How hard do you actually work at work?
 

First off, I love my job. I am in sales and my income is dependant totally on how hard I work.

I am a hard worker, always have been, but I tend to only *really* work hard about 70% of the time.

I spend an awful lot of time smoking, lunching, talking on the phone, browsing here and other internet sites, Instant messenging, and the likes.

I am one of the top sellers at my job, and most of my coworkers are actually working less than 50% of the time!

So how hard do you work?

heh.. 95% capacity at about 10% of the time NOW.. the rest of the time, managing/supervising others which doesn't take too much effort. I have a very good group of people working for me. These guys/gals can manage their own time very well since THEIR income is dependent on how hard they work (their income is almost entirely commission). Since 3 of my 7 are making low 6 figures and the others are in the mid- to high- 5 figures, everyone is happy.

During the 10% of the time that I'm working very hard, I take care of day to day stuff, IRS stuff, checking on numbers, making sure everything is flowing smoothly, etc.

I'm like you, AYBF. I can go for an hour or two doing almost nothing productive, but when I get going, I get really focused and can't be distracted.

Hahahahaha.

Sorry, straight face now, not very hard, I find my job extremely easy and I absolutely love it (Assistant Manager of an EB Games store). Loving every minute of it!

I'm thinking of the dialogue from Office Space where he is talking about his basic workweek, that about sums it up.

I work most of the time, but I wouldn't say I work hard. It's mostly graphic design, just fiddling round creating stuff isn't really hard most of the time. When a mental block comes though, I hate it, no matter how hard you try you just can't create anything good.

When I've got a tasker, I put 100% until it's done, or it's as far along as I can get it without help of some kind. Otherwise I'm browsing TFP ;)

Yes, I lounge around a bit, but when I work, I work hard. I'm one of the highest contributors in my department, and I still put in my 40-42 hours per week compared to some that are in here 50.

I have a monthly audit due at the end of each month. Out of those 4 weeks I probably spend 1 week working. All the other time, I'm just goofing off.
But I'm paying for it this week. Audit is due Thursday. I still have about 2 or 3 days worth of work left. And I have a sore throat and a fever but can't go home cause I have to get this done.
Why do I do this to myself every month???!!!

I work a helpdesk so the work comes and goes. There are days that I don't have a spare second to think and there are days the phone will only ring about twice.

But it all evens out in the wash.

If I manage to find 20 minutes in my day for a lunch break, I consider myself lucky. Cooking 4 meals a day for 200-250 people each is a job for a lot more than 4 people. And don't even get me started on all the bullshit catering that people ask us to do.
I could work 15 hours a day and still not have enough time to do everything that's needed.
They just hired an assistant for me last week though, once I finish getting him trained, things should get a little easier.

I work as hard as needed... which sometimes means I'm not very busy, and other days... overloaded.

Ever seen Office Space? Sometimes, at least at previous jobs, that's what it felt like, when Peter was talking to the 2 Bobs.

I try to do as little as possible. Then again, I don't have a "real" job, as I'm still in college, so it doesn't really matter how hard I work.

Im a symbol of whats wrong with big government. I get paid to do nothing. Fortunately Ill be out of here in a much more meaningful position very soon

Yeah that's how it was for me at my old gov't job. Now I part-time at a bakery where it's not very busy. So when there's no customers, there's nothing to do but read or eat. However, now I'm going to bring my laptop and maybe we can watch DVD's while we're bored!

On my break I built a fort in the stock room and when i was caught my boss sent me back to work. I returned later to see him in there laughing.

I work with great people and have a very demanding boss, so I have no choice other than to work hard. I find myself working 10 hours or so a day and doing about 7 hours worth of work. I find this to be a relaxing medium between underworking and overworking. I meet all my deadlines without having to cram, but I still have time to relax a bit.

The watch us pretty hard at Verizon. But I tend to find ways to get around doing much work. Sometimes, when I need a few seconds to unwind, I will put a customer on hold and veg.

I had the same reaction :)

I can do my job in about 3 hours/day, and the rest of the time I either make work or find personal projects to keep me busy. I have stopped feeling guilty about this. I do the work for which I am paid, and do it so well that I've gotten raises every year and two promotions. It's not my problem if I'm efficient enough to finish things in less than 40 hours/week.

I can work at about 75% capacity for days on end, and then lose an entire week if I get bogged down, or seriously focussed. Either way, the work is good, and usually enjoyable, so doing a few things to keep the brain lubricated in the off-moments doesn't cause any guilt.

And I agree with lurkette: if you're performing up to expectations, it shouldn't bother you if you finish quicker than most.

Mondays I work pretty much the whole day to get weekly reports finished. The end of the month finds a monthly report as well so I'll be busy maybe into Mid-day on Tuesday. The rest of the week I struggle to fill the voids. I do maybe about two hours of actual work in a day Tues-Fri. Summer budget crunches and frantic requests for notwithstanding, of course.

It didn't used to be like that. I have a good year and a half of coding SQL scripts to pull all the data I need that efficiently. I worked smarter instead of harder and now I can coast.

Of course, it helps that no one else in the company really understands where all the information I report comes from.

It usually comes in spurts. I will do nothing at all for hours, sometimes even days, and then will have a burst of activity that will keep me going 100%. Its a very nervewracking experience... Going from nothing to all-out and back again, over and over...

Some days I work my ass off and others not so much but I work in retail and as I remind my staff often, if you have time to lean you have time to clean!

What is this thing you call "work"?


All joking aside, I tend to have bursts of creativity followed by periods uselessness. Fortunately, I have flex hours.

I sit on my ass most of the day. It's great!:) But the hours... not so reliable....

I go into the office for 4 hours every weekday. It takes me a little while to get settled, but once I do I'm working hard almost all of the time.

One of my co-workers is a full time employee, but I do more total productive output per week than she does. This really bothers me because I'm getting paid at a much lower rate per hour (because she is full time, I'm part time.)

I tend to work hard.... I love my job and I am totally devoted! but... I do on occasion "goof" off... I think everyone needs to once in awhile to keep you sane:)

Not as hard as I should, but I get my stuff done, so what does it matter?

When there is a task at hand, i would say i put in at least 75% effort. You cant be expected to put 100% in all the time, I feel you will just burn out quickly. The only problem with my job is that there is only "a task at hand" maybe 2 hours a day, in 10 - 15 min lots. So for the rest of the 8 hr day i am on the net or reading. I get paid well to do it though so its all good.

Well, i get paid to be on call, so I'm productive when I'm called. When I'm not, I'm doing whatever I feel like doin.

I spend about 9 hrs at work a day. Of those 9 about 5-6 are actually spent on work. I always have my work done and am in good standing wiht the bosses. My buisness is related to the mortgage industry so when rates are low (as in back in the summer) I will work about 10 hrs aday and it is all work with no lunch. When it is slow like now I can relax a little and enjow!
Scoty

Well, I never have time to work a lunch hour and I tend to end up working an extra 10 hours or so a week more than I'm paid for, so I guess I work pretty hard.

depends on the day actualy. since im in on site tech support its all about how much broke the night before. the company I work for covers all of middle tennessee with mental health centers and i have to support those computers. so usualy its comein to the office, check tickets, then drive somewhere. I spend atleast an hour in the car each way to a site. Then work like mad to get stuff done. generaly not heavy physical labor, but defantily time consueming. i say i work pretty hard. or atleast 4 out of the 5 days i do ;)

I usually get the work done by the end of the day. But sometimes I just stare at the clock.