Poll: Average work day hours for the main bread winner in your family?

[battlemaiden]

I've seen some recent "long day" comments (not here) and I need to define what an average work day is these days.

 

Thanks for participating.

 

Jo

[Mrs Mungo]

I voted 10-12 hours, because that is typical, day-to-day. However, 12+ hours is not unusual. eta: I now you know this, Jo, :) but for everyone else, military people are salaried, they don't receive overtime.

 

e(again)ta: He does not generally work weekends and that has only been common in one command.

Edited July 1, 2010 by Mrs Mungo

[Meriwether]

Dh works from 7:30 - 4:30 officially, but it is usually more like 5:30.

 

ETA: it is a salaried position

Edited July 1, 2010 by Meriwether

[battlemaiden]

And it might be helpful to know if past a certain number of hours it would be considered "overtime" as well. Thanks.

[Country Mouse]

Dh's work day is 24 hours. He works every third day.

 

And he gets paid overtime for any hours worked beyond 40 hours.

Edited July 1, 2010 by Country Mouse

[sagira]

Hubby works nine hours a day. We're trying to get it down to eight ;)

 

I feel sorry for all those hubbies not at home for so long! 12 hours? Really?? :( My dh wants to work it so he can work from home and spend more time with us.

[pooh bear]

Between 12 and 13 is normal for my dh.

 

He can't work more than 14 hrs each day, so no really long days here. He starts between 5 and 6 am, 5 days a week.

[battlemaiden]

I voted 10-12 hours, because that is typical, day-to-day. However, 12+ hours is not unusual.

 

 

Would you say this is normal for your husband's command? Or does his seniority dictate a longer day? Do his subordinates have less hours?

[WeeBeaks]

10-12 hours usually, but 12+ is not unusual. He is technically supposed to do 10-12 hours daily and have every other Friday off. I honestly cannot recall the last time he took that Friday off though, still works the 10-12 hours every day and then weekends. He seems the norm around here, very frustrating.

 

Edited: It is not OT for him; it is expected.

[battlemaiden]

Dh's work day is 24 hours. He works every third day.

Interesting. Is he medical or in a rescue service?

[Caroline]

My DH works 10-12 hours a day. Some days he does work 12+. However, he only works at the office 3-4 days a week, and then for only 7 hours. He works more when he gets home. Also, we never go on vacation without the laptop and iPhone, and he generally works quite a bit on vacation. I would say he works at least 16 hours a week on vacation. There is no overtime.

[twoxcell]

My dh is scheduled to work from 5:30-2:15 Mon-Fri with a 45 min lunch. Anything more than that is overtime. He comes in 45 min early two days a week to do some cleaning at work, and he is ocassionally asked to work past 2:15. On Holiday weeks he usually works 9-10 hrs, and if his main co-worker is on vacation or sick he works 10-12 hrs. His boss also will ask him to come in about once a month to clean on a Saturday.

[Country Mouse]

Interesting. Is he medical or in a rescue service?

 

Yes, he's a firefighter/paramedic.

[Quad Shot Academy]

My hubby works 10 hours most days from 8-6. After we go to bed he works another 1-3 hours. He is salaried, so it is not OT.

[Melissa B]

My dh works 10-12 hours, but he starts around 3:30 or 4:00 so he is home in the early afternoon which is nice for the kids and I. He has worked six days for the past several years - the sixth day is overtime. But this weekend is his last six day week for the time being. The company doesn't want to be paying overtime. We're happy he will be home, but I'm not looking forward to all the paychecks without any overtime. :001_unsure:

[bluemongoose]

DH works around 10 hours per day on ok weeks (meaning not too many deadlines and bosses breathing down his neck). This lasts for about 3 weeks and then we do about 3 weeks of him working 16+ hours each day. He is in one of these weeks right now. He goes to bed at 2 am-ish and then gets up and goes "back to work" (in his office at home) at around 7:30 am. When he works at home, he might as well not be here, he never comes out of the office and is always deep in thought. He does come out for about 15 min at mealtimes. The kids get a quick hello and kiss and then he is back at it.

 

There is no overtime- he is salaried.

[Tap]

10-12 but 12+ are common. He usually works 50-60 hours weeks, but 60-80 occur at least once a month if not more during the busy season.

 

For comparison here is a poll from last year that was based on salaried employees only.

Edited July 1, 2010 by Tap, tap, tap

[littlebug42]

My dh's workday is 8:30 to 5 M-F. Occasionally, he has to get up early to do maintenance/upgrade computer system stuff but he can do that from home. He is also on call 24-7. He used to get called quite often but since his job changed some last year, he very rarely gets called now.

[The*A*Team]

My husband works all of the time, lol. His job is very flexible, so that is great though. He works from home on Monday and Friday. Goes to the office t/w/th. There is no set clock in/clock out time. He gets his job done and does it very well. He usually leaves for work around 8:30 (has a long commute, lik 1hr to 1.5 hours) and then gets home around 6, sometimes earlier. He tends to work though answering emails after work, so it often seems that even when he is at home, he is still working. He does most of his meetings on the phone, so he can do meetings on his commute to and from work which allows him to come and go as he pleases much of the time.

 

He also owns his own company and has people working for him, so he is often checking on them and with clients when he is home from work. Or, if he didn't contract out the work, he might be doing the work himself in the evenings after his regular job.

[Beth in OH]

I voted 10-12, because I suspect that is the daily average. We own a business--a large family owned farm. Some days are much, much longer, while others are more flexible. I would add that my dh works a 6 day work week, although Saturdays are probably more of a 6 hour day.

 

Beth

[Dmmetler]

DH is salaried, and theoretically works 40 hour weeks. In practice, though, it's "work until the code is ready to go out the door before the deadline"-which leads to a 8-10 hour schedule at the beginning of a release, spurting to a couple of weeks of well over 12 hour days at the end, averaging in the 10-12 hour range, although anything much over about 10 hours ends up happening at home. He was online, working at 3:00 this morning. So were two other people in his division.

[LuvToRead]

There is no "Other" :)

 

I voted 12+ because that is what he is currently working.

 

In the winter, he only works 8-10 hours per day.

[Chris in VA]

Dh sets his own hours. He gets one full day off a week (Mondays).

As a priest, he has to be available every day except then.

 

He usually goes in about 9, may come home for lunch for an hour or so, and heads back in until about 5:30. He works every other Weds to do the service. He works Saturdays from 8am until at least noon, and often does weddings, funerals, hospital visits, etc--these can happen any day of the week.

[Mom in High Heels]

I voted 10-12, but Mr. HH is military so his schedule is...never set in stone. When he's in the field or deployed he works 16-18 hour days, 7 days a week. When he's away at schools he works 8 hours and when he's home, he works about 8-10, sometimes as many as 14.

The last time he was deployed we figured out that he made a whopping $4.88 an hour. Nice, huh?

[Daisy]

My husband's official hours are 7:30-3:45 but he usually works 7-4 and then has grading/planning to do in the evenings, but he is at home for that.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Nine to ten hours is typical, it is never less than that. And lately it's been more than that. :( Today he'll be working 11 hours, but that's because he has a late frisbee game and it wasn't worth it for him to come home. Eleven hours or more is not that uncommon though and it has been up to 16 hours right before a deadline. DH is a salaried employee so no overtime. He's a software developer for an electronic medical records company.

Edited July 1, 2010 by Lisa in the UP of MI

[JoyfulMama]

DH is scheduled for four 11 hr shifts a week. However he often works a 5th day, and often his days are a bit longer than the 11 hrs. Anything beyond 45 hrs is paid at straight time over his salary. He also gets a small shift differential. DH is a supervisor (non-union) in a unionized manufacturing facility.

[Mejane]

My dh is in his office from about 8 to 6, but often takes phone calls in the evening. He also goes away one to two nights each week. I think if I averaged it out, he'd be working 14-16 hours/day. He makes a good salary, but we've never figured out his average hourly wage because we're afraid we'd find it's around a buck fifty. :glare:

[MomtoCandJ]

Dh works from 7 until usually 5:30 Monday- Thursday, he usually gets out at 3:30 on Fridays, any hours over 40 is overtime pay.

[Mrs Mungo]

Would you say this is normal for your husband's command? Or does his seniority dictate a longer day? Do his subordinates have less hours?

 

 

I would say that 10-12 hours has been normal throughout his career, in nearly every command. He has been in commands in which working 15 hours was the norm. He's only had *one* command in which they worked 8-10 hours. In his current command, soldiers work fewer hours than officers, but that's not always true.

[Renee in NC]

Dh works 8 hours, 5 days a week during slow season. He picks up OT whenever he can, so he works an extra 10-16 hours a week when it is available (special events.)

 

During speed weeks (and right now) he works 7 days a week, 12+ hours per day.

[Gooblink]

We're self-employed, so a 12 hour day would feel like a mini-vaca for dh. I do the bookkeeping and some office work, so I only work 3-4 hours a few days a week and don't draw a paycheck.

 

We'd love to hire more people who believe in 8 hours' work for 8 hours' pay...and not just 8 hours "at the office." :)

[TravelingChris]

Dh works a lot. He is in the military and yes, his hours are even longer now. I said 10-12 because over a week, it may be just 12 times 5 but I really wouldn't be surprised if it actually is over 12. He travels so much and when he does, he is often working from 7am to 10 pm or later. He also works holidays and weekend days sometimes. Like he will be travelling on Jul. 5th which is a federal holiday. He is salaried so no overtime. This is why I don't like FAFSA. The FAFSA thinks we are rich but what we really are is a family who doesn't have a dad home a lot.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

DH's 'days' are 12 hours long and he can be called back to work after 8 hours rest. There are days where he works 12, off 8, works 12, off 8, and so on; so within a 24 hour period he could work 16+ hours. It's gets rough because he's only sleeping about 5.5 hours between 'days'. He gets a 90 minute call to let him know when he needs to be at work.

 

ETA: DH doesn't have a commute; we are about 10 mins from the 'office'. But when he does go to work he is gone for 24-32 hours, sometimes longer. He works the 12 hour shift, rests where he is, and works the 12 hour shift home.

Edited July 1, 2010 by The Dragon Academy

[EJCMom]

My DH is an over-the-road truck driver. He is allowed to work 14 hours a day, but only up to 11 actually driving. He's gone for anywhere from 5 days to 2 or more weeks, and then he is home for 2-3 days.

[Kathleen in VA]

It varies here too. Dh is a letter carrier so it depends on the mail volume. He works anywhere from 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week. He gets paid OT for anything over 8 hours.

 

He also works at night (has for the 24 years we've been married) cleaning doctor's offices. Some nights he cleans 2 offices, some 3. On the 2-office nights he works between 1-2 hours more; on the 3-office nights he works another hour on top of that. If he gets off at the po by 4pm, he has to hang out near the doctor's offices for at least an hour so they can clear out. (We live about 45 minutes away so it is not worth the time or gas to come home in between.) He usually cannot get into the offices until about 6pm. When that happens he works out at a nearby gym, does some shopping for me, calls his mom and chats with her for awhile, etc. He leaves here at 7am and usually walks in the door between 9 and 10pm.

[Deb in NZ]

dh has always worked 10-12 hrs/day. Most of our marriage this was 6-7 days a week. 5 years ago he changed jobs so that he only needed to work 5 days most weeks. He's on salary now, so no overtime pay for us. But even when he was not on salary overtime was only paid if he worked over 50 hours a week. Dh has worked as a construction foreman / supervisor & now is a maintainance supervisor for a housing company.

[Bee]

But it's 8 &1/2 to 12 &1/2 hours/day. 40 hour weeks and OT for anything over 80 hours. Because it's summer I am scheduled to work all sorts of odd days. 3-5 days in a row, 1 day off, another day on, 1 off, three on, two off. The schedule is made out only a few weeks in advance so it's hard to plan anything. Sometimes I think my supervisor is scheduling me this way so I will get sick of it and quit. Other people have.

[Crissy]

I said 10-12, but during certain times of the year (football season, especially) that increases quite a bit.

 

We are self employed, and the work we do behind the scenes for any given job is substantial.

 

My husband starts around 7am. I start a couple hours later and fit my work in between schooling, outside lessons, meal prep, etc. We take breaks for dinner, sports and family activities, then usually work side-by-side until bedtime (11:00 or so).

[FaithManor]

Dh works an average of 12 hours per day but he usually also puts in 3 hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday nights and that's when things are going well. On weekends when he has a software release, he will work eight hours on Saturday and four hours on Sunday evening. He occasionally has middle of the night/wee hours of the morning calls.

 

He works for a rather large national software consulting firm that thinks Americans are indentured servants. They constantly fire programmers and then heap that work on those that already have more work than they know what to do with. He's taken paycuts for the past two years and loss of vacation time. He never takes a sick day, not because he is never sick, but because they'd throw a fit if he wasn't available. He is salaried.

 

He is looking for a new job and has applied at a place that has a great job opening right up his alley and a good reputation for treating their employees decently. We are praying he gets an interview.

 

That said, he is glad that he has a job with benefits!

 

Faith

Edited July 1, 2010 by FaithManor

[peachskittles]

My SO works 8-10 hour days usually. Anything after 8 each day is overtime. If he works Saturdays, it is time and a half. If he ever works Sundays, which has never happened, or a Saturday rolls over into a Sunday which has happened a couple times, it's double time. I don't think he has ever worked much over 10 hours, but he has gotten less than 8 before. He has a guaranteed 36 hour work week so it doesn't bother him to come home early in those instances.

[gpsings]

12-14 isn't unusual for us either, but it all depends. I put 8-10 because it's usually 10.

[Rosie_0801]

Hubby only works nine hours now, but with the commute he's out of the house 12-13 hours a day. Still, it's better than when he was teaching locally, now the work doesn't follow him home.

 

Rosie

[Dawn in OH]

Right now my husband is working a minimum of 8.5 hours a day (actual working hours), 5 days a week.

 

Over the winter and the previous summer the average work day was 12 hours or more, scheduled for a 4 day week but was usually 5 and sometimes 6 days a week.

 

Everything over 40 hours was paid as overtime. The additional hours were not optional.

[Melissa in Australia]

I didn't vote at all, My husband is on a disability pension form a workplace accident. he cannot go out to work, but he works endlessly at home to provide food for us. he has a garden that is as big as a tennis court, and spends at lease 3 hours a day just in there, he also grows all our meat, and does all the car maintenance, builds the house, etc. etc. etc. He physically provides the food for us all day long.

[LauraGB]

We work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, holidays included. And that's just with our "real" job. We care for disabled individuals who live here. Granted, the sleeping hours are "as needed", but the responsibility is still there. And then, somewhere in there, dh spends about 6-8 hours each day at a metal shop making his reels for our "other job". And then, of course, there is the time spent designing and accounting and talking to customers for the "other job". Because there are two of us, we can tag-team for most things.

 

Yeah. Punching in and out sounds kind of nice, but it is literally impossible for us.

[Carrie12345]

Dh is salaried. Sometimes he has a 4 hour day, but some projects can mean 20-hour days... or anything in between. I voted 8-10. That doesn't usually include driving.

[HRAAB]

Dh worked between 8 and 10 hrs. a day when he was employed. Salaried - no overtime.

[Hyzenthlay in Pa.]

DH works 10-12 hours 5 days a week, no OT. He also does night meetings, it's gone from average 1 or 2 to as many as 4 meetings in a week. Can also be called out nights weekends for an emergency like a flood or sewer plant break down. He is an engineer.

[Kari C in SC]

My dh works 7-5:30 Tuesday thru Friday so 10 working hours. He has a half hour for lunch. He is a mechanic for the state of SC. Before he took this job, he worked 10-11 hours a day M-F. He took a 12K pay cut for the better hours and benefits. Some days the money would be nice, but overall we are both happy with the shortened hours.