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In general, people aren't productive working more than 10 hours a day. Unfortunately, some people are -- and those people very often find themselves in executiv

by exelius 10y ago

In general, people aren't productive working more than 10 hours a day. Unfortunately, some people are -- and those people very often find themselves in executive positions, surrounded by other people with exceptional stamina who wonder why everyone below them is so lazy. Fortunately, a lot of companies have realized this and started making employee retention a metric (because recruiting is expensive, especially for tech positions.) Keeping people happy is still important.

Kluny 10y ago
Coding is different from normal work though, isn't it? I mean, if I have 3 hours of data entry ahead of me, I get in the zone almost instantly and crack through it at high speed with little difficulty, take lunch, then go on to the next thing. I've never had 3 hours worth of emails or administrative work to do, but I imagine it to be the same. 3 hours of solid code, on the other hand, takes a special day of the office being unusually quiet, at least half an hour to get in the zone, and at the end of it, I'm done for the day. It's not just my own arrogance, is it, to say that "code" work and "admin" work are two completely different categories that ought to be evaluated differently?
likeclockwork 10y ago
I think you're right and people aren't productive working 10 hours a day. Occupants of executive positions aren't expected to actually produce anything.
cookiecaper 10y ago
Most people are lucky to squeeze 3 hours of actually-useful work into a single work day. In your average office, the rest of the 8-or-10-hour work day is burned on socializing with colleagues, responding to and reading emails, attending interviews, trainings, or other rote meetings not specifically related to one's job, traveling around the building, eating, taking restroom and Facebook/reddit breaks, and so on. I don't think this number goes up as you expand the requisite work hours or push people against their will. I think people just find increasingly creative ways to avoid real work while still filling the butt-in-chair requirements.
vidarh 10y ago
I think even in the case of people who appear to be productive that long (and I'd argue most people aren't productive more than 4-5 hours a day, if that) in executive positions only appear as productive as they do because of extensive support networks. It's a lot easier to be productive long hours if you e.g. has executive assistants that manage your calendar so you don't need to think about it, people to delegate all the menial stuff to, staff at home ensuring you don't need to worry about coming home to a messy house that needs cleaning and so on. Doesn't mean it won't still be hard, but it's not as hard as it may seem when looking up from a position you have to handle 100% on your own. Another factor is that while e-mailing late nights when you're low down the hierarchy generally means you are working long hours, e-mailing late nights when you're high up the hierarchy can mean that, and it can also mean that you have sufficient freedom to structure your day that you've chosen to e.g. spend that day taking a long lunch and chill in the afternoon and catch up on e-mails late at night instead, possibly realising that this ironically will make it seem like you're working harder. A lot of people who are not used to have that freedom automatically assume it's the former, and then end up falling into trying to live up to that. My advice is don't. Carve out time. Appear busy. Seeming busy ironically often makes you seem harder working even if you just say you are and use it to give you breathing room to work less.

by exelius 10y ago

Kluny 10y ago

Coding is different from normal work though, isn't it? I mean, if I have 3 hours of data entry ahead of me, I get in the zone almost instantly and crack through it at high speed with little difficulty, take lunch, then go on to the next thing. I've never had 3 hours worth of emails or administrative work to do, but I imagine it to be the same. 3 hours of solid code, on the other hand, takes a special day of the office being unusually quiet, at least half an hour to get in the zone, and at the end of it, I'm done for the day. It's not just my own arrogance, is it, to say that "code" work and "admin" work are two completely different categories that ought to be evaluated differently?

likeclockwork 10y ago

I think you're right and people aren't productive working 10 hours a day. Occupants of executive positions aren't expected to actually produce anything.

cookiecaper 10y ago

Most people are lucky to squeeze 3 hours of actually-useful work into a single work day. In your average office, the rest of the 8-or-10-hour work day is burned on socializing with colleagues, responding to and reading emails, attending interviews, trainings, or other rote meetings not specifically related to one's job, traveling around the building, eating, taking restroom and Facebook/reddit breaks, and so on. I don't think this number goes up as you expand the requisite work hours or push people against their will. I think people just find increasingly creative ways to avoid real work while still filling the butt-in-chair requirements.

vidarh 10y ago

I think even in the case of people who appear to be productive that long (and I'd argue most people aren't productive more than 4-5 hours a day, if that) in executive positions only appear as productive as they do because of extensive support networks. It's a lot easier to be productive long hours if you e.g. has executive assistants that manage your calendar so you don't need to think about it, people to delegate all the menial stuff to, staff at home ensuring you don't need to worry about coming home to a messy house that needs cleaning and so on. Doesn't mean it won't still be hard, but it's not as hard as it may seem when looking up from a position you have to handle 100% on your own. Another factor is that while e-mailing late nights when you're low down the hierarchy generally means you are working long hours, e-mailing late nights when you're high up the hierarchy can mean that, and it can also mean that you have sufficient freedom to structure your day that you've chosen to e.g. spend that day taking a long lunch and chill in the afternoon and catch up on e-mails late at night instead, possibly realising that this ironically will make it seem like you're working harder. A lot of people who are not used to have that freedom automatically assume it's the former, and then end up falling into trying to live up to that. My advice is don't. Carve out time. Appear busy. Seeming busy ironically often makes you seem harder working even if you just say you are and use it to give you breathing room to work less.