To ask if your DH/DP works a 70 80 90 hour week - what exactly does he do?

[Hetty241]

I often read posts on MN where women mention their husbands/partners working very long hours and wonder what jobs they do that entail such long hours.

So I thought I'd ask.

Engineer - call outs and emergency defects mean he can be out 18+hours per day i i also work around 70+ hours but can do approximately half from home. I run the engineering business my husband works for.

Works for himself developing software

Gas engineer/Plumber. Buggered if we have a cold cold spell. I've seen dh get the bus and walk to jobs to allow people to have heat and be warm.

He's working boxing day. Told him this morning he should have taken today off and he wishes he had now. We could have had 2 days together instead of one busy one.

We both do similar hours some weeks and it's because our jobs are global (marketing) so it's flights taken at 7am or 7pm and evening work dinners that ramps up the total. I am more like 60 hours than the top end though.

And don't forget sometimes it's counting out of house hours which includes 10 hours of commuting each week for many.

DH runs his own design company - it's still only him and his subcontractors so he could work 24 hours a day, every day unless he physically forces himself to stop. I did similar hours when I set up as self-employed. Very hard to find the balance when you've no safety net of a pay cheque.

Next year, Rodders :)

I used to work those sorts of hours when I was a lawyer, pre DCs. Great salary, until you calculate it on a per hour basis .

Chef. Self employed. It's not an ego thing it's a if the chefs not there the food doesn't get cooked and we don't make any money thing.

Groovee - am smiling at how lovely your DH is to make such an effort to fix people's heating. He sounds like our plumber, who is a very nice man who I am very grateful to be able to use.

My dh works as an accountant in a bank and I genuinely believe it is poor management that keeps him there for those hours. Like when he gets told at 4pm about a meeting requiring a presentation at 9 the next morning. Nobody knew about it until 4pm . Plus the ridiculous face time he does (emails from 4pm with amazon links etc when at his old job as really there was nothing more to do but nobody can leave until 6pm)

I work in a similar industry. I leave at 5 most days unless we have a major deadline and then rarely past 7. I always meet my deadlines but I work efficiently and quickly. I don't do face time, ever. I have rarely found this a problem.

It's true that when you work out your hourly rate it's not so great. Our dept secretary often complains that the academics earn more than her. But when you take into account that she works 30 hours a week, and we work 70+ and use most of our annual leave to do research, she gets a better hourly rate than we do

My dh usually works 45 hour weeks but at certain times in projects (he's an engineer) he does 90 hour weeks for up to 6 weeks at a time. It is part of his job but he does get a lot in overtime for it and his usual working hours are more flexible than most.

My oh is a nurse

Not a ego thing at all unless of course you would prefer if he jumped up while someone was passing and simply told the family well my shift has finished

Also people do hVe bills especially if you live in London you might as well earn 50p as the average wage down here means nothing

If oh was a nurse up north we could easily afford a 4/5 bed house down here that same wage wouldn't buy you a one bed
Flat

My DH doesn't, I do at busy times of year. Accountant. I like my job but would like it better if I could spend fewer hours doing it.

DP designs kitchens for high end hotels in the UK, Middle East and Europe, he works mad hours and has to fly to many different countries but he leaves early so that he gets a few hours at home with our family.

When we worked his hourly rate out, it wasn't far off what I earn doing 4 days a week at four hours! Shocking really but he's excellent at what he does and sometime he enjoys it ha

Dh does. He is an engineering manager
He still has projects to work on as well as man management so the days that he spends in meetings he then spends the rest of the night doing the project stuff.
He works 8-6.30 then 7-12 most days and also ad hoc through the weekend

Dh works these hours and is a lawyer. He absolutely loves his job. I think these sorts of hours are normal nowadays. He gets real fulfilment from his job and it pays well. I often wonder what jobs people have where they an actually leave at 5.30! I can understand if you had an unskilled job in a shop where you work shifts you can stick to the hours.

Hmm. Most people who 'work' those kind of hours are greedy bastards who put money above human connections or have some kind of obsessive issue I would think. I don't know if those count as job titles.

Isn't it actually illegal to work over 60 hours a week? I think often people do it to avoid other responsibilities (looking after kids, housework, etc) or because they want a lifestyle beyond what is needed for comfort. I have worked odd hours, but never chosen to put it before my other responsibilities, as I think that is a bit pathetic tbh. Maybe A&E doctors/nurses would have a reason to work longer hours, but no one else's job is so important that they should be failing to take time for other roles they should be playing. Even for those, actually, it's usually dangerous and ineffective to work so long and they become inefficient and too stressed to work properly. I can get a lot done in the 37 hours I'm paid for, though I do occasionally go over, but not more than 50 hours a week even when I've been working quite intensively (though I don't count reading out of general interest around your work as 'working' really). Also a lot of people who work long hours are actually just sat about chatting in their office for many of those, which is ridiculous!

My boyfriend is a lawyer and doesn't work anywhere near 70 hours but is pretty successful, so it's definitely not a job requirement (that's in Scotland though, suppose city types like to pretend their job is so vital they can't ever leave the office).

I used to when I was a Civil Engineer. Long long days out on site.

Now I teach part time and have my own business so still work long hours but more of them are at home, which is nice.

Director of financial company. His phone, email is always on. Often gets up at 5 to work.
Has a work ethic that I don't share.

isn't it actually illegal to work over 60 hours a week?

Hahaha! Only in some jobs. Until I had dc recently I worked in the film industry and my record was 104hrs in 7 days. I can assure you there was no sitting around chatting going on!

Hmm. Most people who 'work' those kind of hours are greedy bastards who put money above human connections or have some kind of obsessive issue I would think. I don't know if those count as job titles

Really? Where is your documented evidence of this?

My husband does a 40 hour week, as a teacher 75-80 hours is a normal week for me. At peak times I do more. Nothing to do with greed or avoiding my family , it is what is needed to get the job done - even then it is not fully done.

I would rather work fewer hours.

Don't bite, Ribena. The points aren't well thought out. Just ignore

Dh is a commissioning engineer, he is contracted for a 50 hr week but often works over this as he can't pick emails or receive phone calls on site (bad signal) so has to sort these at home. He has a new job in the New years working 40 hr week, we are quite looking forward to it, it will be a novelty.