually becoming a thing of the past in my opinion.

IT staff have to take work home with them at some time, I doubt that any article that has been published gives an accurate reflection of the commitments that IT staff may have to give up due to the fact that sometimes the only place where we can get anything done is at home.

Paul Stanley - IT Mangaer - 1stNetUK.com
pjs_2000@lineone.net

by swatz

It would be nice to see what catagory IT falls into, obviously we do not have our own category. I know that Germany has a 32 hour work week maybe those number were averaged into the labor department numbers. All the people I know (including myself) are working more then 40 hours a week. The same old same old: not enough resources to get everything done, but what the heck we in IT are an infinite resource right!!!!

by johnricarte

For the past six months my work week has increased from 5 to 6 days a week. I don't know what the labor the dept. is talking about but it definitely does not have anything to with us. Saturdays has been included in my work week for the past 6 months and some sundays to go with that. My work hours from 9 to 5 has also gone up to 9 to 7 or even later at nights. I guess the need for our availability in the work place has increased dramatically and it's definitely not shortened.

by dan007

With all the online services that our department is putting on the web, we now have a 24/7 working environment. So every 4 weeks I have to carry that little thing called a pager...

Work hours declining? Not for me.

by nonsuch

Most of the Senior Managers I know find that with increasing International trade they, and their technical staff have to work on a 24/7 basis. In at least one case known to me this often involves working during their holidays and during the night hours.

How anyone can say hours are decreasing beats me.

by faedon

I usually work around 37.5 hours per week of straight in-office time. Although I am on call, I have yet to be called!!!(knock on wood). Also doesn't include time spend upgrading skills and such! Sounds like I lucked out, I will note that my boss works 2.5 times the number of hours I do!

by ronnie.jones

I would agree.. I am in the manufacturing industry.. Fortunately .. they have cut back our overtime to 40 hour work week.. We weren't happy at first because it took away our money.. On the average our techs made 15,000.in overtime., but now looking at the picture this is giving us more time to sharpen our swords and get training and also family time which is good for us...I refocused myself to training mentally and physically...

by homeputer1

hello. Well not where I'm from, its more like more work less pay. We all know that to be a IT is always more work!

by the unix guy

some weeks there is more work and I stay to do it and other weeks everything seems to be running fine and I'll take a half day vacation or leave early to play golf....that's just the nature of this business. Work load is also dependent on the time of year and budgets of which I have no control over.....but overall, I'd say I put more than 40 hours per week in on average over the course of the entire year.

by trish_sutter

There are many aspects to this. For the mid-west, the weather in December and the Auto Industry were/are major factors. Nationally for the IT industry the .coms are cutting staff daily.

In the mid-west we were hit with all those snow storms in December. I missed 1.5 days because of all the snow. Did they take that into account? Also December is a big holiday and vacation month. Did they take that into account?

In the Auto Industry the big three shut down for the week between Christmas and New Years, but this year they started the shut down early and are running it late. Big cuts are still taking place. Plant shut downs through out the month of January because of excess inventory are ocurring. Salary employee layoffs. All contract staff has already been phased out. Daimler Chrysler has asked it's suppliers for another 5% reduction in the part costs.

But then we see daily that this dot com or tech company cut staff by 2%, 5% or 10% etc... Just yesterday Perot Systems cut 2.5% of their staff.

I expect that average hours worked to drop even lower for the month of January. I don't see that for IT though. As the belt tightens and operations slow down, managers will have more time to thing of money saving automation and infrastructure. This equates into more work for IT. But it will take time and reshuffling for it to be seen.

by lordinfidel

I have'nt seen a 34 hour work week in a couple of years.... And I think that's including vacations.

Our average here is min 60 hours, 6 days a week. During deployments your looking at 70 hours 7 days.

If any Full-Time IT pro says he is not working tons of hours is either lying or does'nt know a cpu from a hard drive.

by clivekelly

Labour must be joking ! I work an average of 60 hours p/w. Just before Christmas I was working throughout the night. It seems to be a fashionable trend for companies to ensure IT staff perform all critical actions outside of working hours - then complete a normal days work. With my firm this means no overtime and no time in lieu.

by evileyejoe

Well I only started my current job 2 months ago and I'm working with an Accounting and Counsulting firm.

I have been averaging 43 hpw so far... I'm looking for that to increase a little as we get into tax season with the accountants working 55 hpw.

by jeremy

I haven't worked less then 60 hours in years and it's usually more like 70-80.... I would kill to work just a normal 40 hour work week..

by sd itman

I work from 6AM to 4:00 - 4:30PM 5 days a week. I work 6-8hrs, 1 weekend per month and during major upgrades you may find me at work all weekend. I have spent days from 7AM to 2:30AM the next day. Granted this is only a once in a year issue usually,but I don't know any of my peers that work less than 60 hours a week. Stack the fact that most of us are salaried and it only compounds the problem. I'm not sure where that information came from but I'm sure it's from the same place they get the political opinion polls!

by glhsys

As you suspect, at least for myself and those I know in IT, our hours are not decreasing. I have averaged 50+ (sometimes 70+) hours per week for over 15 years!

by axg

Maybe the only folks to respond were an under-worked few. Neither my collegues or I have worked under 45 hours per week in past couple of years.

by txbluebonnet

January is a new month and things are hopping madder than ever. I don't find myself working less...probably MUCH more....

Later!

Kathryn

by jpaquin

My company was merged and we went from the official 37.5 hours a week to a 40 hours a week. It does not affect us that much because we generally worked more than the required hours. But salary remained the same as we are paid on a weekly basis. So the hourly rate reduced as well.

DP remains a sector where we do not count our time, and with our customer that is going through a merger itself there is more work to be done than we have bodies.

by hockeyelf

IT hours are not shrinking, but are increasing. I have gone from a 40+ hr work week to a 60 hr work week. While IT has improved business practices providing better information (and supposedly being able to reduce work forces) it hasn't happen thatway. Instead workload has increased for all staff and while IT practices have allowed better and more information, they are not allocated staff to support the new practices and systems.

by greenpm

I find those figures very hard to believe. We average 45 - 55 hours here and are always being pressed for more.

by cfraser

I work as a computer software tech. for a k-12 school district. As you can believe, my work is never done. My hours are always more than what I can expect. Everything from Cat5 wiring to html pages for Power School. Training teachers how to use computers...now there's job security!

by maria.rodriguez

Hours may be getting shorter, but more intense. Downtown has to be down to a minimum, so there is no time or much room for errors. That creates the intensity and stress. So its like work 8 recover 8.

by gculp01

If you are not constantly acquiring additional knowledge and skills. You will be flippin' burgers soon!

by dr dij

I take care to get all my business out of the way before I get in (eating, coffee, etc). I concentrate & work hard while I'm in. While you can learn on the job, you're better off staying not more than an hour or so later and learning on your own thru online training, college courses, cbt or trying various stuff yourself. If you do stay late, make sure after a certain point it is to learn to benefit yourself, such as keeping up on tech info, etc. If you work 60 hours it's your own decision / fault. I'll stay really long hours only occasionally in a real emergency. Quote Dilbert: "the more crap you put up with the more crap you are going to get"

by gculp01

Congrats - you did the SMART thing. You used the LEAST used IT skill today - find out what the 'customer' REALLY wants UPFRONT. What a novel concept.

by jcitron

I was able to curb the constant requests for CD's, network access, PC changes, etc. by implementing a work request. Where all I can say is "You need a work request before I'll do that". That usually cuts out the nuisance calls because people have toplan out exactly what they want. My hours are now less - about 40-45 hours a week instead of the 60+ I used to see before.

by tbateman

I'd like to know what industries/professions he used for his study. It could not have been the IT industry. Technology is developing faster than it can be reasonably/cost effectively implemented but upper level management does not understand that. They read about it in the WSJ and decide that they have to have it and so it's more after-hours work for me.

by jengels

I work for a smaller company owned by a large corporation. They like us to try new technology before they try it. This creates constant work. I could work every weekend for the rest of my life if I wanted to.

by gary65

I work for a large software mfgr. As part of the Critical Systems (back-end systems) group, we have an ever increasing workload. I find it hard to believe that the researcher(s) for the article mentioned even attempted to contact IT people about their jobs. The increased workload in this field alone might be enough to throw the whole curve.

by stelmos2000

That is untrue. I moved to another job and my work week hours has increased from 40 to 45 hours! My workweek has not declined.

by mgayle

Not only are work hours increasing, but the hours spent "after work", keeping up with new technology, is increasing as well. If I were to be paid for the hours I spent researching work issues, AFTER work (usually at home), I would be a millionaire by 40. Not enough work hours to get the needed research done. Employer won't pay over 40 hrs, but you want promotion...what else can ya do?

by amason6672

I am an IT professional and I work a minimum of 10 hours a day. I also have been working on weekends. The usual work week I put in is approximately 59 hours. That also goes for most of my peers. I do not know where you got you're data from but whereI am it's not even close.

by jpchaney

Speaking for myself and my co-workes, no! I think with continous shifts in the markets, IT can expect to continue to work demanding hours. My hours have actually increased since last year. I don't see light or a tunnel either.

by consulter

Sounds to me like you regular employees are working too many hours. I left a 55+ hours per week job to be a consultant. Now I work a 40 hour work week for 50% more pay than what I was making as an employee. If your pay divide by hours worked putsyou on par with the average MacDonalds worker, it might be time for a change.

by wayne m.

You are correct. Hiring and scheduling are management's responsibility. It is not your responsibility to resolve understaffing issues. Get the most important things done in 8 hours, go home, relax, and come back to do your best the next day.

by kevin m. hirahara

I believe there are industry sectors which should be excluded from the generalization that workers in "all job categories" have lessened their productivity as well as their "input." IT is certainly one of those catagories capable of exclusion; Police, another.

IT is a field that supports the knowledge workers of all industries. The WSJ article overlooked the importance of granularity by placing everyone in the blanket catagory of a general "worker."

I actually do believe that the productivity of the general knowledge worker is spending less quality time on the job. But there are specific sectors that can easily provide evidence of an increase in workload as well. IT is just one of those sectors; it's just that the increase in workload for the few industries, can't compensate for the rest of the ones in the generalized report base.

by irfon

This message was posted on 1/8/01. People were apparently working fewer hours in December. I don't know about the rest of you, but I had about two weeks near the end of December where either I was on vacation and thus clocking in the flat 8 hours a day of vacation time, or there was hardly anybody in the office, so workload was lower than usual.

That said, 34.1 seems very low. I almost always clock in between 40 and 50 hours; Typically around 44.

by jcitron

I've never been allowed to take vacation time around the Christmas- New Year holidays. That's the time when we are preparing for year-end processing, server maintenance, etc. There are fewer users, therefore we can do things that couldn't be done during the rest of the year...

I've been able to cut my "normal" hours to about 45 - down from the 60+ by instituting a work request form. This not only forces the users to actually state exactly what they really want when they want it, I also get to schedule my time around them. The end result is more time for me but no year end vacation.

by qhcomputingny

I work between 50-60 hours a week. It is no where near 35 hours or whatever that WSJ article mentioned. They should look at the IT industry and rethink their calculations.

Eddie

by tfluet

When I read all these messages about people working 50-60 hours I wonder is that 50-60 hours spent actual coding? or is that 30 hours of work and 20 hours of lunch, chatting, coffee breaks, etc.. I clock in 45-50 hours but I only work 40 hours.

Tracy

by bwh

It would seem more like hours have doubled. An average IT work week on site averages anywere from 45 to 60 hours. This does not take into account 24 x 7 on call, or the remote telecomputing support performed from home at all hours. I would say theseanalysts have excluded the IT workers when compiling these figures. Whats worse is most Corp's do not appreciate the effort or extra hours put in to keep them connected and making money.

by dr dij

I find I can get more done in 45 hours by concentrating and working hard, and keeping happy by having a life outside of work. I leave after 45 or 50. There's a big long project list. We hired additional help finally. As I tell my boss, I can do anything, I just can't do everything. If you work UNPAID more than 50 regularly you are killing yourself, you'll get overweight, lose your hair and get a heart attack. You need interesting hobbies. Leaving on time has let me produce some multimedia cdroms on the side, work on some web projects of my own and more. Take an evening course at a community college so you HAVE to leave after a certain time. Maybe everyone should quit and become contractors as they get paid hourly. Unless I'm specifically on call I turn off my pager on weekends.

by etsaner

In the IT environment remember that technicians' skills have been optimized through training and experience, so work gets done faster.
Again, the functionality of many systems is automated and enhancements can be bought off the shelve.
If your company (through thorough research)allocates 40 hrs for the work you do in 60hrs, it means you're underperforming.

by matt

You've got to be kidding. What company wastes their time to calculate how long each job is gonna take, and says, "well, we can't give you this job, because that might put you over your 40 hours this week." More than likely the company is gonna add 10 more jobs after that one. Its getting the job done that counts, not how many hours a single tech works.

by packratt

Really, it doesn't matter why an employee has to work extended hours, it's ALWAYS the management's fault.

If the employee has to work 60 hours to do what another IT professional can do in 40 then it's the manager's fault for assigning tasks beyond that person's ability or it's management's fault for hiring someone unqualified.

If the employee is working 60 hours because the workload is too much for 40 it's the manager's fault for understaffing or failing to give realistic project expectations to executives.

If the employee is working more than 40 hours for ANY reason it is the management's fault and that manager should catch hell for failing his or her employees and causing undue stress and turnover, and thus costing the company money.

Don't blame the soldiers who follow your orders for you are responsible for what they do. You fail as they fail, you succeed as they succeed, seems as though this simple philosophy has been lost in these days of brown nose promotions.

by rphilemon

I find this hard to believe. Most IT professionals are salary employees so their working hours are not reported.
Is working from home included in that survey?

by h_celeste

Heck, I work for the government and put in more than 34 hours a week. Who were they surveying--tarot card readers and fashion models?

by rosbrook

The hours over here in england for an engineer this week work out at 45hours. I would say this is average but more would be the norm!!
Its not the hours but the number of jobs now in one role thats the problem!!!!

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