To think 45 hours a week is too much

[Letthebodieshitthefloor]

Monday to Friday 9-6 with a 30 minute lunch break.
I'm sure there will be people on here who say they do 70/80 hours a week but I just feel that even 45 is slightly too much. Thinking of seeing if I can cut down to 4 days and 36 hours.

It would be too much for me definitely. That's practically a 6 day week.

It's 42.5 hours but either way it's too much for me, 9-5ish with a 30 min lunch and flexi time to work extra to take extra off is my preferred.

YANBU. I wouldn't do that every week unless I was being paid a bloody decent salary.

MN will tell you it's practically part-time hours, I'm sure

I run my own business and, on average, I work around 30 hours a week. This week, it's about 12 and it's bliss.

I suppose it depends how much you need the money/job but no I wouldn't choose to work that many hours if I had a choice

When I first started work in the late 90s, I did work about 45 hours a week on average but this was before I had DC or other commitments

I did this for around 20 years, although we did finish at 4.30 on a Friday for the last 5 years.
My office hours were 8.30-5.30, although the contracted hours were 40
In my main industry this is standard, I now work in a different area and WFH so I am 'available' 8-6 daily, although I only work for around 42 hours on a standard week.

Yes it's too much. You only have one life. One.

Pretty much what I did as a nursery nurse back in the day although we got a longer lunch and a 15 min break.
It’s a lot of hours but not unusual in some sectors.

I work 37.5 hours full time nhs and that feels a lot due to our long days and all day on my feet and minimal breaks due to workload.

It also depends whether that 42.5 hours is all that’s expected of you or if there is an expectation for you to do more. In my industry there’s an expectation to do a bit over contracted hours, say an hour a day, but the contracted hours are 36.25 so the extra hour broadly equates to your 42.5 hours. I would struggle to do more than that on top on a regular basis.

Yeah I do this 6.30-4pm so I can do nursery run at 4.30. It’s a killer sometimes but it’s nature of my industry. It is a lot. I used to do more before DS but try not to now. Try for the four days tho! That’s been on my mind a lot recently too.

I do 8-4 with 1 hour lunch break and it's perfect especially having the afternoon and evening free

Is it 30min paid with 30min unpaid? I think it’s fair provided you get at least an hour break per day & aren’t tied to a desk

What are you paid for and where are you based? 9hr working day is the standard in some countries.

It's very personal. YANBU to say it is too much for you. For other people it might be absolutely fine.

It depends on how much you enjoy your work, how long the commute is, how flexible the hours/location can be, how much you are paid, your other responsibilities and how much help you have with them. Whether you can afford to pay for a cleaner etc.

In a well-paid job that you love, with little or no commute or kids (or excellent support) then it's not a problem.

I think its too much personally but it also depends on salary and holiday allowance

Probably less hours than a teacher - but the longer hols make up for it. So it depends on how much annual leave you get.

If you are married with young children then yes.

If you are living at home with parents cooking you dinner it’s ok but I would want an hour’s lunch break.

Just depends on the job and other commitments. Doing that in a high pressure job with small children who don’t sleep well etc a completely different ball game to working that in a non stressful job and being able to come home and relax, weekends your own etc. I once worked a few days away from home living in a hotel and despite busy 13 hour days just having 8pm-7am completely free to myself everyday (plus 2 half hour breaks) I felt more rested when I came home than have done in years!!

I wouldn’t want to work those hours. Although I concede a high salary or school holidays type leave may be a sweetener for it.

I agree with PP it depends on other commitments eg do you have small children, other caring responsibilities.

Also depends on pay - if the pay is high enough to pay for cleaner, meal boxes, truly relaxing sunny holidays etc then that takes the pressure off in other ways.

Pre DC I used to work 60 hr weeks regularly and it was ok as I was young and childless and earned enough money to have a cleaner etc. Then DC came along… now I work a 40 hour week and it feels a bit much.

Also depends on how much your partner pulls his weight with household/DC stuff.

It’s a lot certainly! Especially if you have other commitments apart from work.

I often think my 37 hours full time is a lot!

Also depends on pay - if the pay is high enough to pay for cleaner, meal boxes, truly relaxing sunny holidays etc then that takes the pressure off in other ways.

^^
This is very true too. It doesn’t seem to bad to work long house if you can take the “edge” off with these things

22.5 hours a week is enough for me. 45+ is crazy.

I wouldn't do any more hours by choice. I don't know why anyone would choose to work more hours if they didn't have to tbh.

I had a job that was that and it felt relentless - 8.30 - 6.00 with 1 hour unpaid.

Where I am now is 40 but lunch is paid so 9-5 with your 30 mins lunch paid for all 8 hours. Much much nicer.

Depends how much you earn!

It's 42.5 hours. Depends on your personal situation and what the job will give you. It's not a large number of hours in some industries, where you'd find it hard to stop at 6pm every day, so worth being clear if this is maximum hours. It's certainly not unusual. How well it fits also depends on flexibility; if they want those exact hours plus a long commute then it would be hard to fit in with seeing children at all. If you can work from home and flex then you can make it work fairly easily e.g. 8am-9.15pm for 2 days with 2 half hour breaks (one to be with kids got half an hour in the evening), plus 3 shorter 6 hour school days then that could fit in nicely (presuming you have a partner to pick up just 2 mornings and evenings).