UKC

How do you balance your work and non-work life? I used to work loads of hours a week unpaid, then I realised the goodwill wasn't resipricated and really cut down.

I am paid for 37 hours a week. I generally work 8-5, rarely start before 7:30 and rarely work after 5:30. I have a couple of evening meetings a month, which add 1-2 hours a week on average. So less than 45 hours a week, of which a couple are probably wasted on UKC.

I used to work well over 50, including late night sessions at home, I've only done this about twice in the last year.

I certainly feel happier and healthier for it.

How about you?

In reply to The New NickB: i do two or three days a week away from home (most of the team's in Solihull and I do stuff with other parts of the group in Europe), and the reciprocation for that is I do most Mondays and Fridays at home - usually conference calls. A lot of my non-meetings "work" is emails and reading stuff, which I do at all sorts of times - I was away last night and I was sat doing emails at 10:30 last night and I've done some already this morning. But on my days at home if it's nice I might pop out for an hour or two on my bike.

I talked to my current firm before joining as the location was a worry - and they're very clear they measure you on outputs not on the hours you work - and that goes for all the team - most people average 2/3 days in the office and fit those in around what works best for them.

In reply to andy:

One thing I don't miss is travel, I only have a 10 minute commute which is something I planned after long commutes in the past, but I also don't have regular trips to London anymore, one the upsides of the Government turning off the financial taps to local government is no more 10am meetings at DCLG or the Treasury.

In reply to The New NickB:

I'm employed by the French office of a multinational so therefore we officially have the 35 hour week. However my contract states 37.5, and under French law I get that extra time back as extra holiday (16 extra days next year I think) which is pretty cushy.

I work at home also, and my normal working day is geared a bit more to starting and finishing late since all the other members of my team (with the exception of a few in Hungary) are based in timezones behind me, right though to the west coast of the US - so my afternoons are busy with conference/video calls etc.

I'm not measured on hours either - but again on output so am free to be flexible.

Every couple of weeks I have to travel - usually on short haul trips this fairly quick and painless, like 1.5 days in London last week. I was also free to travel back during working day since I didn't want to get a late flight back and be driving through the forecasted heavy snow in the early hours of the night before.

But then equally my long haul trips take me away from home for part of the weekends if I'm aiming to be there all week, but thankfully these are a only 3-4 times a year.

I've been doing this for 2 years now and on the whole prefer it to when I used to go into the office in London every day and work in a digital agency. It was a different type of company with a martyr/long hours culture (based on the fact that everything was about billable hours) but now I work on the client side things are a little more sensible and I enjoy it much more.

I even enjoy the travel again - when I was working London, business travel meant Paris for the aftenoon or a really early flight for a meeting in Frankfurt and back at the end of the same day and was exhausting and not really much fun. Now, since I'm mostly out at home in the Alps, I enjoy going to a city and getting the buzz every so often without it becoming a drag so I have the best of both worlds.

In reply to The New NickB:

I'm based in Liverpool but normally work 1-2 days per week in London, in Liverpool unless I have meetings I can do probably around half my work from home. I'm contracted to 37.5 hrs pw, including travel I probably do around 60. To say that it's not hard work would be an understatement.

In reply to The New NickB:
I've decided I actually quite like 2 days in Brum (1 night). I stay in a serviced apartment in Brum city centre, so I feel like I "go home" at the end of the day (and I keep a bike here so I can commute). I leave a bag of stuff here so I don't have to carry much either. I quite like a night to myself when I can either stay in, go out and generally please myself.

2 nights is ok, preferably in the same place - it gets a bit wearing if I have to do a night here, then a night in Holland then home, as you feel like a nomad, and I hate 3 nights away, so hardly ever do it.

This week it's a night in Brum, home late tonight (I usually get away about 3 so home for 6) then a couple of nights in the Lakes, but other halves are joining us for Friday night - so pretty ok really. I've also said no travel over xmas/new year at all, so that will feel like a fortnight off, but only actually taking 3 days leave!

In reply to The New NickB:

I'm self-employed and work from home. My working hours are generally about 10-7 most days, and I work weekends too about 50% of the time.

Realistically I end up working about 54 hours a week — much more if you count my writing as well (add an extra twelve hours a week for that).

This structure suits me quite well as I enjoy the work and, if I want a week (or a month) off, I can simply rearrange my schedule.

In reply to The New NickB:

Really interesting thread.

I do 4/5 days in the office in London & Stockholm but could do 2/3 and the rest at home. I tend to get more done in the office than at home. Tech really allows our people to work from anywhere.

I'm also far more productive in the mornings - so usually work from 7-3. Commuting at 6am is a doddle!

In reply to The New NickB:

I used to do all sorts of hours unpaid; late nights, weekends, you name it...

Like you, the goodwill certainly wasn't reciprocated; if anything, I was taken for granted and taken advantage of. My answer was to quit and find something else instead. I now essentially work 9 - 5 and actually have a life outside of work. I feel much better all round. Life's too short, and all that...

In reply to The New NickB:

My previous job as a chef balanced up as follows -
Commute - 19 Miles each way
Salary covered the following hours, tended to work more

Monday - Day off
Tuesday - Day off
Wednesday - 10:30 - 14:00 + 17:00 - 22:00
Thursday - 10:30 - 14:00 + 17:00 - 22:00
Friday - 10:00 - 14:00 + 17:00 - 23:00
Saturday - 14:00 - 23:00
Sunday - 12:00 - 21:00

Originally had to battle for the two days off in a row & statutory minimum holidays. Should have left much sooner than I did but in all honesty it wasnt that bad. I then changed up to working as a baker and working these beauties, which i feel gives me much more spare time at more sociable hours and i dont have to deal with customers, waitresses or pretty much ever see my boss -

Monday - 04:00 - 10:00
Tuesday/Wednesday - 19:00 - 03:00
Wednesday/Thursday - 19:00 - 03:00
Thursday/Friday - 20:00 - 04:00
Friday/Saturday - 17:00 - 05:00
Saturday - Day off after waking up at 2pm
Sunday - Day off but early night as up at 3am

The way i figure this is im contracted 37 hours a week, have additional overtime on my rota each week, work 5 days a week and kinda feel like i have 4 days off, however Sunday is the only day i dont see the bakery at all.

In either job ive never missed the 9-5 office life.

In reply to The New NickB:

I am a lecturer. I used to have a management role on top of that and was present at the work place at least 9-6, 5 days a week. A couple of years ago I stepped out of the management part of the job and stepped down to 4 days a week. I get in early every day, but leave as I please, more or less, so that I can go running and get home to get a meal for everyone, most days, which helps keep us all together as a family. Most of my work is writing, and most of that is done at home, late in the evening, in the night, early mornings and weekends. It doesn't really matter where I am when I do it. It just needs to get done. The total hours per week is certainly more than a notional 4 day week, but it is creative work and if I can do it well on my terms, I don't mind.

In reply to ActionSte:

I used to work in finance, abroad quite and bit and based in Manchester but with lots of clients in the M3 M4 area. That meant I traveled a lot which was mostly in my time and what really got my goat was the culture amongst the other directors that if you were not still at your desk at 5.30pm you were slacking off, irrespective of what time you got in or how much you got done or the fact that you didn't spend two hours at lunch in the pub......dinosaurs.
For those reasons and others had a change of career to teaching, which was great but recently has become silly in terms of the demands made, and I am not going to work the same hours as I used to for half the money, so I have made some changes to what I do. I do accept that I am lucky to be old and ugly enough to do so and not care about the opinions of those who slavishly go along with every silly idea in order to try and boost their careers then moan about how tired they are...
This may sound like I am a bitter old man, but actually I am pretty happy with my work life balance, but mindful that I am lucky to able to afford to do it, I would not want to be a twenty five year old teacher now.

In reply to The New NickB:

Running my own business I used to work silly hours and have done for years. The worse was over a year of 18 hour days 6 days a week with paperwork on Sundays.
A typical day over the last 5 or 6 years would be starting at 0730 and finishing around 1800 but earlier this year I decided no more.
I now start at 0700 and try to be done by 1600.
Some days I am still not done till 1800 but more often than not I am done before 1700 and sometimes done by 1530.
my quality of life is a massive improvement.

In reply to The New NickB:

I work for the NHS as a nurse. The hours are long, 12.5 hours, and the work demanding. For ten years I've been part time, doing two days a week. Mostly my shifts are on consecutive days. The upshot of this is that I regularly get between 2-8 days off between shifts.

Add to that my pro rota 8 weeks annual leave and I reckon my home/work balance is just fine.

In reply to The New NickB:
Interesting thread Nick.

This week; (rolling roster)

Sat: 9.00 -17.30
Sun: 9.00 -17.30
Mon; 8.30 -17.00
Tues: Off
Weds: Off
Thurs: 12.30 - 21.00
Fri: 12.30 -21.00
Sat: 9.00 -17.30

Works for me. I get days off when the missus is at work so I can go off and do my own thing. Evening shifts give me my mornings hours to "develop" photos, make music, do my blogging or other "creative" stuff, or generally chill, (I love watching Brit DVDs that the missus and kid do not enjoy in this time.)

When the roster rolls around to my having a weekend without working we as a family make the most of these and do things together.

In reply to The New NickB:

I work part-time in the nhs. 4 days a week 12 hours a day. Day off on Tuesday to go climbing. This ratio keeps me sane-ish!
Got out of hospital medicine as wife was ill and needed to have an easy week to help with kids and home and still have a day a week to climb. Each standard day is longer but more days off after making the switch so suits me better.

In reply to The New NickB:

Teacher at an international school. Working week is Sunday to Thursday, starting each day at 6:30am and finishing at 4pm. I usually do 3-4 hours at the weekend, making a total of just over 50 hours per week. I think that's ok given the fact that I get 16 weeks holiday each year.

In reply to The New NickB:

Middle management at corporate multinational. No idea what is written in my contract and probably wouldn't change my behaviour anyway... IF in the office then 9-5ish rarely later than 6. Can work from home or coffee shop... but easier to be with my team.

But every other week I am likely to spend at least some days travelling. 60+ flights a year, lots of hotel time. Not complaining - its about adapting to the demands of the job (my suitcase gym is well refined). Likely to be more travel in future as next role would be exec management - again just adapt.

Cheers
LD

In reply to The New NickB:
My work-life balance is pretty bad. I am an academic in Bristol. 50 hours per week feels like a holiday, 60 hours routine, 70+ hours about 10 weeks a week. I do everything I can to squeeze in two four or five hour blocks dedicated to climbing outdoors a week, often within a full working day and finding family time too. The expectations/pressures are huge and rising all the time. I am also passionate about what I do. The big positives of my job are flexibility, autonomy, creativity. The big negatives are the constant anxiety and sense of the pressure never going away with all the things still not done or the scale of scholarly impact not achieved. As for holidays, like most academics I use at least 50% of my 'holiday' to catch up with research or admin that I have not managed to do.

In reply to ericinbristol:

IT based in Switzerland: contract 42.5 hrs per week / 4 weeks of holiday

Monday - Friday

start 5am with various small children waking up (I have four:2,5,15,17)
7am leave for work
after 90 minutes commute
08:30am in work
16:30 leave work
after 90 minutes commute
18.00 home
Run round like an idiot
21.00 all small kids in bed
turn on PC work 22:30
bed - lucky if none of the kids wake up especially the 2 year old

Weekend

start 5am with various small children waking up
run round like an idiot for x number of hours
bed 22:30 bed - lucky if none of the small kids wake up especially the 2 year old

In reply to The New NickB:

I work for a multinational financial company. Contracted to 36 hours a week, but am on flexi-time, Recently I have done around 45 hours a week, but then was able to take a day off to go caving, and another day to go climbing recently. Still have a couple of days to take off and my annual leave on top of that. Balance currently is a bit too work orientated, however that will soon change after Christmas I hope.

In reply to The New NickB:

Usually around 40-45 ish hours per week plus one Saturday per month. Wednesday is usually 9-8.

Upsides- Pays well, relatively flexible as long as I give enough notice as I'm a self employed contractor and generally I enjoy the work. Climbing indoors is pretty easy as i have an excellent bouldering wall about 20 mins from work, outdoors usually has to wait for the weekend. Also a male doing my job is relatively rare so I tend to stand out from the crowd at interviews.

Downsides- Full day of intense concentration with minimal breaks so often feel knackered even though I've been sat on my arse all day. I only get paid if I'm actually working so if a couple of patients cancel that's me only earning for half a day and no paid holidays.

Overall it's great though!

7-5 from Sunday to Thursday, with occasional hours on Friday to link back to the UK (strangely they won't do Sundays). Often work later than 5 due to being 3 hours ahead of the UK. The job is very high pressure as I deal with incompetent suppliers and a seemingly corrupt/immature customer. I live on the same compound as my office, so I never really leave work!

8 weeks paid leave per year though plus I don't pay income tax, which makes up for the hours and being away from family for 44 weeks per year. Plus it's always sunny here.

In reply to The New NickB:

I'm a teacher.
I have a 40 minute commute and arrive at work between 7-7.30am. Leave between 5-6pm, sometimes later. Have a half day on a Tuesday, but work every third weekend, so that's 50+, not including the weekends.
Get decent holidays and love the job!
Jeremy

In reply to The New NickB:

I'm a corporate finance analyst for a big 4 firm. Hours are hellish (generally 60+ hours a week mon - fri plus uncharged time working at the weekends to catch up). I find it's not the hours that are the hard part to balance, it's the unpredictability - I can have half a week of 9 - 5 and then if a large project lands that goes straight out of the window and we are in the office till the small hours.

There was a study i read a while ago that said the key cause of stress was a lack of control or unpredictability. Very true I think.

Handing my notice in soon though so hopefully thats all going to change!

In reply to The New NickB:
I'm a junior-ish hospital doctor. Currently on day 4 of 12 back to back,four of which are allegedly 9am to 9 pm (more likely to be 10pm), the remainder of which are allegedly 9am to 5.30pm (more likely to be 6.30pm). I then get 2 days off. This happens once a month, the other two weeks of every four are 5 day weeks of well over 50 hours.

Work-life balance.....yeah.....I've at least *heard* of that.

In reply to The New NickB:

I work in retail and part time at a climbing. Wall. Standard week is 3 early shifts (8-5 or all day sat/sun) two lates 12-830 then at least 3 hours at the climbing wall if not a few more.

Late shifts are a godsend occasionally when you want a lie in. But most of the time it just means one more evening when I'm not free to climb or socialise. I'd rather get up early mon-fri and not work three out of four weekends most months. Sadly the pay doesn't make up for the inconvenience.

Any jobs going?

In reply to The New NickB:

My work/life balance changes each week depending on the amount of travel I'm doing. For example a good week would be working from home all week from probably 08:00 to around 16:00 (later if there's things I need to finish) so pretty decent really.

However, if I'm travelling around EMEA (about 70% of my working time) then it can be pretty depressing depending on the days / time I'm travelling. The worst weeks would be up at 04:00 for the 06:00 flight to Amsterdam and the beyond (the only airline that operates out of my airport is KLM) travel through 4 European countries or more attending meetings and carrying out training then catch the 21:20 flight back to the UK and arrive at my house around 22:30 if I have to do back to back weeks like that then I get pretty fed up but luckily that probably only happens 5 or 6 times a year.

Because of the amount of travel and how much it eats into my presonal time then I'll occasionally go climbing on an afternoon if working from home

In reply to The New NickB:

I'm a middle manager in finance at a publishing firm. Due to childcare arrangements I can't work past a certain time every day so pretty much do my 35 hours a week and that's it. If i need to work extra it can be done from home or I can come in early but i try not to do this. I've got three young kids so i wouldn't be much of a father if i spent all hours working.

Working loads of extra hours usually results in your job expanding to fit those hours of. This is OK if you are comfortable with that and want to progress your career. I've seen people burn out in their late 30s early 40s as they have worked 50+ hours a week for years. Look around any office and you will probably find far more people in thier 20s and 30s than 40s and 50s It's impossible to sustain exessive working hours long term. The way i see it is if your job requires you to work regular long hours of unpaid overtime there is something wrong with the way you manage your work or there is something wrong with the expectations of your role.

In reply to The New NickB:

I'm an electrician and my work was as a sub contractor and work 10, 12 or more hours a day. there have been a few occasions when I worked a ghoster (arrive at 8 am and because there is a big deadline finish at 8 am the following day. yes the deal was good). in the late 90's I worked for a very large electrical contractor and worked in Harrods. there we worked 7:30 am until 7:30 pm and it wasn't unusual to work 7 days a week

Now I am no longer a sub-contractor, I am an employee. I write EICR (basically electrical MOT's for buildings, these need to be done every 3 or 5 years dependent on the type installation (public entertainment space i.e. cinema is anual, workshop 3 years and normal offices shops etc 5 years). there are some sites we test 20% a year so the whole site is tested over the 5 years.

Now I rarely work overtime as I realised on the whole it isn't worth it. my hours are suppose to be 37.5 hours a week but these change. for example if I'm testing a Pub I can start between 8 am and 11 am. a bank tend to start about 3 pm, a Sainsburys tend to start about 9 pm to 10 pm

I am regularly asked to work weekends, on the whole I decline because I work to live, rather than live to work.

I get 4 weeks paid leave a year, plus bank holidays. in addition the week between Xmas and new year.
After 2 years of service we qualify for 5 days sick leave a year (rather than the governments £85 we get paid our basic salary)

I drive all over the place for work. normally upto an hour but I did have a couple of days in Penrith this week (2 hours each way) but that is not common. When I'm working away from home I tend to be put up in Premier Inn's with dinner bed and breakfast.

work is ok but I think we all can whinge about the boss

In reply to The New NickB:

I work about 10 - 20 hours a week, spend a few days supporting my hard working wife then i climb

9-5 Monday - Friday

Rarely work after 5 as I have long been aware that the company will gladly lap up all you can give but not reciprocate. I don't tag my achievements to the company and work is something I do out of necessitity (and I can do it, I like my immediate colleagues and its a 15 minute bike ride there and back)

Even so, I look forward to paying off the mortgage (another 8 years) then hopefully dropping a day off that. What I want most is more time outdoors and with my wife and dog.

In reply to The New NickB:

I've worked very long hours over the past five years, rarely falling below 50 and going above 60 on too many occasions. I don't really consider Sunday a non-working day. I'm lucky that it's paid off, having recently benefited from a company sale. However, now I'm a mere speck within a larger corporate entity (the company that acquired us) therefore my willingness to work like a dog has dwindled in the three months since the sale. Still love the role, but I've done 5 years of solid graft and now I want to slow down a little. If I can get below 50 hours a week, I'll be happy.

In reply to The New NickB:

When in the office, work really hard, no facebook or UKC etc, except for lunchtime. When out of the office, I ignore work completely. I work only the contracted hours of 0900-1700 give or take a half hour either side. I always have more work than I can do, but is my work really that important? - no.

In reply to The New NickB:

Interesting thread and it seems a fair few people get to travel in their line of work or work from home. I, unfortunately, don't. I work in retail and until someone figures out how to stack shelves via a computer or I find another job I'm running around like an idiot emptying pallets of baked beans, fizzy drinks, crisps or booze (or occasionally all of the above in one shift) from 8pm til 1am Thursday through Monday with my weekend being Tuesday and Wednesday. The pace and workload (I'm generally put on the heavier jobs) mean I'm absolutely knackered after the five hours and rarely see morning (in at 1:30am, bed 3am, rarely up before noon). It's ideal for getting to climbing walls during the quiet periods but means I have no playmates to get out on my weekends with and it's one of the reasons I got into bouldering rather than roped climbing. It also means that I get to see those I live with (sometimes called "parents") for a couple of hours a day between them finishing work and me heading out.

Due to the nature of the industry at the moment (shopping habits changing, companies trying to save money everywhere they can) and the pace it's more stressful than filling shelves would be expected or should be so it hits the health and made me quit my old method of stress relief and, even if it's only five hours a day, it definitely seems to be on the wrong side of the old "live to work or work to live" line.

In reply to The New NickB:

Varies.. right now its much easier as I teach and have a position as an adjunct prof..

On teaching days I'm in school at 7 ish, work until 2;30.. no prep or marking..

On adjunct days I'll work till 12:00 in a school then be at the uni 12:30-4:00 on lab days or 2:-4:00 on lecture days and I do have a lot of prep as its the first year I've taught.

In the Fall I was also a XC coach so would drive 2 hours a day 4-5 days a week to coach in PA plus most weekends.

The money is atrocious for all jobs..

Money's kind of being ignored right now, my wife's at medschool and in $250,000 of debt, so I try to save but mainly for car repairs, holidays rather than long term as we may as well just try to minimise her debt.

I really enjoy the school teaching on some days, hate it on others, but its been a good experience seeing the variability between school districts.. I now fully understand why people move just to be in another school district.

Hours wise probably 35 hours a week up to 50 if coaching..

In reply to The New NickB:

What an interesting post!

I'm an Ops Director for an Investment/ asset management business. I commute from the South Peak District to an office in Brum 2 or 3 days per week, and travel to various places in Western Europe the rest of the time. I try to work from home 1 day per week, & succeed in this about twice per month.

Your post has lead me to total up my hrs: I work an average of 9.75 hr days with an average of 1.8hrs per day commuting on top. This is a price worth paying to live in the Peak District I think - a great place to bring up a family.

In reply to The New NickB:
This is interesting, i feel much better about my hours now!
I am a butcher/ baker/charcutera(terrible salary)with three kids 6/6/7 years.

Sunday and monday off
Tue-sat 0630-1800
30min lunch break
4 weeks holidays +bank holidays
Although at christmas i work 0530 to any bodys guess, sometimes midnight for the whole of December, and a week into January.
My commute is only 20mins

My wife has two jobs, and voluntary commitments so i dont get much time to climb at the moment,although we try take the kids walking in the mountains as often as we can, usually i'm just too phisically drained even if phsycologically it would do me good.
It can be pretty frustrating really,grrrrr!!

But i do play the lottery...........

In reply to The New NickB:

Interesting thoughts so far. The team I work in has had a spate of illness recently, which lead the manager to ask us to record every hour we worked, not just those we do in the office for a month. Turned out despite working in the public sector we were doing between 55-60 hours a week. Being paid for 37 the majority of the time.

I've actually handed in my notice today and I'm moving to the 'dark side'. My colleagues have been saying it will be so much harder and the hours will be longer in the private sector, but from what I've read here I don't think their perceptions are true.

I guess I'll find out