Re:Ask YC: how do you work for 8 hours straight?
by bluelu on Sunday January 13, 2008 @04:21PM
(#97961)
Unfortunately, it depends on the boss you have. Where I work, it is required that you work 42 hours a week. No hour less, and you have to be there at least at 10 and stay to at least 4. No excuse.
Even though I'm sure I would be more productive by working less hours, I just fit in, and try to split my work over the 8 hours as the others do, do more pauses and chit chat. At the end I feel a little depressed, because I stay so long at work, and the day is over. I also have problems working for somebody's other pocket, in that case.
At my previous job, I could come and go when I wanted. And when I was there, I was extremely productive. SHould have stayed there ;).
Re:Ask YC: how do you work for 8 hours straight?
by eru on Monday January 14, 2008 @06:00PM
(#98370)
Sorry, it was not Carnegie who did the study. He only cited a study by Frederick Winslow Taylor (of 'Taylorism' fame).
As I recall it Taylor did not only advise the workers in general - but every worker in the study had been assigned a guy with a stop watch who told the worker what to do. Must have been pretty annoying micro-management.
Your brain is no different in its need for rest than your body. I've discovered that I need a break at about 3pm every afternoon, so I find a quiet place to lay down, close my eyes, and think about precisely nothing. After ten or fifteen minutes, I am ready to go back to thinking very hard. I've had co-workers who choose to sit at their desks all day looking very diligent rather than rest when they need it, and they are far less productive. (Of course, there are a few out there who don't seem to need to ever rest, and they're much more productive than I.)
You're not being paid to log hours; you're being paid to accomplish something. If you meet or exceed your employers' requirements for you, then they are getting their money's worth.