If you only work your hours, how do you do it

[User9574]

By that I mean, if you work only your contracted hours and get your work done within those hours, what do you do to make sure that happens.

I am determined to change this next year. I am yet again playing catch up and I'm determined to make this the last time. Once I've caught up what do I need to sustain? If you stick to your hours, were you always like that? If you were in a job doing stupid long hours did you manage to change in that job? What tips do you have for someone who wants work/life balance? I really just want to hear as many tips and positive stories as possible so I can make the change.

It's not expected where I work do do extra hours. Some of what we do is done as paid overtime. You can bank hours over your contracted time and take it off another day.
A lot of my work runs over months or years but occasionally when there is a deadline they are incredibly important to hit and I will do the time necessary to get it done.

Arrange your working hours so your finish time is one of the later ones of your department, so that you are never the first to leave.

It is a lot easier to leave work on time if your hours are 9.30 - 5.30 than if they are 8.30 - 4.30.

I prioritise what needs to get done in one day and what could stretch to the next. Be strict with the things that need to be done immediately and if they require a lot of heavy thinking I do small parts of smaller jobs in between. Also making a timed schedule so I know I've done x amount of jobs by y time. This also means I leave time to eat at a sensible time. If I can't time it I give myself 2 hours to focus on something, 5 min tea break, 2 hours again. you have to be strict with yourself at first to get into that routine of getting stuff done in time. Then whatever carries to the next day I aim to have done by say 11am. Usually my days are split into thirds. 2/3 are spent on imporant priority jobs and 1/3 is the jobs carried into the next day. The next day starts with 1/3 and ends with that day's priority jobs for the 2/3. Does that make any sense or have the fairy lights I'm surrounded by melted my brain?

A combination of a few things, my line manager and my employer make sure my workload is manageable within the hours I have available.

I have annual objectives, monthly planners, weekly and daily to do lists to keep me on track. I allocate time to each piece of work and block out time in my diary for specific tasks.

I keep my emails meticulously filed and categorised and reply and action everything as soon as possible.

I make sure my working hours are advertised on my out of office and email signature. I never reply our of hours.

I say 'no' if I can't take on a task due to time or say 'OK I can do this, but xyz won't get done.' Prioritising.

But I guess a lot of it also depends on what you do and the culture of your workplace.

@BalloonSlayer

Arrange your working hours so your finish time is one of the later ones of your department, so that you are never the first to leave.

It is a lot easier to leave work on time if your hours are 9.30 - 5.30 than if they are 8.30 - 4.30.

Aren't people working from home? A lot of my team answer emails around the clock and make me feel like I'm a part -timer as I'm always catching up. I won't start having my computer on all evening though.

I'm a teacher. I've never just worked my contracted hours. Unfortunately it's expected in my job. And if I didn't do it, I'd be thought of as slacking/not doing my job properly.

@Ginfizplease

I'm a teacher. I've never just worked my contracted hours. Unfortunately it's expected in my job. And if I didn't do it, I'd be thought of as slacking/not doing my job properly.

That's the bit you need to get over - what people think.

I'm a teacher too, the job I didn't mention above, for fear of derailing

I live in a country where competence is valued and working more than your assigned hours is a sign that youre not very good at your job. My boss makes sure that the workload we have matches the time available. She is freakin awesome.

I read quickly and type quickly - it adds up!
I have a good system for email management which lets me quickly triage what's there and mark some things that I don't need to look at again.
I don't mind going over my hours when the pressure is on but I take the time back when things are quieter.
Having a set finish time really focusses the mind - until I had my son I was often late in the office just trying to get one more thing done, and then one thing more, not realising how slow and tired I was getting and how much quicker I could have got things done.
Ruthless prioritisation and good delegation.

I just got used to saying I haven't had time to do that. I also am realistic about what projects I can take on and if I am asked to take something on I don't have time to do in the deadline given I say so and always manage others' expectations. I also remind myself that on my deathbed I personally won't be wishing I'd worked another hour to get X done or needed people to like me for always getting their work done to their unrealistic deadlines.

I can’t believe how many people work for free. I just leave when it’s time, email back and say I haven’t got time this week. I never work for free

I work flexi so effectively only my contracted hours but sometimes it's busier and they I get the hours back when it's quieter. I only open an email once - either reply, file or add to to-do list. I have a good outlook filing system and run a zero inbox. I redo my to-do list regularly, keep diary up to date, and always put in if I have a yoga class, swim booking etc to prioritise that. I turn my work phone off (unless on incident standby) when I finish work for the day. I used to find that an occasional day WFH was great for getting through the list quicker than in the office.

I only ever worked the hours I was paid for.

If it wasn't done, it wasn't done. I've never worked a second more.

I've always been on min wage though, so it's hard to give much of a shit. But then again, if they want more they should pay more.

@cracracatlady

I can’t believe how many people work for free. I just leave when it’s time, email back and say I haven’t got time this week. I never work for free

Me neither. If I do work over because it's an emergency, I'll take the time back when it's quiet, either officially or unofficially.

BUT I'm not in a career job and I understand that a lot of people on MN are in big career jobs so either feel that they have to do this or can actually be promoted because of it so that's obviously a different situation.

I'm pleasantly surprised at this thread though. Most MN threads are full of workaholic types who think we should sell our soul to our employers. There was a recent thread where a hairdresser had been asked to clean her employer's home and there were people telling her to do it. Then the one about the person who logged in five minutes late...

Something a PP said resonates too. It's the 80/20 attitude to work. So I make sure that my work is good enough, and only spend the time perfecting a piece when it's essential to do so. Of course the depends very much on what your work is. I also learned from colleagues not always answer emails straight away. quite often a follow-uo email would come a couple of hours later saying "don't worry all sorted". I learnt that the hard way after spending all morning on the phone trying to sort out a problem for a client, they then emailed before I could email them saying they didn't need the advice anymore.

I work as a housekeeper. I could stay and do way more hours than I do. But I don’t get paid for them so I go home. End of.

I'm part-time so I've always worked exactly to my hours-I'm paid less accordingly so I don't see why I should give them free hours. I just stop working when my day ends, I don't really get the problem but then I don't compare myself to anyone else. In contrast to other pps I do the short simple ones first to get them out of the way before blocking out some time to concentrate on the bigger jobs. This then means I can say I've done ten things rather than one if the big task takes longer than I planned. I also have to log in to my work computer to check emails so I only do this in work time. I always meet my deadlines, although I will say immediately if I'm set one I don't think I can meet, I remind them I'm part-time and ask what work they want prioritising as I can't do it all by that date. I don't attend any optional meetings, I don't read the millions of newsletter type emails, I don't ever volunteer for anything or do training unless I can get time out of my normal work to do it so they accept a delay on other work. I'm probably lucky that my work place has a culture of encouraging a healthy work balance.

Where I work, it should get done during working hours or someone has to decide what gets delayed (or offers optional overtime). However some flexibility is expected so if say a major problem happens, then there would be an expectation that someone would stay until sorted (but then take the time back some other time).

So some weeks I'll do an extra 5 hours cos we're busy, but nobody would complain if I finished at 1 one afternoon

Wow this is great. I've read everything. I work in an account type role with projects and clients, deadline driven. The culture is not too bad. I have a backlog due to being new at the start of lockdown and sick leave. I can keep on top of a simple personal life - chores, exercise, food, family and friends.

I've made notes, this is what I've taken from the thread:

Annual objectives, monthly planner
Plan week on Friday
Start early/on time
No faff
Monday morning - make time for anything left over
Priorities that day
Do what needs to be done and not for show
Daily to do
Delegate early on
Delegate the task not the responsibility
My priorities first
2/3 priority tasks, 1/3 yesterday or tomorrows jobs
Block out time
Hard things first
Solid list of tasks
One task to completion
Email - couple of times a day
Triage emails
File/categorise/reply/delete email
Pick phone up - quicker
Extras for clients
List of quick wins
Nice to do's
Do a favour
Never park with no action
If need more info make plan and follow through
Not perfectionist
Clear about time needed
Not micro managing
Underpromise and over deliver
Turn down if snowed under
Meetings - keep to time
Distribute tasks
Working hours on email
Work phone off when not at work

This is going to my my NY resolution!!! Better work-life balance, the irony is that my life is work heavy even though I work from home

Invest time in training others, especially training your replacement. Do it well and others will be looking for opportunities to take work from you.

A long long time ago I worked for a boss who taught me to split work into 3 categories. A is must be done today, this is the important, not necessarily urgent work. We can get tied up with urgent things that don't really matter. B is the stuff I'll get to at some point this week. C is the stuff I'll leave until someone asks again. Usually that stuff never needs doing.

Yes, all of us could be more efficient and productive, but keeping to your work hours does not just depend on how you work, it is very dependent on how heavy and time sensitive your workload is.

If you have a job that pays you to do very little (they exist), then it is no great shakes to keep within the work hours.

If the workload exceeds the hours, you either have a job that you can delegate to others or there are no hard deadlines or transparent performance indicators. Or it is a job that is divisible e.g. you pick up a set of divisible and relative small discrete tasks and do what you can do during work hours and the rest overflows into the next day or is picked up by another member of the team (think call centre).