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What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
17

What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

(OP)
I was just reading the "How many hours per week do you work?" thread and would like to ask all of you what percentage of those hours you spend at work are you actually *working* at your job, meaning that you're not chatting with your coworkers, or pretending to work when you're not, or posting to online message boards .

Personally, I'm probably only working productively for around two hours of each eight-hour shift, which works out to 25%. How about you?

Thanks,

-Christine

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I’d say you’re a bit of a slacker Christine74. I myself maybe between 60 to 80 %, but I tell the boss I give a 100% each day

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

110%

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Christine74
I am going to give you a star for your brutal honesty! Make sure your boss does not know your ET identity.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I like your gusto vooter, but by definition the most you can give is 100%. If by definition you could give more than 100%, then I'd be giving 150 billion trillion % .

If contributions to Eng-tips counts as working, then I'd say 100%, otherwise a fair bit lower.


------------
See FAQ569-1083 for details on how to make best use of Eng-Tips.com

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

The absolute number is not necessarily relevant.  The question is whether you are more, or less, productive that the population in your job.

TTFN



RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

IRstuff, that goes along with the saying "20% of the people do 80% of the work."

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

the absolute number is relevant when you are a consultant and need to be accountable for every hour of your time.  that said, I'm billable ~90% of the day

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I am that 20%...

----------------------------------

If we learn from our mistakes,
I'm getting a great education!

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Being billable does not equate to productive. Look at lawyers or consultant engineers.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

For me it generally depends upon how much work backlog the company has. I am averaging about 70% in a year. Is there a specific reason why you ask? If your employer is satisfied with your overall performance, that's all that counts.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

No one can put in 100% once you subtract getting a cup of coffee, checking the weather and news, talking about the football game, and maybe a personal phone call. I suppose some people will take the cell phone and laptop along while sitting on the can. So I would bet for a conscientious, efficient person, maybe 6-7 hours out of 8, or 6-7 hours out of 10 or maybe 6-7 hours out of 12.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I see myself in the same area as P11100, I'm "actually" working about 80-85% of the time.  Although, some of the chit-chat that goes on can be a little productive.

There are days were I am 100% but most days it is around 80-85% and can drop down to 70% if the day's work load is light.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

It depends on what you call "working". If I am physically present in my place of business, and am willing and able to perform productive work, I believe that I can actually count 100% of my time spent there as "working" hours. My success in furthering the goals of my assigned projects(also known as productivity) is often hampered by the reluctance of others upon whom I depend to complete their part of the assignment. So in my opinion I may be working, but at the same time be less productive than I would prefer.    

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

90% working
10% Eng-Tips and learning

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

2
one of my jobs was a project engineer / manufacturing engineer.  Boss slammed me for never hitting my project completion date estimates.  So for three weeks I recorded everything I did, times, frequencies, etc.  Very anal-retentive engineer behavior.  The results were that due to formal/informal meetings, potty breaks, coffee breaks, vendor discussions, co-worker discussions about work, co-worker BS sessions, etc., I could only reasonably expect 40% of each work day for productive work time.  I used a copy a MSProject to plan my schedules.  I would assign the number of hours to each task AS IF I was working at 100% efficiency, no interruptions or distractions.  Then I would divide that quantity by 40% to get the correct number of hours required to do the task at the efficiency.

I started hitting all my schedules.  I discussed my method with my boss, and he realized that there were wa-a-a-a-ayy too many meetings and other non-value-added activities.  So he started managing better and my efficiency went up.

When I started freelancing, the efficiency went up to 85%-90% or more, depending upon how much coffee and phone calls I had to answer.

TygerDawg

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

4

Herein lies the difference between those who haven't been there, but think there's a punchline to be found in there somewhere (and many do laugh), and those who have been there but might still be able to laugh, despite hearing it way too often:

bioengr82: the absolute number is relevant when you are a consultant and need to be accountable for every hour of your time

metengr: Being billable does not equate to productive.  Look at lawyers or consultant engineers

It's my experience that consultants are more productive than their client counterparts.  This is largely due to the fact that consultants can (must, really) focus on "value-added" work, instead of meetings, meetings, phone calls, meetings, delegating tasks to subordinates, meetings, starting to work but being interrupted by the phone, more meetings, and a few more phone calls.  Back when I was a consultant, I averaged about 115% billable (because 100% was defined as 40hrs/wk of billable time, which is what the overhead rates were based upon) and about 10hrs of overhead on top of that to manage various projects.  I don't think I ever exceeded 225% billable in any week, but (excluding vacations, holidays, and sick days, all of which your department is penalized for) I rarely was less than 80% billable.  Billable work at my organization was time during which you could look the client in the eye (if asked) and explain to him exactly how the work you were doing at that instant added value to his project.  For a time and materials project, being billable was what determined how much the company earned (or how quickly you could move on to the next job).  For a fixed-cost job, being billable determined, well, pretty much the same things.  The company would REALLY make money if they could send you out to a client site for a few weeks, squat a contractor at your desk to leave crumbs in your files, and send you work from another client to do from the hotel in the evenings (since you weren't doing anything else anyway).

At another job, I'd spend a good 60% or more of my time in meetings, and a large portion of the rest of my time answering questions posed by coworkers who either walked up or phoned.  Before 7am I could be "productive," then it'd be 5pm or 6pm before I could get anything productive going again.  One thing that helped to keep me sane was that I'd had a number of people helping me who were (somewhat) insulated from all the meetings and questions, and who could "keep the trains running on time" and get me the correct answers at a moments notice (well, more like 30mins notice).

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I am at low 15%. Heck, I don't even pretend to work and browse eng-tips in office! But I am careful in clearing whatever work there is and am available on my seat to answer all those calls from shops. That's all of those 100% my employer expects from me.

Ciao.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

The definition of working does not necessarily mean the time putting pen to paper or doing manual work. A director once told us that a lot of business was done on the golf course on a Friday afternoon. While we sniggered at that he claimed it was productive time. Equally I regard chatting about football/politics/sex/golf (in no particular order) as productive time. Call it team bonding if you like. I've worked in places where people came in sat down and pretended to work all day. They made mistakes in their work, were generally depressed, and the company had a high turn over of staff. I was glad to get out too.
To answer the question, I work 100%, in one way or another.

corus

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I often visit client sites as part of my (consulting) job.  What always amazes me is that you can always find departments where one person is carrying the others.  It seems that the bigger the company is, the higher the doss:work ratio gets.  Values of 4-5 are common.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I agree with corus & maui.
Also, sometimes I mentally need more breaks to get my work accomplished.  And then there are times when I am so in the groove with a task that I skip lunch or stay late to finish the task even if there is not a deadline to meet.  I never miss a deadline due to dead time, but when my work load is slow I take the time to enjoy my work day and get to know those I work with a little better.  Heck, even my boss's boss will stop by my desk and ask a question and then shoot the breeze for 30minutes.

My time on Eng-Tips counts as research and learning time!  I do learn a lot on this forum.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

While taking a cost estimation class about a year ago, the subject of productivity/efficiency was brought up in the context of accounting for it when drawing up project plans.  The average productivity for American workers was somewhere near 40%.  I don't remember the exact percentage, but it was in the high 30's.

Many people taking the course found it very difficult to accept this figure, I think mainly because they didn't want to admit that their efficiency was that low!

Personally, I have found my efficiency to be somewhat higher than this, maybe about 60-70%.  With looming deadlines, my efficiency approaches maybe 80-90%.  After deadlines pass, I probably fall into the 40% average for a little while.

As an aside, I have difficulty believing that anyone can possibly be more than 90% efficient for an extended period of time.  100% efficiency is strictly impossible.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

As an ex-smoker, I am always entertained by people who complain about the extra breaks smokers take - they are assuming that their own productivity is higher simply because they are sat at their desk for longer. Its even funnier when the bitching starts (and work stops) the minute the smoker steps outside and continues way beyond the time when the smoker is back at his/her desk beavering away again. Even though I've quit smoking, I still take a 5 minute break outside every now and again when I've been staring at a problem for too long and need to clear my head - it makes the next hour much more productive than staying at my desk.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

metengr:  yes (by definition and law I think), a billable hour IS being productive and contributing to a project in a meaningful way.  

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

bioengr82;
My original comment was meant to be sarcastic humor because of the role consultants have played in my previous job assignments. Let me be clear on this, the consultants I have been exposed to are basically large A/E firms, and organizational development (HR) firms. Oh yes, these consultants can stay very focused at the billable rates they charge. Some of the consultants we have dealt with have self-serving interests, as well.

It is amazing how people or companies view productivity or feel the need to justify how efficient their employees are on a daily basis.

For me, the bottom line is this, if I can go home at the end of each day knowing that I have completed what I intended to do from the start, learned something along the way and handled emergent work, I was productive. I don’t worry about percentages.  

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I have yet to charge for thinking about work on the way home, while at home, etc. I also haven't charged for reading trade magazines on the way home - keeps the pencil sharp and all...

I did start to charge people for asking me "stupid" computer questions at work. I charged twenty-five cents a piece. I figure I was under-charging, but people got the message and are "afraid" to ask me the same question over and over again. The time taken away from my own work by these dolts (including the tranfer of frustration from them to me, since I now take on their problem) is worth a heck of a lot more than a quarter.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

The basic question to ask is not a function of time, rather a simple "value-added" question of economics:

1.  Am I justifying my salary from the company?

I think most engineering types compensate the company far more than they are paid.

With that said, I maximize my contribution toward the company with 100% effort.  The line is crossed, however from obligation to overachieving.  It is very important that overachieving is rewarded accordingly, and when it is not, morale suffers as a result.  Then you are faced with employees that may only put forth a 15% effort, because that is what they feel they are being fairly compensated for.  I believe that a feeling of relevance to the goals of the company affects this as well; if an employee feels that regardless of their personal effort the outcome will be the same, then a lower morale is the resultant, and personal productivity drops accordingly.  

The challenge is to see that a 100% effort in the eyes of the company is in line with what a 100% effort represents to the employee.  Only then will questions like: "What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?" be a good metric to gauge personal productivity.

I am a firm believer that overachieving leads to a happier life.

My time on the forums is worth being compensated for, and personal development and education should be encouraged by respective organizations, as long as immediate job responsibilities are being attended to.



RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I just finished this reading an artical on this top and then come here to find this thread.  A survey conducted by AOL and Salary.com found that on average people waste about two hours at work (not including lunch).  Here's a link to the article:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P123102.asp?GT1=6706

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I used to be a mechanic on a racing car. Sometimes when the car wasn't running fast enough, we would adjust it by changing the rear axle gear ratio. This would tend to make the car a little faster, at the risk of blowing the engine. Sometimes it didn't have enough effect so we would make a second axle ratio adjustment that theoretically should help more. We then got wheelspin and the car ran slower than it did without any adjustments. The same analogy can be applied to working.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

How about the hours spent driving to job sites!  It's productive because I am doing something to get where I need to be to perform a certain task, but it feels so unproductive: you drive through traffic for an hour, spend an hour handling whatever emergency, and then another hour driving back.  

For me, work comes in waves, so on the slow days I have to make up work for myself.  Over time, I have discovered organizational tasks to fill up down-time; they make the busy days go smoother.

DaveVikingPE mentioned charging people for "stupid" computer questions.  I think that's funny because I have the same problem.  I actually tease my IT department that I am going to start billing them for my time spent helping others with their computers and programs.



RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Travel time ought to be considered productive if it is done during working hours and not part of the normal commute from home to work. Just like the washer repairman charges you for the time to get to your house.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I think it was Eli Goldratt (author of "The Goal") who said that if your people are working 100% of the time it means that there is work that is not getting done. His logic is that it is impossible to perfectly balance work and resources, so if the resources are 100% utilized it means there is too much work, and some is not being attended to.

Probably around 80% is a good number to get value out of the workers without overtaxing them.  However I believe that the claimed 40% is closer to the truth.

Myself? If meetings count as productive time then around 70%. If not, then I am part of the average on 40%.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Of course, there is always some work which is not meant to be attended to - it will just go away on its own if ignored long enough...  If there are too many of these tasks showing up, sometimes it's worth taking a hike "upstream" to find out where they're being generated, and see if they can be shut off at the source - otherwise it seems to me that a big part of effective time management is identifying as many of these "wasted" tasks as possible, and making sure that they fall out of the inbox and into the wastebasket as often as practical.  


RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

ivymike:

Are you having problems with your T.P.S. reports?  Did you get the memo?

:)

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

My previous boss had this grand motto:

"A problem postponed is a problem half solved."

Then again, his other favourite problem-solving tactic  was similar:

"It'll turn out alright.  It always does."

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

All we need to do is change the baseline. If a typical person does useful work only 6 hours a day, then that becomes 100%. Sometimes he might have a good day and do more than that, and that is how we can make claims of putting in 110%. He He

"The best thing about being a pessimist is that things will always turn out better than you think"

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

bioengr82,

thanks for making me laugh.  T.P.S. report should always have a cover.  Read the memo.  :)

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Just hang on to that stapler...

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Ummm, Yeah, ... I've got a copy of the memo if you need another one; I'll email it to you!!

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Quote (Milton Waddams):

(talking on the phone) And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were merry, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/quotes

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

How appropriate for this thread!  If I remember correctly, the main character is even talking about his inefficiency during his interview.  I can't quote directly, but it sounded somewhat comparable to some of the previous postings! :)

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

A star for everyone who appreciates the subtlety of office space humor.

"In a given week, I'd say I only do 15 minutes of actual work."

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Quote (OfficeSpace):

Bob Porter: Looks like you've been missing a lot of work lately.
Peter Gibbons: Well, I wouldn't exactly say I've been *missing* it, Bob.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Why am I still at work? It's 4 am!!!

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

How about efficiency? I can design a steel beam in (say) one hour. Another engineer may take two hours for the same beam. There is a good reason for this - I've been doing it a long time. I'd also like to think that my beam design has a greater chance of being right!

Now if I could find a job just designing beams then I'd be worth at least twice as much as the other guy and the company would still have the benefit of me probably being right more often.

Of course it doesn't work like that. I spend most of my time doing other things and looking at "bigger picture" work. Much of this work is not directly applicable to the jobs I book my time to, but assists the whole department. I also get to check the other guy's work and try to help him improve his efficiency.

Of course while I'm not actually paid twice as much as the other guy, at least I don't have to design nothing but beams.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

The biggest frustration for a senior manager is that he just can't make those d*mn human beings act like efficient machines.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

None of you seem to be considering the not insignificant amount of time we spend thinking about work, outside of work.

I'd say that on an interesting project this could easily be 2 hours per day, and is very high value time, since there are no distractions.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Typical weekend conversation:

Mrs A:  "What are you thinking Steve, you look far away?"
Me: "Oh, nothing much."

When in reality I'm wondering how to cope with multiple-entry junctions in my linearisation scheme.  Do I have an n-squared connectivity problem or is there an easier way.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

That leads to the following embarrassing question:

How many of you do occasionally implement a good idea/advice that you got from your wife or husband?

(Note that this assumes that your wife/husband listens to you when you talk about work).

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I think my husband half listens to me when I talk about work, which I really don't mind.  I can go on an on, and he really does not understand what the heck I'm talking about to begin with most of the time.  But, if I've got something really on my mind just saying it aloud can bring about a solution.

I love the Office Space references.  UsfSE, you're hilarious!  I can't believe you remember all of the lines.  I'm a honary Office Space fan.  I went to a sneak preview opening of it and got a free Office Space t-shirt.    It was way too big for me, but my husband loves it and still wears it a lot.  I think he'll wear that thing until it falls off of him!

SomptingGuy - I get that question a lot from my spouse.  Sometimes it's just not worth going into the details, but he can tell that I'm distracted.

Worst thing is when you are working in your sleep though!  That's a habit that is hard to break.  And I end up feeling like I just was at work when I wake up.  ARGHH!!

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

If thinking about work counts, how about complaining? If so, my wife must put in about  16 hours a day including weekends.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I suppose when someone is complaining, they are obviously unhappy.  According to Dilbert's boss, if you are unhappy it is considered work.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

By definition, 100% -- now that I am a lone-ranger consultant. I don't bill for any time that I'm not actually doing something for the client. And, yes, I really mean it. Besides being honest, the people I work for could probably smell "milking" a project a mile away and I'd lose the client. I usually charge slightly less than I actually work because I don't feel right charging for things like software learning curves and experimentation that's as much for my good as theirs. I figure that's overhead.

Back when I worked for somebody else, I became pretty sure that nobody I knew worked more than about 5-6 REAL hours per day out of 8 supposed hours. People are usually terrible at estimating the time wasted on personal calls, e-mails, internet, getting coffee, smoking, greetings in the corridor, etc. We had many people that I was pretty sure worked 1-2 hours/day total and got paid for 8.

My business is good and when I finish school, I expect to have to get help -- man I dread that because I know I'll have to do a better job at actually getting work out of people than what I've seen everywhere I've worked in the past. I've thought about only hiring consultants but haven't thought it through completely.

DBD

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Brian Tracy said work all the time you are at work.

But I have the same problem to. It varies. Somedays it is full on with no stops.

One thing I tried for a while is taking a stop watch and starting it whenever I was engrossed in work and stopping it when I took a break.

The results were interesting but it wasn't a habit I wanted to keep up.

The thing is.. It will keep you working more that's for sure!

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

DaveVikingPE:

I have not looked at this thread for a while but I spotted your post about charging 25 cents for repeat questions.  I wish I could have seen the look on the faces of those whom you dunned for the quarter when they realized exactly what you were telling them!

Bet you enjoyed seeing that look yourself...

debodine

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

We are on *mandatory overtime* right now (which doesn't mean much to a salaried worker like me - except maybe loosing money) so I find myself working the same amount as I would if only putting in 8 hours... it's just spread out more. I take 2 times as many breaks and spend twice as long on them...

Wes C.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I have been told that if you are a very contentious worker, about 50% of your day is actually doing the work. There is preparation for doing the work, sorting and filing at the end of the day, planning the work for the day, geting required data or information from other people, phone call interruptions, safety meetings, project review meetings, totally useless meetings, bonding, nature calls, and many other things that are necessary because we are just human.

Now if you start from that point and work you way down depending on how long you can keep you mind focused on only the task at hand.  The actual “work” is dramatically reduced, especially if you have an active mind and any imagination at all.

However for engineers and others that use their brains it’s almost impossible to just leave your work behind when you walk out the office door.

Every one is different. I met a man once that got drunk every day at noon( at least a six pack) every one knew it. I was told that the reason that he was still on the job was because he did twice as much work as anyone else did in a whole day. After careful observation, I think he did more than that. I found that he actually came in about two hours early in the morning to avoid the traffic and in those two hours he was amazingly organized and productive..

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

I'm one of those consultants with a critical focus on my billable hours being useful to my client.  That said, I've developed two thoughts over the past years on various clients sites.  (I'm usually assigned to a client on a long-term basis basically as a staff augmentation PM..)

1. Part of what they pay me for is to sit at my desk and solve whatever problem they throw at me.  That means if I'm not currently engaged in an active project and you still want me around to throw things at, you get to pay my hourly rate.  This applies regardless of whatever I'm doing at said desk... surfing ET, reading articles, etc.  I limit my activities to "work" related so it's not like I'm totally goofing off.

2. I used to have a money clock that I would take to meetings sometimes to make a point.  Basically the clock has average salary rates for various levels of people in whatever company I'm at (senior manager, VP, tech, whatever).  I punch in how many of what type person is in the room when the meeting starts and hit the 'go' button.  The clock then proceeds to count upwards with how much money we're burning sitting in the meeting.  This is always an interesting experience with business folks that have never had to justify time like a consultant.  And normally it results in a much shorter meeting. thumbsup2

Overall I've been about 80% billable based on rule one above - the other 20% is drive time since I don't bill for that (orporate policy).  Inside those 32 hours billed per week, I'm probably actually working between 20-25 so I guess I'm higher than the nation's 40% average.  This has nothing to say about what I get done in an hour compared to other consultants either.  Man... some of them seem like they majored in look-busy-but-don't-do-anything-useful engineering.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

105%

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Quote (Tygerdawg):

So for three weeks I recorded everything I did, times, frequencies, etc ... The results were that due to formal/informal meetings, potty breaks, coffee breaks, vendor discussions, co-worker discussions about work, co-worker BS sessions, etc., I could only reasonably expect 40% of each work day for productive work time ... I discussed my method with my boss, and he realized that there were wa-a-a-a-ayy too many meetings and other non-value-added activities.

My company has just employed a consultant to do that for us!!!  It is costing a lot of money.  The idea is to make all us engineers more efficient by removing all the non-value-added activities.  

The reason for we are doing it is that the market I work in has a limited number of Engineers, working at a handful of competitors.  The company has realised it cant get any more cheap engineers, so is going to make the ones it has work harder.

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

An 8 hour day has 480 minutes in it.

Say 2 formal coffee breaks at 20 minutes each.

Allow 15 minutes in the morning and after lunch to take off your jacket, engage in the normal interpersonal pleasantries with your co workers etc.

Allow another 10 minutes before lunch and at quitting time to allow for making lunch arrangements, tidying up and other tasks associated with leaving the building

Add in two washroom breaks at 10 minutes each and we get at least 40+30+20+20=110 lost productivity minutes or 23% of the available time.

Then you subtract time for dumb phone calls, useless meetings, office chit chat etc and you are lucky to be 60 to 70% productive in the course of a day.

Of course you can work longer or take coffee at your desk but the end result will be not much different.

Time spent at engineering work is not the best metric, output is the best one but very hard to quantify.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Psionsaint,

Where can I get one of those money clocks?  I tried google, but didn't have much luck

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

cadnutcase -

I had it built for me by one of my electrical engineering buddies.  I had several offers to buy it before it ended up not surviving one of my moves.  Maybe I'll get him to built a few more and put the extras up on eBay!

RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?

Should not be too hard to write a short program to do this, even an Excel spreadsheet should work.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com

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