Re: how to eliminate overtime

[Penny Staples <pstaples -at- AIRWIRE -dot- COM>]

I think this topic is as relevant for writers as for any other type of
developer. I've seen the whole overtime thing escalate into a "who's more
dedicated than who" contest, with some people working ridiculous hours. You
start to look bad if you're working a mere 40 hours a week. The perception
is that somehow you're less dedicated to the company, less worthy for
promotion and salary increases.

Personally I take pride in working efficiently enough to get my work done
within a 40 hour week (I think the relevant phrase is "Work smarter, not
harder"). I do make exceptions - sometimes a bit of overtime really is
required to meet a deadline - but I have a life outside of my career, so I
have no intention of working more than 40 hours a week on a regular basis!

I think that working more than 50 - 60 hours a week makes most people less
productive in the long run, from burn-out if nothing else. Just because
you're sitting at your desk for 10 hours a day doesn't mean you're
accomplishing anything worthwhile.

I realize contracters are in a different situation. When I used to work
freelance, I'd sometimes end up working 60 or 80 hours a week for a while -
but it was to make up periods of time where I might only be working 10 or 20
hours a week, so it tended to work out.

I'd love to see a summary to the list.

Penny Staples
pstaples -at- airwire -dot- com

-----Original Message-----
From: Candace Bamber <cbamber -at- CASTEK -dot- COM>
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU <TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU>
Date: June 12, 1998 10:03 AM
Subject: how to eliminate overtime


>Hi everyone,
>Apologies if this is a bit off topic. I do think "how to eliminate overtime
>from our lives" is as much an issue for us writerly folks as for people
>working in other types of high tech roles, so I hope you'll bear with me.
>
>I'm on the (currently unnamed) employee satisfaction committee and have
>taken on the issue of "over-time" (paid and otherwise) as my area of
>responsibility. We are serious about finding ways to reduce (unpaid)
>employee overtime, but we have to consider issues of cost and productivity.
>
>Does anyone out there work for a company that successfully implemented an
>"overtime reduction" program? May I ask you to share what you did?
>
>Can anyone recommend any good articles or websites that deal with this
>issue? Anything on productivity versus hours worked stats would be really
>useful as well.
>
>Also, some time ago, I read an article about a company that adopted an
>"everybody out by five" policy. The results, if I recall correctly, were
>that after an initial period where not much got done, the productivity
>level rose significantly and since the people were happier and more
>productive, the same amount of work got done as when everyone worked 60
>hours a week. That's it for my vague recollection. Does anyone know any
>more about this?
>
>Please respond to me directly, and if there seems to be any interest, I
>will summarize to the list.  as always, thanks in advance for your help!
>
>It's a beautiful sunny day in Toronto.
>
>Candace
>
>************************************
>Candace Bamber
>mailto:cbamber -at- castek -dot- com
>Castek Software Factory
>Toronto, ON
>*************************************
>
>
>
>