Does anyone here have a 4, 3, or even a 2 day schedule at work?

I trying to get my other coworkers to approve a 4 day a week or some other type of schedule
our work is 24/7 so i'm trying to come up with something that works.

6/10/2009 12:24:37 PM

I can't comment on a 24/7 schedule, but I know for a traditional 40 hour shift, the two most common configurations I've seen are as follows:

1) Work 9 hours per day for nine days and take the tenth day off
2) Work 10 hours per day four days a week and take the fifth day off

6/10/2009 12:33:58 PM

#1 doesnt make any sense
#2 would be nice but a little difficult to work in for 24/7 work

6/10/2009 12:45:25 PM

In Utah, state workers work 10 hour days 4 days a week. They really like it.

Of course, there is also the 12 shift.

6/10/2009 1:03:16 PM

I like the 12/hr shift idea,

6/10/2009 1:37:10 PM

for a forty hour week....

5 eights
4 tens
3 thirteens

a buddy of mine works 4 on two off so...

M  T  W  H  F  S  S
10 10 10 10 O  O  10
10 10 10 O  O  10 10
10 10 O  O  10 10 10
10 O  O  10 10 10 10
O  O  10 10 10 10 O
O  10 10 10 10 O  O

6/10/2009 1:46:19 PM

^thats a 50/hr per week schedule
is he getting paid overtime?

6/10/2009 2:29:40 PM

he also has 14 days off in a month... I'm sure he's FLSA exempt for that situation

6/10/2009 3:25:57 PM

no, hes off 14 days every 6 weeks, compared to 12 days every 6 workings a 5x8.

Meaning in 6 weeks, he works 280 hows compared to 240. That's an extra 'week' every 6. it'd have to be over time pay

6/10/2009 3:47:54 PM

overtime pay is not required if the employee is exempt from the flsa. I don't know what his job is but it's possible..

[Edited on June 10, 2009 at 3:55 PM. Reason : ..]

6/10/2009 3:53:21 PM

^ He is salary.

I think there are 4 people and 3 of them have to be working at the same time for his shift.

6/10/2009 4:33:30 PM

4 on/4 off...10.5 work days.

6/10/2009 5:14:15 PM

Beats working on the weekends, that's for motherfuckin' sure

6/10/2009 7:46:07 PM

The concept of working 40 hrs per week or X number of hours per day doesn't really apply to my job. You have a job to do, and it either gets done or it doesn't, regardless of the amount of time you work. You can do as little as 25 hrs per week to barely scrap by (management will notice) or 80+ hours per week if you want to kill yourself (management will notice here as well). Company is good and tries to hover around the 40 mark, but, nobody is counting. Also worked at a job in a previous life where you were expected to be there 8am-5pm, regardless of the amount of work that did or did not need to be done.

What type of business are you in? How many coworkers do you have? Changing the workdays is going to be a difficult sell to management. Changing to flexible hours and/or more of a work-life balance DURING those workdays is another option.

6/10/2009 7:55:24 PM

^ yeah, i think for most white collar jobs that are based on getting specific things done, the number of hours worked means less and less. It sucks for those who operate on billable hours.

I used to kill myself working 70-80 hours a week, which got me a lot of promotions/raises, but now that i have a kid, i've slowed down, and barely work 40 hours most weeks, and it's not a big deal. I'm just not as much of an "above and beyond" type of guy any more as far as time goes.

6/10/2009 8:01:05 PM

I work mostly 12 hr shifts except for 4 days in training which are 10 hours.

Anyway it goes

D=12 hour day shift ~6:30am-6:30pm
N=12 hour night shift ~6:30pm-6:30am
T=10 hour training day 7:30am-5:30pm (rarely there past 4pm)
X=Have the day off.
This repeats once every 5 weeks

DDDD (Tuesday-Friday)
XX (Saturday and Sunday off)
TTTT (Monday-Thursday)
X (Friday off)
DDD (Saturday-Monday)
XXX (Tuesday-Friday night)
NNNN (Friday night-Tuesday morning)
XXXXXXX (Tuesday morning-Tuesday night)
NNN (Tuesday night-Friday morning)
XXXX (Friday morning-Tuesday)

Yeah it ends up being some what complicated but hey for 36 hours of vacation time I can get a full 14 days off!!!

6/10/2009 8:52:04 PM

i hate work in general

6/11/2009 11:38:44 PM

Quote :

"RedGuard: I can't comment on a 24/7 schedule, but I know for a traditional 40 hour shift, the two most common configurations I've seen are as follows: 1) Work 9 hours per day for nine days and take the tenth day off 2) Work 10 hours per day four days a week and take the fifth day off lafta: #1 doesnt make any sense"

9 Hour days. Week 1 M-F, Week 2, M-Th, repeat.

6/12/2009 10:53:23 AM

^^^
I did the 55-80 a week for 2 years, and got nothing out of it. so now i meet my deadlines.

6/12/2009 11:39:16 AM

Quote :

"sucks for those who operate on billable hours. "

6/12/2009 3:46:02 PM

We work 4 8 hour days

took a 20% pay cut to do it though

it's nice some weeks but sucks pretty bad others

6/12/2009 6:17:16 PM

I make my own schedule - it varies daily

I'm not a fan of the "9-5" thing and I really like being able to nap during the day

6/12/2009 11:03:41 PM

9-5 is not an accurate description anymore

I don't know anyone that waits to start until 9 o'clock

6/12/2009 11:19:39 PM

4 on 4 off, 12 hr shifts

6/13/2009 12:19:16 AM

9:30-6:00 M-F

I am a night owl, as the day goes along, I get more productive...I am usually the last to leave the office at night. We get credit hours and I am usually there until 8ish.

[Edited on June 13, 2009 at 8:52 PM. Reason : w]

6/13/2009 8:51:00 PM

get laid off

6/14/2009 1:27:54 AM

^ entirely too true right now.

6/14/2009 2:13:23 PM

we do 9hr days mon-thurs and a half day on friday.

6/14/2009 10:53:46 PM

after tomorrow i will have put in an 80 hour week

6/20/2009 9:07:28 AM

didnt know what thread to put this in - but i just got the 'greed is good' speech from a senior. he ended with, ''if we hit our targets, life will be good. if not, not so much''.

at first i was and , but then i was all and

7/29/2009 4:32:05 PM

i work 4.5 days...long days M-H and then we close at 1:00 on Fridays.

7/29/2009 4:37:48 PM

4 10s will change your life in a great way.

7/30/2009 8:49:14 AM

Quote :

"''if we hit our targets, life will be good. if not, not so much''"

Is there more to this story?

I feel like I am missing something, because this doesnt sound horrible, or off-base at all.

7/30/2009 11:28:00 AM

7:30-5:30 Monday through Thursday

7:30-12:00 on Friday

7/30/2009 3:30:24 PM

I hate it too, but I think I'd lose my shit if I had to work 10 hours in one day, even if it meant a 3-day weekend every week. I can barely make it through 8 hours in a day, and take extended lunches and frequent bathroom breaks in an effort to reduce the time spent in the office even more.

What I'd like to do is maybe 9 hours a day 4 days a week, and then 4 hours on Friday. My office isn't flexible on that, though. We're expected to be here 8:30-5:30 with 1 hour for lunch (no one notices my extra 20-30 minutes at lunch).

7/30/2009 4:14:47 PM

it takes some getting used to switching to 10 hour days instead of 8 or 9...but once you get used to it, it ain't no thang.

of course...if you hate your job and can't wait to leave after 8 hours, 10 hour days will probably be quite miserable even once you get used to it.

7/30/2009 4:25:33 PM

Quote :

"Is there more to this story? I feel like I am missing something, because this doesnt sound horrible, or off-base at all."

well, he just rolled up out of nowhere and pulled me and another guy at my level into the breakroom/kitchen, and started the conversation with, "this is about greed and selfishness, because those are good things..".

i later asked my boss what that was about, and he said some things to smooth out any anticipations and anxieties that conversation may have caused, but basically im guessing we're moving towards a sink or swim/eat what you kill situation.

our workstream ebbs and flows. i've put in several 70-80 hour work weeks lately, and based on whether we win or lose these deals, shits gonna get real..

8/1/2009 12:12:12 PM

Quote :

""RedGuard: I can't comment on a 24/7 schedule, but I know for a traditional 40 hour shift, the two most common configurations I've seen are as follows: 1) Work 9 hours per day for nine days and take the tenth day off 2) Work 10 hours per day four days a week and take the fifth day off lafta: #1 doesnt make any sense" 9 Hour days. Week 1 M-F, Week 2, M-Th, repeat."

My job offers a 9/80 schedule, which is similar to this, but you only work 8 hours on the first Friday. Otherwise you end up working 81 hours in the two weeks.

[Edited on August 1, 2009 at 12:29 PM. Reason : ]

8/1/2009 12:29:08 PM

We're doing summer hours right now...9hrs monday-thursday and a half day on friday. I might stop doing that b/c I just end up with a shit ton of work monday morning.

8/1/2009 12:56:48 PM

i usually work 6-7 days a week

8/2/2009 8:26:25 PM

Quote :

"I think I'd lose my shit if I had to work 10 hours in one day"

Are you serious? What the fuck? It's a rarity that I work anything LESS than a 10-hour day. If I go home after 8 hours, I feel like I'm taking an early day off, and have to remind myself that "Oh yeah, I guess I did do 8 hours of work today. That's not too bad."


My working experience has been in highschool/college (hourly wage) and in the military (generally much more than a 40-hour week).

Neither of my parents ever went to college. My dad has always been self-employed (small business owner when I was growing up, and insurance agent/agency manager since I was a teenager), so he always pretty much made his own hours. My mom worked 9-5 type, hourly-wage jobs until a few years ago when she got into real estate (so now she makes her own hours, too).

I say all that to say that that I don't have much of a frame of reference for what kind of hours are worked at most profession-type, career-level jobs for college grads. I've always just assumed that most of my peers aren't getting away with banker's hours, but maybe I'm wrong.


^^ that's a good solution, although I'd prefer "4 tens". I generally do something kind of like that, except that my version is usually more like 10-11 hours on Monday through Thursday, then 8-9 hours on Friday.

[Edited on August 2, 2009 at 9:50 PM. Reason : ]

8/2/2009 9:47:23 PM

4/10's is awesome. Like I posted before I work 4/10.5 and then one day about every other month 8-5ish to correct the pay cycle. Not bad you only end up work like 15/16 days a month.

8/2/2009 11:34:24 PM

I'd love to work 4 10s and have 3 days off.

As it stands now, I work 6 days a week including Saturdays. Sure, some of those are only 5 hour shifts, but it sucks driving 30 minutes to and from work for a 5 hour shift.

I can't wait to get back to a 5 day work week. Working on Saturdays BLOWS

8/3/2009 12:40:37 PM

Quote :

"My job offers a 9/80 schedule, which is similar to this, but you only work 8 hours on the first Friday. Otherwise you end up working 81 hours in the two weeks."

8/3/2009 1:05:10 PM

^^We work 4 10's but we get 4 days off not 3

8/3/2009 2:31:47 PM

Quote :

"9-5 is not an accurate description anymore I don't know anyone that waits to start until 9 o'clock"

that's why I put it in quotations

8/3/2009 3:14:34 PM

Yeah, it's typically 8-5 if you factor in the hour for lunch.

8/5/2009 5:18:13 PM

8-4, typically have working lunch while reviewing a sop or some other nonsense.

i just wish i could get along well on less sleep and wake up easier....

other than that i like getting out a little bit before most (lab environment) lets me get stuff done after work

8/6/2009 10:26:05 AM

I always avoid working at lunch. The day takes forever if I don't get a break.

I usually wake up, sign on, put in an hour of work, get ready, drive into the office, work from 9ish-4 then go home and put in another hour or two.

8/6/2009 11:19:46 AM

shift work for the setemup

10/11/2009 3:58:37 AM