American employees waist 20% of their work day
American employees waist 20% of their work day
(OP)
according to the last survey reported by the website Salary.com
http:/ /salary.co m/aboutus/ layoutscri pts/abtl_d efault.asp ?tab=abt&a mp;cat=cat 012&se r=ser041&a mp;part=Pa r674&i sdefault=0
Maybe you're one of them :)
http:/
Maybe you're one of them :)
Cyril Guichard
Railroad Sub-System Manager
Belgium





RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
We use a utilization factor (productive hours)/(hours at work) primarily for the direct hourly people. Meetings, breaks, paperwork etc. all go into the denominator
Salaried is a lot muddier. The philosophy where I work is to do what it takes to get the job done by such and such a time.
Here is another stat site. Again, the underlying information as to ranking criteria is obscure.
htt
Regards,
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
Cyril Guichard
Railroad Sub-System Manager
Belgium
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
Personally I don't think taking a break from work to either write to an engineering forum or answer emails or chat or whatever is wasted time. I think it was recognised many decades ago that the best productivity is obtained by giving people rest breaks, whatever that form takes. I know, for instance, that if I'm doing a crossword and concentrating on it continually then I'll get nowhere. If I take a break then the answer comes (well sometimes anyway).
corus
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
That is the difference, in France there is a legal work time, in the US for engineers who are normally considered exempt from overtime laws, there are no legal requirments around work time.
I have worked 48 hours straight in the past, although with an improved safety attitude more companies are limiting work to 16 hours with an eight hour break before returning.
I did a plant maintenance outage in France a few years ago. We did all the work in a 36 hour work week, and on one shift. The same outage in the US would be done on two 12 hour shifts with an hour turnover on each side, so that everyone would be working 14 hour days, for about 30 to 40 days straight with no time off...
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RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
Well if you include that above as time wasted then some days I'm lucky to waste less than 50%.
I'm trying to get better, not get caught up in stuff etc, not reply to some messages if I think they'll go away/blow over.
However assuming you include the above as time wasted then if I hit 20% I'd be doing really well.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
I thought this was going to be another topic about over-weight north americans.
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RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
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RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
I think it was a misprint, I think he meant:
"American employees wait 20% of their work day"
What are they waiting for? Maybe for the pizza to be delivered?
csd
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
You're both wrong on the misprint. What he meant was:
"American employees awake 20% of their work day"
After all, we spend most of our work time in meetings or creating reports nobody will read.
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
Yeah, there is a legal work time in France (in Belgium as well) but engineers are parts of those people that do not count hours. You contract is about 38/40 hours per week but it is absolutly not rare to spend 42/45 hours in office... and overtime hours are for free, of course...
My bad, I mistook between waist and waste. I apologie for this
Cyril Guichard
Railroad Sub-System Manager
Belgium
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
There is kind of an unspoken belief around places that if we are busy, we should consider coming in on the weekend also. I think that is unacceptable.
I'd rather bust my ass during the week, work a few very long days (because after about 10 hours at work, what's a few more, since I have already limited what I can do afterwork anyways), then have the entire weekend off to do the things that I don't have time to do during the week after work.
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
The survey is probably misleading, because the people filling out the survey probably did it while at work or have free time to fill waste filling out a stupid survey, and the people that didn’t respond were the people that actually work.
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
(And here's me posting on eng-tips on a Saturday when I could be at work, not being paid!)
- Steve
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
Why would you go to work on Saturday if you wouldn't get paid?
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
Burning idea, Friday night. Crappy weather forecasted, no social plans for the weekend. No mandate to try out those ideas that are burning in your mind. This is often where whole new innovations come from.
Then I got married.
Now, several years later I'm seperated and the weekend is near...
- Steve
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
I've been there, until I got a life. I'm keeping my life, and the weekends are mine to do nothing with.
Yes I do waste time at work, but it makes up for the unpaid over time that is required at other times. The storm jobs, the we have to fix it tonight things.
And then there is the paperwork waste of times that my employer requires, and they payme for.
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
h
Now there is a problem to overcome.
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
Now in Europe, you'd be lucky to find the cleaners working on a Friday afternoon.
That's 1/2 one day in a 5 day week.
Now let me see that works out to be 10% of the week. So there is 10% back.
I'm sure we'll find the other 10% somewhere, oh yeah, how about the number of days paid holiday in the year?
Europe? 4-5 weeks plus ban holidays.
America?
I'm sure we'll find this 20% is balanced out pretty well.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
The Friday afternoon thing isn't laziness. Some companies have a policy of long days Mon-Thu and then a half day on Friday. I've worked one place where they had a 39 hour week: 4x8+1x7 - home early on a Friday.
- Steve
RE: American employees waist 20% of their work day
At my new job I have my own office so I am in there all the time and I work away. I am way more professional because I am treated like a professional. If I hit a slow period I browse the forum and try to give helpful hints or read up on what can help me. Everything for me is about work, when I am at work.
Thank You
JSF SWISS