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
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?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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?
If contributions to Eng-tips counts as working, then I'd say 100%, otherwise a fair bit lower.
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RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
TTFN
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
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RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually 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?
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?
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?
Ciao.
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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?
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?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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 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?
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?
http://mo
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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?
"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?
"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?
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?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/quotes
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
"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?
"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?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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?
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?
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 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.
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?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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?
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?
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?
Wes C.
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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?
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.
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?
RE: What percentage of your time at work are you actually working?
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?
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?
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?
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?
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com