Ableton Forum

Read about Apple putting a cap at 60 hours a week on Foxconn plants to which there were a lot of “Only 60 hours? Pfft. That would be nice.” replies. 40 hours is supposed to be the standard here in the states but many, especially in the tech industry, work well over that. I’ve heard in parts of Europe it’s more like a 34 hour standard work week.

Me? I put in my 40, sometimes a little over that. I think anything above that on a regular basis is offensive, but my commute is also 1.5 - 2 hours a day.

How many hours do you slave away?

I normally work around 45 hours a week, plus about 1.5-2hours a day travelling to/from work, 5 days a week.

Then probably a bit more working at home as well! I do a bit of freelance work on top of my day job.

My wife works at Amazon, and they flat out tell you when you interview they expect 45-50 hours a week minimum. I don't know if it's exactly required, but highly encouraged. Not an issue anyway, they all work 60+ anyway it seems like.

Hard to say for me, since just being me IS my business I guess.

Probably 35-40 doing actual mastering/mixing and business related tasks, but if you factor in the music making, live performances, DJing, etc that also bring in money it's rediculously higher.

I have the feeling that in the US working only 40 hours a week might give you a livable income but you certainly aren’t going to get ahead by anything substantial. Guess you have to decide between enjoying your free time or planning for the future.

@Tarekith. Do you think you are living the “Do something you love and you never work a day in your life” ethos?

25-35 hours per week for my preservation studio job.
10-15 hours per week teaching/grading/lesson planning
The rest of the time is taken up with dissertation work (reading, writing, and coding mostly), composing, practicing, and gigging.

Work pretty much never stops when you're working on a graduate music degree. It takes a special kind of self-loathing to want to do this.

at the beginning of the year i was working 60+ hours for about 6 months, then it got knocked down to 40. then in november, down to 0...i'm a union electrician, it's sort of how it goes.
my girl is a project manager, she works 12 hours or more a day...less on the weekends, but she is always, kind of working.
one thing ive noticed about the recession, it has made companies realize they can do the same amount of work, and be more profitable with less people (who end up killing themselves to pick up the slack, like they are messing up for not being able to do the work of two people) its a disturbing trend. i think 40 hours is reasonable. with overtime here and there. but 10-12 hours everyday...is disgusting.

eddiex wrote:
one thing ive noticed about the recession, it has made companies realize they can do the same amount of work, and be more profitable with less people (who end up killing themselves to pick up the slack, like they are messing up for not being able to do the work of two people) its a disturbing trend. i think 40 hours is reasonable. with overtime here and there. but 10-12 hours everyday...is disgusting.

THIS.

And don’t think for a second that once the economy improves that employers are going to lighten up the load on the recession employed slaves.

And even though I generally only work 8 hours a day, my 32 mile commute in varying traffic conditions usually kills any kind of motivation that I thought I was going to have when I get home from work.

But I think we are just passively accepting these things because we’re supposed to just be thrilled to be employed or are maybe working for some high profile company that is supposed to convince you that it isn’t soul sucking.

beats me wrote:

eddiex wrote:
one thing ive noticed about the recession, it has made companies realize they can do the same amount of work, and be more profitable with less people (who end up killing themselves to pick up the slack, like they are messing up for not being able to do the work of two people) its a disturbing trend. i think 40 hours is reasonable. with overtime here and there. but 10-12 hours everyday...is disgusting.

THIS.

And don’t think for a second that once the economy improves that employers are going to lighten up the load on the recession employed slaves.

And even though I generally only work 8 hours a day, my 32 mile commute in varying traffic conditions usually kills any kind of motivation that I thought I was going to have when I get home from work.

But I think we are just passively accepting these things because we’re supposed to just be thrilled to be employed or are maybe working for some high profile company that is supposed to convince you that it isn’t soul sucking.

I think with an improved economy comes better* treatment of the employed. If the job market improves slave drivers lose employees to better hours/working conditions.

And that just comes with more employment options. Greed only works so far in capitalism. Granted so far is pretty much into space and beyond. But there you are.

beats me wrote:@Tarekith. Do you think you are living the “Do something you love and you never work a day in your life” ethos?

Umm, maybe like 10-20% of the time. I love what I do but it's a TON of constant work too. It can be enjoyable at times sure, but most of the time it still feels like work, I have to always be busy doing something or another to make enough to have this be a viable source of income

I guess the difference now is that ALL of my work directly benefits me, the harder I work the more it pays off (usually anyway). Of course the flip side is true too, if I don't work hard I don't get any money and then it doesn't work

Mint Invader wrote:I think with an improved economy comes better* treatment of the employed. If the job market improves slave drivers lose employees to better hours/working conditions.

And that just comes with more employment options. Greed only works so far in capitalism. Granted so far is pretty much into space and beyond. But there you are.

Depends on the industry. I’m sure the employees of the Apple’s, Google’s, and Facebook’s of the world put up with ridiculous hours just so they can say they work there. They’ll only leave to work for a similar company…which will require the same ridiculous hours. But hey, the campus has a food court and tennis courts!

And if you're already used to working 80 hours a week at a young age you probably can't imagine a world where you work less.

Tarekith wrote:

beats me wrote:@Tarekith. Do you think you are living the “Do something you love and you never work a day in your life” ethos?

Umm, maybe like 10-20% of the time. I love what I do but it's a TON of constant work too. It can be enjoyable at times sure, but most of the time it still feels like work, I have to always be busy doing something or another to make enough to have this be a viable source of income

I guess the difference now is that ALL of my work directly benefits me, the harder I work the more it pays off (usually anyway). Of course the flip side is true too, if I don't work hard I don't get any money and then it doesn't work

But has your workflow and knowledge of your tools improved to the point that it’s become less time consuming and you can see over the top of the hill to where it’s going to be less, well, work? Can you take on some higher paying jobs instead of a ton of little projects for the same sum pay?

beats me wrote:

Mint Invader wrote:I think with an improved economy comes better* treatment of the employed. If the job market improves slave drivers lose employees to better hours/working conditions.

And that just comes with more employment options. Greed only works so far in capitalism. Granted so far is pretty much into space and beyond. But there you are.

Depends on the industry. I’m sure the employees of the Apple’s, Google’s, and Facebook’s of the world put up with ridiculous hours just so they can say they work there. They’ll only leave to work for a similar company…which will require the same ridiculous hours. But hey, the campus has a food court and tennis courts!

And if you're already used to working 80 hours a week at a young age you probably can't imagine a world where you work less.

Psshhhh my jobs a joke and its only a 4th of that. So I have no reason to complain about jack.

I work for myself, which involves getting up at 11am, drinking endless coffees until 2pm at which point I lumber into my "office" and get down to some serious forum posting and checking facebook/ reddit.

After a couple of hours it's time for lunch, which is at least another 2 hours of pissing about until I'm ready to get back to "work".

(6pm-8pm ) I do two solid hours of actual work and then it's time for another meal, another two hours of faffing about. Then at 8pm I go back and attempt to finish off what I started earlier but somehow wind up making music and surfing aimlessly. I figure I'm tired, and stop work for the day.

I take a week day off usually to go shopping or socialise.

So, that's um, about 8 hours a week.
Hard grafting. It's hell I tell ya!

Angstrom wrote:I work for myself, which involves getting up at 11am, drinking endless coffees until 2pm at which point I lumber into my "office" and get down to some serious forum posting and checking facebook/ reddit.

After a couple of hours it's time for lunch, which is at least another 2 hours of pissing about until I'm ready to get back to "work".

(6pm-8pm ) I do two solid hours of actual work and then it's time for another meal, another two hours of faffing about. Then at 8pm I go back and attempt to finish off what I started earlier but somehow wind up making music and surfing aimlessly. I figure I'm tired, and stop work for the day.

I take a week day off usually to go shopping or socialise.

So, that's um, about 8 hours a week.
Hard grafting. It's hell I tell ya!

Haha - I like it

Mint Invader wrote:
I think with an improved economy comes better* treatment of the employed. If the job market improves slave drivers lose employees to better hours/working conditions.

And that just comes with more employment options. Greed only works so far in capitalism. Granted so far is pretty much into space and beyond. But there you are.

i think most corporations, if they could do it all, with just one person, they would. i understand wanting to make a profit, that's cool, i get it. but waiting for the economy to get better to treat your employees right, having 2 or 3 times the work load for the amount of people you have then claiming "hard times" for the reason you aren't hiring....using the slow economy as an excuse for bad or unfair treatment, in my book is totally sketch!