How much actual work do you have?

[need2startover]

I've found that at my job, out of an 8 hour day, I have about 3 solid hours of work and then im bored. Are most people occupied throughout the day.. I read the news alot, and email and am on this so as not to go crazy..

[ProAm500]

In my job, out ouf 40 hours in a week I might work an actual 8-10, the rest are driving...which is almost work in itself..

[lonestar]

At my job, I get paid to sit around a lot. I am hoping once I get a promotion to Accountant II or Auditor there will be more work...not that I don't mind getting paid to chat on QLC or study for the CPA examination; I would rather be challenged a little...my supervisor knows I get a little stir crazy with the rather slow nature of this job.

[Kitty]

It really depends..probably 6 hours but its hard to calculate because I rarely JUST do work. I usually write some emails, work on something, then post something here..look around online..then go back to work..etc. I do that throughout the day.

I can't just sit and focus on work for 8 hours straight..that would kill me.

[wordsmith]

It varies, because it's entirely situational and based on what stories I'm working on, events, meetings, etc. I have to cover, what press releases I'm following up on, if I get phone calls about story leads, if I'm working on columns, if it's a deadline day, if I'm doing page layout. It truly varies, how it's distributed. Some days I have chunks of downtime, some days not.

[sparky88]

I've been on both ends of the work-load spectrum. At my first job out of college I worked 90-100hrs a week (and it was allll actual work, trust me).

In my current position I probably work no more than 20 hrs a week. I should say, I put in 40 hrs a week but only about 20 hrs are "real" work. I am half admin/half sales rep though, so I my pay structure is unique. I have to be available to do admin work from 9-5, but I can organize my time and sales structure within that. As long as I hit my weekly/monthly/quarterly goals I can do whatever I want. So, right now I'm laying out at a hotel, shooting off emails, making calls, organizing stuff,...but it surely doesn't "feel" like work. Some might think it's work, but compared to the said 90-100 hr weeks I feel like I'm working part-time and making 3x as much. It's a nice gig...one I'm very grateful to have.

[spokes]

i usually have about 8 to 12 lbs of work per day..........

all kidding aside I am like Kitty and I'll take breaks as required during the day to waste some time - I usually don't leave my cage to chat much with others, so I'll waste some time on the net, or chatting with friends. sometimes I'll work on my plot for global domination.

[Wyo29]

I have a solid 60-80 hrs of work. I dont see home very much. I like it most all of the time.......

[Spinney]

It varies for me from week to week. It depends on how many customers have problems with their code, how difficult the individual cases are to solve, how many people on my team are sick / on vacation and finally how many have been pulled off regular duties to work on a project.

I've had weeks where I really only spent 15 hours doing work and the rest waiting for the work to appear, and others have been a full non-stop 40 hours. The kind of week where the phone is ringing off the hook :frustrate

[winneythepooh7]

It really depends..probably 6 hours but its hard to calculate because I rarely JUST do work. I usually write some emails, work on something, then post something here..look around online..then go back to work..etc. I do that throughout the day.

I can't just sit and focus on work for 8 hours straight..that would kill me.

Yeah, this is me too. Some days are crazier than others depending on what phase the moon is in with my clients. Since I'm on call 24/7 as well, I consider myself to basically always be working.........

[wordsmith]

I've had weeks where I really only spent 15 hours doing work and the rest waiting for the work to appear, and others have been a full non-stop 40 hours. The kind of week where the phone is ringing off the hook :frustrate

This is how newspaper work is. Feast or famine.

Some weeks, I'm scrambling and having to get really creative to even have stuff to run, other weeks, I'm flooded with more than I can possibly do. Other times, I know stuff is coming, but it's not possible to do it early, which is frustrating if you have a pocket of time.

[coll214]

It really depends..probably 6 hours but its hard to calculate because I rarely JUST do work. I usually write some emails, work on something, then post something here..look around online..then go back to work..etc. I do that throughout the day.

I can't just sit and focus on work for 8 hours straight..that would kill me.
This is me most of the time. There are always a few days towards the end of the month though that are PAINFULLY slow. And then maybe a few times a year i'm running around like a madwoman.

[SparkleInTx]

Since March I'd say I only have about 2 hours of work to do each day (today I think I may have done 30 minutes worth) & that is being generous. The rest of the time I play mahjong on-line, read up on my soaps and just surf the internet. I am completely bord & feel that my brain is turning to mush...I must get out of here! I had an interview last week for a job in the county treasurers office (should hear something on that soon) and I have another interview for a position within the school district.

[initac]

I know what you mean. That's the way I felt in my internship. Not because I didn't have stuff to do, but because I REALLY didn't want to do it. It was my subconscious self yelling out "GET ME OUT OF HERE". It's its way of sabotaging whatever it is that I am doing to my life working at a desk job. This is STILL happening. My internship was 4 years ago.

I still have PAGES of LISTS of things I need to get accomplished. I spend all day writing back to people who emailed me. I'd say I spend a solid 1 hour a day just browsing through my own personal finances (bank accounts, investments, credit cards, figuring out when I'm paying off my debt, etc). It's more fun to do my finances than to do the actual work.

[yankeeyosh]

I would venture to say that at my current job, I'm 95% productive; that is, I am working 95% of the time...maybe once an hour I take a one or two-minute break to go to the coffee room or the restroom or maybe quickly check CNN.com or if there are any cyclones. The culture is very intense where I work, and there's virtually no chit-chat (although my neighbor is a cool guy...he's an engineer rather than pure "financial", so once in a while we shoot the breeze for a minute).

In terms of hours, I'm there usually 9-10 hours a day so far. It will probably rise at some point.

[Spinney]

We all take at least 90 minutes a day in breaks. In the afternoon it usually involves either the foosball table, table tennis or the xbox :cool:

I don't know how some people go and work almost nonstop all day, and only take a short break to eat something at lunch. I'd have to really love what I was doing, probably to the point that I'd pay other people to let me do it.

[Tenshi28]

I've found that at my job, out of an 8 hour day, I have about 3 solid hours of work and then im bored. Are most people occupied throughout the day.. I read the news alot, and email and am on this so as not to go crazy..

I am just the same, except for some specific times my daily routine at work is to spend 3 or 4 hours working in something I don't like and spend another 4 or 5 being bored to death.

That's what I call a kick ass job.

[biodork]

Seriously its probably only around 8 hours at the most per week. But thats what happens when you work in a lab. Spend 30 minutes setting up something, and 3 HOURS waiting for the results. Lots of down time for me. I've gotten used to it though.

[need2startover]

I want the job with the XBOX and foosball table.. where do you work Spinney?

[eko311]

This is a great thread and makes me feel relieved to hear the reality in other's lives. I'm in a financial area which is really feast & famine. Jan-Mar I was working 60 hour weeks and traveling. Apr-now I've not have much to do, and feel like I'm going crazy. I'm someone who will work 10 hours a day, straight thru with barely time to eat, happily, if you ask me to and that's what's needed. (at 12 hours I start to get cranky, as I found out last Sept-Dec) Plus I'm usually a happy clam as long as I know that I'm being productive and making other's lives easier... and when I have to fill hours in my day with surfing, emailing, writing letters to my relatives I'm not happy. Sometimes I wonder if I'm an anomaly... or just a weirdo.

[imhappy]

I have about an hour of actual desk work in the back room a day. Most of the day is sitting at a desk waiting for people to ask me questions. (i'm a librarian) the rest of the day is trying to look busy.

[crystal_dance]

today was goof off day. First time I did absolutely nothing at work and I feel great!

[Cole]

I have 2-3 hours a day, TOPS. Once or twice a month I'll have a day where I'm busy the whole time.

Of course, that's just the work they give me. If I was motivated and proactive I could probably come up with another 35-10 hours' worth of stuff to do each week. But I'm not.

I HATE sitting here for 8 hours, wondering what the hell I"m doing. That's why I quit. :)

[Tenshi28]

I have 2-3 hours a day, TOPS. Once or twice a month I'll have a day where I'm busy the whole time.

Of course, that's just the work they give me. If I was motivated and proactive I could probably come up with another 35-10 hours' worth of stuff to do each week. But I'm not.

I HATE sitting here for 8 hours, wondering what the hell I"m doing. That's why I quit. :)

Wow man, you just described my days at work!

Now, I wish I could quit mine too...