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On the flip side.. it can be a nice arrangements for both sides. This week super super busy? Work 45 hours to help out. Next week slow? Take off Friday at 1 p

On the flip side.. it can be a nice arrangements for both sides. This week super super busy? Work 45 hours to help out. Next week slow? Take off Friday at 1 pm and work a shorter week. Such agreements can be good for both employeer and employee. The only real "problem" is if there starts to be abuse by either side. If 50 or 60h is the expectation for every week, then you should know that signing up. 60h week standard is "fair" from a salary POV, but make sure the salary is more than the 40h a week job down the road.

csomar 9y ago
Think of the salary for an employee as the same as a retainer for a consultant. You are paid $x,xxx per month for your availability for xx hours per month. They can be all or none consumed. But more hours are not guaranteed (employees/consultants should be able to reject over time) and should be paid a different rate (higher).
Amezarak 9y ago
There are very few companies, in my experience, that are OK with you charging less than 40 hours, regardless of circumstances. If you want to leave early, you burn your leave time. They are all happy (and in some it is implicitly mandatory) for you to work greater than 40 hours.
- Consultant32452 9y ago
  My experience is that I just do something reasonable and I've never had any problems. If it's just an hour or so early I'm leaving on Friday I don't even bother to announce it. Sometimes I'll just state I had to deal with some issue in the middle of the night so I'm taking off early tomorrow to catch up on rest or whatever. Oh, and unless I'm taking an entire day off I've never used any leave time for something like a doctor's appointment at any employer. If I miss a few hours of work one day I might make a special effort to make it up or might not, depending on what's going on in the department and my perceived need of whether or not it's valuable to the team/project. I'm sure soon enough I'll get hit with some overtime for a big project or a late night support call anyways. FWIW I acknowledge that overtime is part of the deal on occasion working in IT, but I'm not the type to grind away 50 hours every week forever. I might be able to sustain that for a week or two in an emergency, but it's not worth it. I talk about that part of the work culture during the interview process. I would avoid grind shops.
- brianwawok 9y ago
  I have not had that experience in reasonable environments. There ARE bosses that count butt in chair hours, but I choose to not work for them. They likely now have an entire team of people that clock exactly 40 hours, after all of the talent left.
jakebasile 9y ago
Doesn't that same arrangement work out if you're paid hourly? 45 one week has 5 extra (actually 7.5) hours, so the next slow week you can elect to work only 32.5 hours and you're in exactly the same place income wise. This means the employer gets less simple hours work from you for the same amount of money, but that's the price of overtime.

csomar 9y ago

Think of the salary for an employee as the same as a retainer for a consultant. You are paid $x,xxx per month for your availability for xx hours per month. They can be all or none consumed. But more hours are not guaranteed (employees/consultants should be able to reject over time) and should be paid a different rate (higher).

Amezarak 9y ago

There are very few companies, in my experience, that are OK with you charging less than 40 hours, regardless of circumstances. If you want to leave early, you burn your leave time. They are all happy (and in some it is implicitly mandatory) for you to work greater than 40 hours.

Consultant32452 9y ago
My experience is that I just do something reasonable and I've never had any problems. If it's just an hour or so early I'm leaving on Friday I don't even bother to announce it. Sometimes I'll just state I had to deal with some issue in the middle of the night so I'm taking off early tomorrow to catch up on rest or whatever. Oh, and unless I'm taking an entire day off I've never used any leave time for something like a doctor's appointment at any employer. If I miss a few hours of work one day I might make a special effort to make it up or might not, depending on what's going on in the department and my perceived need of whether or not it's valuable to the team/project. I'm sure soon enough I'll get hit with some overtime for a big project or a late night support call anyways. FWIW I acknowledge that overtime is part of the deal on occasion working in IT, but I'm not the type to grind away 50 hours every week forever. I might be able to sustain that for a week or two in an emergency, but it's not worth it. I talk about that part of the work culture during the interview process. I would avoid grind shops.
brianwawok 9y ago
I have not had that experience in reasonable environments. There ARE bosses that count butt in chair hours, but I choose to not work for them. They likely now have an entire team of people that clock exactly 40 hours, after all of the talent left.

jakebasile 9y ago

Doesn't that same arrangement work out if you're paid hourly? 45 one week has 5 extra (actually 7.5) hours, so the next slow week you can elect to work only 32.5 hours and you're in exactly the same place income wise. This means the employer gets less simple hours work from you for the same amount of money, but that's the price of overtime.