in you're part of the world how many hours do you work on an average week , also what is the minimum contracted hours your employer must pay you. my minimum is 40 hours if there is no work or 50 if I'm on a job(10 per day). I probably average 60 hours a week
Usually 60-65 hours a week. No minimum on hours though.
so if they had no work for the week you don't get paid
Why would or should you get paid for not working?
Minimum 40, no maximum, I am salary. However, I typically work 50-60 hours a week. While the rest of the company works 40, 8 and skate, as I call it. Must be nice.
if the outfit you are working for has no work for your machine and they expect you to be loyal to them, they cant expect you to sit at home for no pay. over here if your contract is full time the employer must pay you a minimum of 8 hours a day, granted they will only do that for a limited time before they lay you off, we get two thirds of our rate if we are sat at home with no hire to go to
I'm with RollOver Pete on this, why should you get paid for not working? I hardly see it as fair to the employer. I understand wanting to hang on to valuable people, but paying them for not working just doesn't seem right to me. I know it's not an issue for me now, but in the past, when we had slack time and still wanted to work, we could always find something to do maintenance wise on on or more of the machines or at the shop. I work 6 twelve hour days, then get 6 days off now, so it's hard to beat my current setup. There also appears to be no end to it...as long as oil prices don't plummet to record lows that is. Brian
We got 37,5h pr week, 7,5h work time pr day.(+1/2h lunch) Many work extra, but law regulates max extra per day, week, month and year. In the Army they say each of us is working for two, to much work and to little employers. So we get to much extra work, wife is not happy at all.... But then get a normal payment without extra time..... Regarding work and pay; You must show up at work every day, employer have to find work for u. As Alco says, u might end up in the workshop if work is low. If the firm is out of work totaly, you can be sent home with a written note that you are on "leave". Firm has to pay u for 2 weeks, then u are on unemployment wage payed by the state. U have to register from day one as a workseeker. And take any work given/offerred to you, if not u can loose your unemployment wage.
dont get me wrong, its not regular to be sat at home, ill explain a little more. we only have 10 machines, all long reaches ranging from 14m to 26m reach and 23 to 100 ton , so all specialist kit. work can be anywhere in the uk so you are away from home all week the company does not have a yard as such so there is no work to be done there during slack times the office is 150 miles from my house, so going there to sit around waiting for a hire is not an option so , put it like this if there is no work for a few days , he can either pay us full rate at 10 hours a day plus expenses and lodging allowance per day, or pay us two thirds pay on 8 hours a day and no lodge, which is half normal pay, which do you think he will prefer. i have worked for him for a year now and sat at home paid for a total of 3 days,he has made some very good money but i would not expect him to give me an extra cut of his profits. swings and roundabouts
we work 40 hour weeks with no minimum hours. overtime comes when there is an emergency
Correct! Now working at a rock pit it isn't a big deal unless we have 3 days of heavy rain, at which point we shut down because it's turned into a mud bog. Rollover Pete- I agree and disagree. At one point I was Teamsters and we would get a guaranteed number of hours a day, so if there was no work we got something for our trouble. As an example where I am now had a paving job last saturday. It rained and after loading 9 trucks with hot mix they canceled the job because it was too muddy. The guys got up early on a saturday and only worked an hour and a half. Myself I'd be pissed about that considering they don't work weekends too much. Now say 40 hours pay for not one thing done, then I see your point and agree fully. Myself I'd do what I could to get some hours, maybe even be a quarry rat at operator wages.
I've been working almost 70 hours a week for the last 3 weeks. You gotta take the hours when you can, it's almost winter.
Winter? In Seattle? You crack me up!:lmao
We had one of the coldest days in a long time for this time of the year today, only reached 70 degrees, had a couple cold chills It was 90 two days ago:beatsme But to stay on topic I usually work 40- 50 hours a week when I'm out of college.
our contract states. two hours show up, the contractor has till 10 pm to call you off or you show and get 2. once you turn a key you get 8 hours. that keeps contractors from screwing you with a bunch of half days. anything over 8 is time and a half or double, saturday is time and a half, sunday is double.
We got 37,5h pr week, 7,5h work hours pr day on contract but usually i work minimum 60 hours and up to 90 hours pr week when in the rental busines you have to hang in there when your on a job so the customer will choose you again next time
As a business owner I can't understand how to bid a job with enough "extra" in it to pay the employees when the work runs out. The work here is competitive in good times, and down right cutthroat when it is slow like this. We usually work for a fixed contract price, and to add enough to a job to cover this "employer sponsered unemployment" would pretty much insure I would be out of work. The rental, or plant hire as you call it, companies get paid only for the hrs worked, and the contractor bids how many hrs it should take to do the job. Getting stuck paying for employees wages all day when the whether turns or something makes it hard to ever get ahead. I understand the employee is not at fault, but neither is the contrractor, and we can't get paid when we do not work. I typically work people 40 hrs, but if it is busy, then as many as it takes, and if it is slow, then as many as we can. Those that put forth extra effort usually get more, the ones that do just enough to get by always go home first, and usually wonder why.
I know, right? Can't figure out why the rain shuts everything down, but it does. Irritating for sure. I only have another week on the job I'm on now then I'm gone, hopefully I'll go somewhere else within the company. Boss is keeping senior journeymen for the remainder of the job to get them through the winter I guess. He said even then they might only work 3 days a week at times due to rain. Wish we could go full bore and run a full crew, but then by the time December rolls around, there wouldn't be any new work to start because everyone is paranoid of rain.
We work 14 days on 7 off 85-90 hours a week.
I sure don't miss that garbage. Was at a job in Issaquah a few years ago and the mud was so thick and deep I had a loader chained to the front and back of the semi so I could get in. 'Course they left me on my own to get down mud mountain!
good thread I'm enjoying this thread, not just because of the work hours discussion, but also the viewpoints presented, both from employee and employer side. We're company owners (and operators, and cleanup guys, bill payers, janitors, etc, etc, ie small businessmen), and the balancing act of keeping guys busy during slow work periods is an interesting one. I try to be as transparent with our team as i can regarding workload and company finances. When work is heavy, we work guys to the bone, and as things lighten, or we're between jobs, we try to "find" things for guys to do that will pay dividends down the road. Like a previous post indicated, we can't bid work with the intent of paying for time at the house, and very little "yard/shop" time, especially in this economy. We have this issue come up a lot. Guys want to make more money. Shoot, we all do. Employer and employee don't often see the other's viewpoint, in my opinion. Employee often wonders why employer doesn't give more hours, or just pay more, has old equipment ,etc. etc. The very real picture, at least for us, is that there is a very real scenario which exists in which material suppliers, employees, subcontractors and other bill collectors get their cut from a job, and we the owners (and last to get paid) receive little to nothing. I think a misconception by employees in some outfits (maybe not the majority of , and surely not all) is that the owners have lots of money, and that there's a sense of entitlement to receive x hours per week (or x dollars per week) for their skills and loyalty. This leverage changes in my opinion , due to the quantity of the local workload. The employer (me) is often shortsighted and views the employees as valued, but but often ungrateful for those hours "created" through work won by the company. I sometimes forget that it (the company) is an assembly of people, not iron and machines , and that the company itself is actually larger than either owner or employees. That said, i feel that running a business is a two way street. When projects are successful, i'd like to think that we share in the rewards. Additionally, when work is slow, i believe that the whole company must sacrifice (subjective term used) to keep things going for the long haul. One previous post mentioned that the guys worked on a Saturday, and only got an hour and a half or so worth of work , if i read it properly. Post also mentioned that over half dozen asphalt trucks were loaded. I presume these trucks were sent back to the plant, unused. I couldn't help but think about the poor owner of the company that had to eat the cost of that hot mix, labor and trucking / fuel, only to make zero dollars that day..... Sorry, i digress here. To the original poster's question on work hours per week: For Me: Working or thinking about work all hours not spent with my wife, at church, sleeping or eating. Typical small businessman
i respect the fact my employer has to make a living and i even said when i started back for him all i wanted was a fair days work for a fair days pay,i must have done something right last time i worked for him as he has been calling me for 2 and a half years to come back. i do my best , i keep the machine in good order and do no dammage , i can do small repairs to keep downtime to a minimum and im not one to be on the phone whining all the time like some of the others, i normally get praised from the contractor i am on hire to.... or so i am told by the boss. at the end of the day if i do well on jobs he gets more work which keeps me in work . we are lucky as the minimum hire is 10 hours a day with no allowance made for weather,we are also lucky that there are not many machines in the same class as ours inthe uk.
Yep that was me. While I can appreciate the lost revenue I don't have much sympathy when the guy drives around in a decked out Escalade, has around 10 different HD cycles and a nice car collection. The guy worked hard to make the company what it is, but similarly he can seem to have no business sense. An example is the company is for sale, but he's keeping the mineral rights, in essence selling the land and equipment. Who the hell wants to buy all that old equipment that needs replacement and repair?! Oh well, life goes on and the paycheck doesn't bounce so there's always a sunny side:drinkup
Our company employs us Operators, Boilermakers, Pipefitters, Carpenters, Laborers, Plumbers and Teamsters. We work 4 10 hour days and 2 8 hour days pretty much all the time. It's a good gig at the refinery as we are service contractor for Marathon here in Detroit. Our work can be hard and dangerous as well as cut and dried and gravy as they say. Turnaround work comes in spring and fall, 7 days a week work for a month or so. They run a tight ship here as everything must fall into place. No room for error so to speak. It reminds me of work I have done in the past in Steel mills but this place is clean!
I was just thinking of this the other day, far as employer and employees etc. First off, the company I am working for right now regulates how much certain guys work, depending on their job(truck drivers work the least). For myself if I have work to do I am allowed to do what ever I need to to get it done with. I usually average between 60 and 70 hours a week, depending on time of year and where I am working at. I do not have to take a lunch either. Come winter time and if we are in the shop working things are regulated a lil more. But even for the truck drivers, if work is needed to be done then get it done and do what it takes to keep the customers happy. Now I am an employee of a large concrete and crushed rock company. I still look at things the way I did when I was with my Grandpa, Dad and uncle in our family earth moving business. Trying to do things the most efficient, getting the most out of the hours in the day, not moving equipment all over the place for lil things here and there and fixing not just replacing things that break. The way I look at it, every employee is just as much an owner to the company that they work for, if they waste time and money all it is doing is costing the company and ultimately THEM money. As employees we should be looking at anyway we can to save the company money and thus making more money. Maybe I am just too fussy and worry bout things too much(still thinking like the owner). But I do belive all companies would be better off if all employees thought that way. Just my own opinion. Trbo
Hmmmm.... I'm not 100% sure, but out here, I've been on jobs where they would keep you around then send you home at 4 hrs. due to the wind or lack of water or whatever... In other words, You show up, thats good for 2 hrs. You go to work, that gets you 4 hrs. You work over 4, then you get your 8 hrs. A contractor I once worked for (Nuevo Eng.) did this quite often... The wind was also always blowing which I'm sure had allot to do with it. Regardless, 4 hrs was better than nothing. And yes, we all whined and sniveled and moaned..... But getting 8 for doing absolutely nothing is just one more way of pricing ourselves out of the market. While I'm a Union operator, I'm also the 1st one to go out and find something else to do during slow times. Many call that being a "Scab" but you know what, This Scab has got bank :drinkup I pay my union dues 1 year in advance although I have not worked a union job since Feb or March. I don't do unemployment or out of work lists. The halls are packed full of out of work operators whose unemployment benefits are close to running out. To those who are strong enough to wait it out that long, I salute you. :usa I am in no way shape or form man enough to survive on the crumbs known as unemployment. Thats why I continue to work as many hours as can for as many days as I can. Anywhere from 50-80 hrs per week. When the object of the game is to always advance yourself, your lifestyle and your income, taking any kind of reduction in earnings is a poor business decision. Union or not, when you stumble upon an opportunity that will allow you to gain or advance yourself, you take it.
Roll over Pete I agree with you. The turn-the-key-8 hour thing gives everyone, even me a bad taste in the mouth. The 2, 4, 8 thing is ok with me, but knowing you just got 8 as your Egg Mc muffin is just completed makes me sad.
between 40 to 50 hours a week. Voluntary Saturdays. We take only 1/2 hour break a day and get paid for it.
40-60 here from Jan - Sep and in october i only work 24 hrs a week NOV AND DEC I only work 8 hrs a week ... on sundays
13 hr. days, time & 1/2 after 8 AND after 40...Sat. is all time & 1/2 but there's not a whole lot of Sat. work. Overtime isn't ever an issue with this co. for some reason, you can't work enough hours for them. Being a Fed. funded job, that's understandable. There's many a day that machines sit idle, never start up and everybody is floundering around finding something to do to keep from going crazy for 13 hrs. too. I'm not used to that, and probably never will be. Good thing it's close to home or I'd have jumped ship long ago operating like this. Good lazy man's job I guess...
40-70 hours, usually average 50. I have vacation pay i use on days we are off because of weather, which isnt many.
Work 55 minimum as an engineer. If I work saturday it'll be 60 at least. I probably work the fewest hours of any of the engineers on the job. Get paid salary so my pay never changes. Our crews work 50 normally. More if we work on saturday obviously.
40 to 60 depending on what we are doing.Time and half after 40 In the winter it can be a whole lot more, most I ever worked was 85 Hrs, during a big snow storm.
No more the 55 hrs. if I can help it 45-50hrs. makes me happy. Not long ago I would take all the over time I could get. Then it hit me about the time I bought my house I don't want my life to be all about work.
hours worked I work about on average 75 to 85 hours a week and have done for the past 25 years, my record for hours worked in one week is 128 hours, my record for being paid is 200 hours, the wages clerk asked me, how many hours have you worked this week, I said it must be 250 hours, he said I cannot book you in that amount, can you put 50 hours on next week (this was working on a Pipe line) so thick me was paid for 200 hours in one week (result to the working man) a simple bit of maths would have stood the wages clerk in good position??? I still have the wage packet saying hours worked 200 ??? in one week. you dont get those jobs now??? blowing it on tctractors
50 to 60 hours a week