To not be certain what people mean when they say they work for 12 hours a day.

[topcat2014]

Now, I get that we are busy - but here is my question.

If people say they work 60 hours a week (say), then do they really mean:

At my desk from 07:00 to 19:30 with a half hour for lunch, every day - or

Leave the house at 07:00 and arrive home at 19:00.

I have never worked anywhere where staff are sat at their desks from 7am to 7pm, so not quite sure.

On an AFD shift - arrive at 9:30am. 20 minute break after lunch. Work through until 3am.

Hospitality.

I only do that once a week though then I'm off until 6pm the next day.

When I was a teacher I did 7am - 5pm at school, then another few hours at home, say 7pm-9.30pm. Plus work on Sundays. Nurses will do long shifts. I am now an engineer and work with people who do 12.5 h shifts.

I quite frequently used to do 8-8. Then, when I changed career, I regularly did 7-6, then a couple of hours when I got home. It happens.

12 hour shifts arrive at my desk 8am leave my desk 8pm so out of the house 14+ plus hours

Nurse... start work 0715, finish 1945, if I'm lucky. Unpaid 1 hour break.

Lots of people do work in the evening after being at work all day. In busy periods I work (run my own business from home) from 7am till gone 10pm.

DH used to work 100 hours a week at one point, ie 7 days from 7am till 11pm every day, no weekends off. (now retired thank god).

I use it for hours at work. As my commute is quite long, it would be stupid. I sometimes will say I am out of the house for x amount of hours to differentiate if I am talking about Home life
I recently finished a project and said it was 3 months of 10hour days but that was 10hours at office. I was away from home for 13 hours a day.

Where I used to work I’d start at 7:30 leave at 7:30 with one 30 min break.

I don’t think it includes commute, though I do work on mine.
Leave house at 7. Work on train from 8-9. Get to office at 9.15. Work through lunch. Leave office at 5. Work on train till 6.30. Work from 10pm-12 at home.

My partner works 12 hour shifts and this means clocking in at say, 6am and clocking out at 6pm. So he leaves the house at 5.15am and gets home at around 6.15pm (for example). Obviously that's not the case for everyone, one of my friends does "12hr days" but that includes the commute as well as the shift.

In my previous teaching job, in school for 7.30, left at 7pm, quick sandwich at desk or eating on duty supervising kids. So 11.5 hrs a day plus commute, plus a bit of work some evenings/ weekends.

Generally I think they mean at their desk.

DH used to work in corporate law, it was not unusual for people to arrive at 9am, eat a sandwich at their desk and stay till 10pm. Which I guess is a 65 hour week.
He only worked like that when busy, but for some people it's not far off the norm.

Having said that, I did describe myself as having worked a 12 hour day last week when in reality I arrived at the office at 9, worked till 5.30, then moved to another work venue grabbing a sandwich which I ate quickly when I arrived and set up before running a session 18.30-21.00.

That's not usual for me, but I guess because the hour break was mostly transit and in my head I started at 9 and finished at 9 it certainly felt like I'd been working for 12 hours.

DH regularly does 12 hour shifts 8.30-8.30. 45 minute drive either side. He is a Prison Officer. He averages 55-60 hours a week.
I do one or two 12-13 hour shifts per week 9am-10.30pm. I'm a Kitchen Manager. I average 40-50 hours per week.

The first one, but it might be a later start and finish, and sometimes carries on into a sixth day so not necessarily 12 hours a day every day. Or, they're working in a completely different environment so office hours don't come into it eg pub landlord.

I don't think anyone includes daily commute in their working hours, unless they're getting paid for that time.

DH often gets to work at 7am and leaves at 7pm, no break. He’s a doctor.

I know loads of places that do 12 hour days. It's really common in shift work. They generally get more days off a week though instead of doing a 60hour week!

@Mumblechum0 My OH is doing those hours at moment but only six days a week. He sleeps for most of Sunday but it won’t be for ever, just a few more weeks, then back down to 70 hours a week. The joy of running his own business!

Most personal jobs require you to take work home, work outside of hours outside the office in other ways or give you so much worl that yoof have no option to stay late. For example, my husband regularly takes office calls from clients up until 10:30 pm, will do extra work in the evenings after dinner for an hour or two, regularly goes to meet clients after they have finished their 9-5 day or on weekends etc. Other examples could be teachers taking home marking or doing lesson plans in the evening, work places that schedule meetings outside of contracts hours (Common), work places with a presenteeism culture (look up legal cheek data on start times and leave times for trainee solicitors in City firms). The list goes on. Very few people I know actually work 9-5 even thought they are contacted to our take their contracted break. This is very much the norm.

I would assume it didn't include any commute & the hours they were paid to work.

In my last job (which I left because of the stress) people would regularly be at work by around 8:30, not leave until 8 or 9pm, plus do some work at home on the weekends, so they were easily clocking up 60 hours per week. I can see how the hours can add up.

My DH works at least 12 hrs not including travel so he is actually in work and working for those hours. He is entitled to breaks but sometimes doesn't get peace to get them properly! So not right, I'm like a broken record!! He is however in charge so while some of it is out of his control, not all is but I know he's a control freak in work and things have to be done properly, on time etc. wish he was like that at home and he does have a degree of flexibility too because of the hours.

Arrive at 9am, leave at 9pm. Or, leave at 7pm, and start work again at 10pm for 2-3 hours. I used to do this all the time.

I used to work offshore in the oil industry. Everyone works 12hr shifts. Usually either 0600-1800, midday-midnight, 1800-0600 or midnight-midday.

Working 12 hours a day means just that. Maybe half an hour off for lunch and the odd loo break. I've done 60 hour weeks for short periods but I couldn't sustain it long-term.