# What's the percentage of the time you spent really working? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276 "2011-03-28T16:33:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/21 "2011-03-29T19:05:37Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#): > > I’d say I work 75% of a 40 hour week, yet I still manage to produce twice as much as my colleagues. God only knows what they do all day. There’s only so much internet you can read, isn’t there? 8 - 8:30 - Get coffee, stand around and chat with others getting coffee. 8:30 - 9 - Read emails. Read sports highlights. Read entertainment highlights. 9 - 10 - Do some work. 10 - 10:30 - Coffee! Get coffee, stand around and chat with others getting coffee. 10:30 - 11:30 - Do some work. 11:30 - 12:00 - Start arranging lunch. 12:00 - 1:00 - Lunch! 1 - 1-30 - Get coffee, stand around and chat with others getting coffee. Complain about co-workers, how you’re overworked. 1:30 - 2:00 - Do some work. 2:00 - 2:30 - Coffee! Get coffee, stand around and chat with others getting coffee. 2:30 - 3:00 - Afternoon slump - read emails. Read sports highlights. Read entertainment highlights. 3:00 - 4:00 - Do some work 4:00 - 4:30 - Start making plans for after work. Take some calls about/from your kids. 4:30 - OTFD. This is just your basic plan - the Deluxe Versions come with smoke breaks added in every hour on the hour, and /or taking/making personal phone calls/texts. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/22 "2011-03-29T20:38:37Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’ve had problems with this as a temp in the past - in that I work TOO much, too efficiently. I recall one assignment where I filled in for a real poodle-pounder - nothing like showing the bosses that the job that was taking her 40 hours a week took me 20, and I was still looking for more stuff to do. 😃 I’ve more than once had a supervisor tell me to pace myself; there wasn’t anything more for me to do, and he didn’t have time to get some more stuff ready right away. This has been pretty much my experience of Corporate America Cubeland, temp or not. It’s the most ineffective system of “productivity” ever. I’ve had temp contracts where the client wanted to extend for another month, even though I was doing – literally – nothing. I’ve had full-time jobs who repeated “That sounds interesting, we’ll think about it” when I proposed large projects for myself to do (which would have made our list management a lot cleaner and more effective) – and after six months of asking, I twigged to the fact that they just didn’t care (about the list management OR about the fact that I was way under-utilized) and just stopped bothering. That one also gave away work that fell under my job description to co-workers who were unfamiliar with the quirks of my job – I’d only find out about it when it was already done – so I had even _less_ to do. (And they kept trying to pass off IT-related tasks to me, and would get mad at me when I pointed out I have zero IT skills and never claimed to have them. Ugh.) So – I work when there is work. If I’m stuck in a cube job, this is rare. I much prefer consulting for this reason – that and the fact that I get a lot more respect as a consultant than I ever did as an employee. If I’m consulting, I do tend to get a lot done, unfortunately not much of it directly results in me getting paid. I’d still rather be productive than live in enforced idleness for 10 hours a day. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/23 "2011-03-29T20:42:32Z")
It varies from 0% some days to 200%+ on others. In the end I probably average over 100%. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/24 "2011-03-29T20:46:59Z")
Somewhere between 20 and 25 percent. Sorry, but it’s working for me. ---
**Author:** ![FrancisCastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b4bc9f/32.png) [@FrancisCastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrancisCastle)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/25 "2011-03-29T21:02:41Z")
Probably around 35% and I hate it. I have a hurry up and wait style work environment and I’m soooooo bored. The pay is good, that’s why I stay. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/26 "2011-03-29T21:13:38Z")
It depends on where in my career I was. As a tool carrier, I worked most all the time. As a senior manager and low level executive, my shops ran themselves pretty well, and I got bored easily. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/27 "2011-03-29T21:49:45Z")
If I worked at 100% capacity I’d run out of work too fast. I already run out of work sometimes. I’m working on something right now and my boss walked in to take a look and said that I’d be done in no time. Funny, because I wasn’t going at 100%. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/28 "2011-03-29T21:59:12Z")
It’s amazing. I thought I was bad, but I’m sure I work over 90% and have a fair number of days where it’s over 95%. I can’t imagine spending even 2 hours goofing off. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/29 "2011-03-29T22:38:47Z")
> [@Kaio](#): > > This has been pretty much my experience of Corporate America Cubeland, temp or not. It’s the most ineffective system of “productivity” ever. I’ve had temp contracts where the client wanted to extend for another month, even though I was doing – literally – nothing. I had a temp job like that once, with some division within the State of Illinois. Literally the only reason I was there was so they could justify their personnel budget. In six weeks at that assignment I did _maybe_ an hour and a half’s worth of work. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/30 "2011-03-29T22:47:20Z")
> [@kapri](#): > > I’m a college professor–okay, we don’t call them professors where I teach, but it’s a university–and I don’t always work at work, but that just means I have to take the work home and do it. I work as many hours at home, on my own time, as I do at work. This is me (community college professor). I am contracted to be on campus 30 hours a week, with 40 hours a week of work expected. Generally, though, I am on campus the 30 hours, and I probably work about 25 hours. But I work just as many hours off campus - I usually work 50-55 hours a week. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/31 "2011-03-29T23:20:15Z")
I currently work retail. It’s hard to disappear for more than a few minutes at a time. I count being on the floor, available for customers as working, even if I’m not actually doping a specific thing all the time. I’m also the odd-job guy, so there something for me to do all the time, often multiple things at once. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/32 "2011-03-30T00:14:55Z")
I work in a call center, so I am ‘working’ whenever the phone rings, or I am doing back office stuff- but as my job IS TO KNOW THINGS, and answer all sorts of inane questions that have nothing to do with what I am supposed to be answering, surfing the web could be considered work. Reading a reference book too- novel, not so much. I have been … oops, had to work… ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/33 "2011-03-30T01:04:46Z")
I’m retired now, but as a high school science teacher, not only did I stay on task during classes, but spent my lunch time with students in my room. I had an hour during the day to work on prep, and spent about minutes after school cleaning up, and an hour before school setting up and organizing. Then spent time at night and weekends on grading. Summer was for continuing ed, and vacations that would fit into a science curriculum. This is not a complaint…I loved teaching. But folks who think teachers don’t work grind my gears (I’m watching Family Guy as I type) Now as a retiree, I pretty much put in about two days a week volunteering. Nice! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/34 "2011-03-30T01:15:41Z")
I used to work office jobs, and now I work a government job (teacher), and I laugh and laugh when people talk about how government needs to run more like a private business. I frequently would put in less than 20 hours a week, not because I was lazy, but because I was efficient and there just wasn’t enough to do. Now that I’m a teacher, the Mr. Dorkness show starts at 7:45 every morning sharp (15 minutes after I show up at work–the first 15 minutes is feverishly getting last-minute stuff done). I have planning from 10:40-11:25, and I sometimes goof around during part of that time, playing a game of KenKen or reading online news, but I spend at least half that time working and generally more. I have a half-hour for lunch, of which I usually spend about 10 minutes getting ready for the afternoon, when the Mr. Dorkness show resumes. Students leave at 2:35 (1/3 of the time I’m on bus duty until about 2:50). I’ll often goof for another 15 minutes or more at this point, but then I stay at work until 4:30 nearly every day, an hour past quitting time, getting lessons ready and papers assessed and so on. So it’s generally in the neighborhood of working 90-110% of my work day. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/35 "2011-03-30T01:27:37Z")
> [@sunstone](#): > > Then spent time at night and weekends on grading. Isn’t there any way to mechanize grading (like the SATs)? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/36 "2011-03-30T01:32:20Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Isn’t there any way to mechanize grading (like the SATs)? The best grading involves giving students feedback that helps them improve; it’s called formative assessment, because it helps guide future teaching (both for the student and for the teacher). The SAT is an entirely summative assessment: all it does is record what you already know, it doesn’t really provide the student or the teacher with useful information about where to go next. And while formative assessment can be automated, at this point a human being’s personalized comments are much better than what a computer can provide. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/37 "2011-03-30T12:49:37Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > The best grading involves giving students feedback that helps them improve; it’s called formative assessment, because it helps guide future teaching (both for the student and for the teacher). The SAT is an entirely summative assessment: all it does is record what you already know, it doesn’t really provide the student or the teacher with useful information about where to go next. > > And while formative assessment can be automated, at this point a human being’s personalized comments are much better than what a computer can provide. That’s why you’re a teacher and I’m not.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/38 "2011-03-30T13:37:07Z")
I work in a hospital lab and I’m alone most evenings to handle the entire blood bank. It’s ridiculously busy and there _really_ needs to be a second person there with me, but we’re having staffing issues at the moment, so I’m alone almost every evening. Things should be straightened out by the summer, but for now I’m working very close to burnout level. So, on a _good_ day, I’ll get my 15 minute break. On a _fabulous_ day, I’ll have enough down time to work on one of my paperwork/statistics/extra projects, which I have warned my supervisor will take me years to complete at this rate. I voted for 80-100% in the poll, because I’m up around 95% or higher most of the time right now. The thing is, even when there are two of us staffing the blood bank, I’ll still be in that category because there’s just so much damn work to do. At least I’ll be closer to the 80% mark, hopefully. It’s a good thing I love my work. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/39 "2011-03-30T14:02:24Z")
20% to 39% - but thats the job and thankfully I work at a place where we don’t have to pretend to be busy the rest of the time. Hence my posting here a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/40 "2011-03-31T02:01:40Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > That’s why you’re a teacher and I’m not.😃 🙂 I know I’ve become something of a one-trick pony around these parts, but it’s nice for the trick to be helpful once in awhile. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276.md?page=3)