4 ms·
It does sound like an outlier in terms of demand, but to back up your point, there are many industries in which there is critical infrastructure and activities
by simonh 5y ago
It does sound like an outlier in terms of demand, but to back up your point, there are many industries in which there is critical infrastructure and activities going on potentially 24x7 most of not all weeks.
I support financial applications that could be considered critical infrastructure for the country. To the point where the government has set up special regulatory procedures to ensure it’s managed properly. We make sure everyone we hire in the support roles understands that this job isn’t for everyone, there’s work that needs to be done at possibly any hour of any day, and while we have offshore teams there can still be gaps due to sickness, power cuts, etc. we have in depth on call rotas. We pay overtime and on call supplements.
Even outside IT, there are power stations and telecoms systems, water mains, TV and radio stations, who knows what else that operate round the clock, round the year. There are a lot of people in every nation that work these kinds of jobs.
A standard expectation of 11 or 12 hour days is extreme though. No company should plan their operations around that as a standard practice. I’ve worked a 70+ hour week before when there’s been a proper crisis going on though. I got paid for every hour, and I know my work is appreciated so there should be a nice bonus on the way in a few months.
- monkeybutton 5y agoMines operate 24/7 with 12 hour shifts. Many build and run their own infrastructure, including power plants.
- kristjansson 5y agoMines, famously tolerable workplaces that are a reasonable model for the rest of the economy
- s1artibartfast 5y agoThe more common solution in these industries is 3 x 12 hour days per week, not 70 hour weeks. Does it state which model TSMC is using
- sudosysgen 5y agoAccording to the article in Taiwan 5x12 and even 6x12 or worse is considered expected.
- s1artibartfast 5y agoyeah, that is definitely rough for American standards and probably not sustainable. After going back to the article, the confusing part is that the hours are so inconsistent. I wonder if they are running 3x 8 hour shifts and people need to stay longer to cover vacancies or close out problems that occurred on their shift.
- secabeen 5y agoThey may also be running into the issue that physicians and residents do: hand-off errors. I have seen arguments that it's better to have an exhausted physician who has been monitoring you for 12+ hours than a fresh one who just started their shift. There's a lot of state of the current situation that can't be easily transmitted from one shift to the next.
- nine_k 5y agoI'd say 12 hour shifts are OK as long as the work time per week does not exceed 40 hours too much. That is, 12 hours 3 days a week, maybe 4 days on some weeks, could be very reasonable.