would your rather work longer hours for more money or fewer for less?

tara747

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

The money-grabber in me says "more for more", but I don't think that's really practical, in a "stay alive/have a life" sense.

I work on average 65-80 hours a week, and spend an additional 15 hours a week commuting.

Less for less? Hell no.

I feel really sorry for you.

mitchaa

tara747 wrote: »

I feel really sorry for you.

He could be at home doing squats I suppose

Some people like to get away from the wife and kids. I couldn't do longer than about 3-4wks without craving to get back to work.

Mr_Matey

I do 37.5 hours a week, and that feels about right.

If they wanted me to do more, I'd want more than a pro-rata increase in salary. Especially since that money would be all taxed at the highest rate.

I'd definitely consider a pro-rata decrease for an additional week or two's annual leave a year, and short-term I'd do more hours if they offered me a *juicy* increase.

Bonia77

TBH, I don't believe in long hours as the best way to get rich (or being good employee).

I'm sure we all know people spending 10-12 h at work and never getting much done!

Isn't it more important to be productive at work and being rewarded for this??

lemonjelly

Main job is 35 hours a week. I frequently do a bit more than that though. They get that free! I have a 20 min walk to/from work. I quite like having that little thinking time to myself - helps me wind down, so I don't class that as a commute. In the summer, it is lovely, & nowhere near as stressful!

I have a 2nd job, but can pick/choose my hours. I have definitely got to the stage where I am saying no more now. I used to accept all the extra work I could get. Now I'm much more in line with Thrugelmirs thinking. I'd rather visit a frined & have a good chat, spend time with people I love, on hobbies I love, or learning stuff.

I used to get a lot out of work.

My last main employer treated me really badly. I now view work as an inconveience which gets in the way of the important stuff.

Spartacus_Mills

ninky wrote: »

assuming you are in employment, what would increase your quality of life more? a pay increase for longer hours, or an hour cut with pro rata pay cut?

also, taking into account commute time how long is your average working week. mine's 52 hours.

I would be happy to work for 3 days a week at my current daily rate. I could easily live on it. I have a small mortgage and few outgoings so no problem there.

jackieb

mitchaa wrote: »

I'm soon to move onto a shift of 4-6-4 which means 14 days on 14 days off in a 28 day period. Similar to what the offshore chaps get.

Add in a month of leave (22+8) it works out at only 5mths out of 12 in work. 10hr days during the week and 12hr days on weekend days.

As to your question...Give me as much OT as possible. I don't mind working whilst im young and able. In 20-30yrs time it may be another matter but for now i'll take all the money I can get my greedy mits on.

My son is 2 weeks on, 3 weeks off. He works 12 hours a day for the whole 14 days though.

My husband used to do 28 days on, 28 days off - 12 hours a day for 28 days straight. His commute was 2-3 days each way though - and that was in his 'off' time. He got paid for travelling though at his normal day rate. He's back on the 2 on, 2 off but hoping to get back to the 28 on, 28 off again.

They both like their time at home. They both do overtime if asked though.

Cleaver

I think buried in my contract somewhere is a line that I'm contracted to 37.5 hours, but 'am required to do the hours necessary to do my job'. Which probably means: do what we ask you to do.

I probably do between 50 and 60 a week on average, not including any travel. I am based from home, but travel quite a bit normally during the day. If I have a meeting or meeting someone in London or somewhere else then I can get home at 8pm or later. But the nice thing with having a flexible job is that if I'm having a less urgent week and fancy finishing early on a Friday I can down tools at 3.30pm or something like that.

I tend to find that if I'm working on lots of stuff that I enjoy I tend to merge home and work life. For example, if I'm doing a piece of work that excites me I'm happy to spend a good few hours at the weekend working on it and don't really think of it as work.

A lot of this is based around the psychological contract with your employer. I am working for an organisation I really like at the moment, and am also enjoying a really challenging job. Most of the people I work with are pretty cool too. So I'm more inclined to put more hours in because I like what I'm doing. If I hated my employer and didn't have much job satisfaction, I'd probably be working as close to 37.5 hours as possible.

And there is an interesting question around whether time spent thinking about work in the evening or weekend, or planning work in your head during these times, is classed as work or not?

lostinrates

ninky wrote: »

would you factor early retirement into that lir?

I'm sorry ninky, I missed this earlier.

I don't know.a: early retirement..what will that be when we are there, early retirement is already the age our parents see as normal age retirement! b: I don't know if we'll afford it and c: I don't know what DH will feel like then. His father, in seventies, is still working, albeit at a far nicer pace than dh works. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that DH's role will change but he'll keep an interest in a working capacity. Its very early to tell yet: his career might level out a bit in the next few years.....

infact, a relevant thing to the thread might be that he recently turned down an offer for more money from a different employer, for a couple of reasons, not just hours. but the money did really tempt him, veyr hard.

LeeSouthEast

Thrugelmir wrote: »

What for though? To service a large mortgage, those 2 new cars on the drive, an annual exotic holiday, a more expensive kitchen......

All of the above!

Well, on a serious note.. to be able to take my girlfriend and I on our dream holiday. Yes, it's £5k, and I won't be putting any of it on credit. To get us a nice place to live together, and still enjoy life. Despite the long hours I do work, my shift pattern also provides for a nice amount of time off as well.

I prefer "time is precious". You can't buy it. Use it while you can.

Couldn't agree more. I'm working hard now, so I can enjoy myself as well. Work hard, play hard.