4 ms·

I am hourly, and I often find myself shaving my hours if I am unhappy with my output, and other times I can't help myself and I end up working for sixty hours a

I am hourly, and I often find myself shaving my hours if I am unhappy with my output, and other times I can't help myself and I end up working for sixty hours and not put down the overtime. I don't think that this is unusual, it's how you keep a job in a down economy.

rdl 13y ago
As a consultant, it's better to say "I worked 60h but am giving you a 50% discount", I think. Maybe it's different if you're hourly staff.
bhouser 13y ago
I've experienced similar, but only when working hourly from home. I guess I feel responsible for distractions in my own house, but when I'm in the office I have no second thoughts about billing for the time where I did my best in the environment provided.
- tekromancr 13y ago
  That's actually the situation I am in. I also feel like any time that I spend researching a solution (reading Blogs, Articles, Building POCs) isn't something that I should bill for. If I had done the same, but I had to go to an office, I wouldn't hesitate to report those hours. I guess it's because the former doesn't "feel" like work.
  - rdl 13y ago
    I'd generally take half my normal on-site rate to work from home. Although I'd also take a discounted rate to go to interesting places (assuming travel paid, but even then, it might be a discount), or a surcharge to go somewhere uninteresting and on short notice. I'd absolutely do IT/satellite stuff in Antarctica if I had nothing else I had to be doing, just for the experience (although I think it also pays decently, like $80k for a season with no other expenses...)
    - tekromancr 13y ago
      In a heartbeat! I would do it for 20, but I find the idea of living in Antarctica pretty exciting.
      - rdl 13y ago
        I'd pay 20k to do it.
doorhammer 13y ago
I ended up working at a call center as a temporary job, and was given a lot of responsibilities during a major transition to another location; they gave me a monthly bonus on top of the hourly pay (I'm a salaried analyst now). The company I work for would have immediately fired me for going either way with hours, and if my boss knew, they'd probably have fired him as well (huge violation of company policy. Not saying that makes you a terrible person or anything. Just relating how it can be complicated. I also did a few business trips while I was hourly, which started out odd, but really didn't end up being that bad. I was basically filling in for my supervisor and the management structure seemed to think the return value was worth a pretty decent chunk of overtime logged. The bonus thing was weird, because I was basically half-salaried and half hourly. Anyone else have experience with that? My income was relatively stable as long as I stayed in the 35 - 45 hour range, and even a bit outside of that, but past that I could pretty substantially alter it. I also had a really good relationship with my boss, so like any other job, if I had started working 15 hours a week they would have had a problem. My work quality and production were solid, though, and I felt secure in the position. Interesting period of time.

rdl 13y ago

As a consultant, it's better to say "I worked 60h but am giving you a 50% discount", I think. Maybe it's different if you're hourly staff.

bhouser 13y ago

I've experienced similar, but only when working hourly from home. I guess I feel responsible for distractions in my own house, but when I'm in the office I have no second thoughts about billing for the time where I did my best in the environment provided.

tekromancr 13y ago
That's actually the situation I am in. I also feel like any time that I spend researching a solution (reading Blogs, Articles, Building POCs) isn't something that I should bill for. If I had done the same, but I had to go to an office, I wouldn't hesitate to report those hours. I guess it's because the former doesn't "feel" like work.
- rdl 13y ago
  I'd generally take half my normal on-site rate to work from home. Although I'd also take a discounted rate to go to interesting places (assuming travel paid, but even then, it might be a discount), or a surcharge to go somewhere uninteresting and on short notice. I'd absolutely do IT/satellite stuff in Antarctica if I had nothing else I had to be doing, just for the experience (although I think it also pays decently, like $80k for a season with no other expenses...)
  - tekromancr 13y ago
    In a heartbeat! I would do it for 20, but I find the idea of living in Antarctica pretty exciting.
    - rdl 13y ago
      I'd pay 20k to do it.

doorhammer 13y ago

I ended up working at a call center as a temporary job, and was given a lot of responsibilities during a major transition to another location; they gave me a monthly bonus on top of the hourly pay (I'm a salaried analyst now). The company I work for would have immediately fired me for going either way with hours, and if my boss knew, they'd probably have fired him as well (huge violation of company policy. Not saying that makes you a terrible person or anything. Just relating how it can be complicated. I also did a few business trips while I was hourly, which started out odd, but really didn't end up being that bad. I was basically filling in for my supervisor and the management structure seemed to think the return value was worth a pretty decent chunk of overtime logged. The bonus thing was weird, because I was basically half-salaried and half hourly. Anyone else have experience with that? My income was relatively stable as long as I stayed in the 35 - 45 hour range, and even a bit outside of that, but past that I could pretty substantially alter it. I also had a really good relationship with my boss, so like any other job, if I had started working 15 hours a week they would have had a problem. My work quality and production were solid, though, and I felt secure in the position. Interesting period of time.