To think that some jobs should be paid ‘X’ amount to do the job, not the amount of hours..

[Bloodybrambles]

I’ve been trawling the internet looking for a part-time role. We’re in a privileged position that we can survive on one salary so I am being quite fussy to ensure I maintain a good work/life balance especially with having DD(1).

I’ve been looking at a few roles, similar to what I did when I first finished uni (at the same salary too!) and I can’t help but think ‘this really wouldn’t take 38 hours a week to reach these targets’.

I know there’s always the argument of ‘any other duties’ but the amount of people who just appear busy/procrastinate/not particularly efficient. There’s always some natural lulls in the work load, and that’s the point I’d quite like to be able to pick DD early/not appear to be busy just because I’m employed for 38 hours a week.

For starters, I’m a lot more organised than I was at 22 and I have a lot more experience in the field. I’ve developed strategies and processes to make me more efficient. It may have took 38 hours a week back then as I was finding my feet, learning the programmes and a lot of trial and error.

I know a few tradies, and they get paid a day rate, once they finish their job, they leave site. I know people skive while working from home but I’ve always been too paranoid to step too far away from my computer incase I get busted.

One hand I could apply for these jobs then persuade them that I could exceed all the targets/fulfil the tasks of a junior but ask for less hours. On the other hand it feels unfair that I’d be sacrificing part of the salary but the same productivity (or even greater!) of a full-timer.

Basically, I’m saying ‘AIBU’ if you need X,Y & Z doing and wanting to pay £24,000 a year, why does it matter if it takes me 38 hours or 28 hours. If something unexpected crops up, I carry a device that allows me to be contacted/access emails.

Presenteeeism is when you're unwell and feel pressure to go into work.

OP, it sounds like a role with fixed targets might fit the bill or contracted work maybe m

When I'm done my work I get to leave no matter what time. But I still only get paid the hours I'm working. Great in the summer when busy in the winter hardly seems worth getting out of bed for 3 hours work.

I'm a cleaner in a hotel chain

I'm customer service / finance admin. There will always be phone calls and emails. At no point would our teams workload ever be complete. Even in the last couple of days before Xmas when it's quite we start working through random bits of work be didn't have time to touch earlier in the year.

Sorry for this typos. I'll never get used to a non physical keyboard.

A lot depends on the nature of the job and the industry; In some jobs you’re expected to “pot as many balls as you can” in the time you’re paid for. In some jobs there may suddenly be a large, time-critical task that requires extra time. Of course, a reasonable manager and company will allow some “give and take” in exchange for commitment - OK, you’ve put in a lot of extra time this week, take tomorrow off or whatever - but basically they are paying you to be available for a certain time.
I’ve seen the other side of this too - when I used to do some private music teaching and pupils just didn’t turn up without any notice the parents couldn’t understand why I still expected to be paid!

YANBU, OP. I hate presenteeism with a passion. All this stupid crap about having to sit at your desk (or whatever) from 9 to 5pm! Most people just shit around and waste time to fill the day.

This is a societal problem - the idea that adults must be kept busy all day else - shock horror - they might do something they want ! Dreadful!

I work from full time, mostly from home and a lot of my role is also about getting the job done in no set hours. However my role also requires flexibility. Next week for example I need to drive three hours to one office on Tuesday and then I'm in meetings until 6pm, I have an overnight stay and then a day in the office and drive home. I don't get the next day off to make up for it as I'm at home with a full day of meetings.
To condense a role in to less hours than it's worth is pointless if it requires you to be around full time even if that means you have quieter days - and quieter days by the way are good times to get other work done and take a step back before it ramps up again.

I do wonder what they expected of me when they hired me, I quit pretty sharpish

I guess I've just not experienced this kind of work. The jobs I've had when young were sales assistant in shops, so you had to be there whether there were customers or not - service type roles paid by the hour.
Then I worked in publishing where there were daily deadlines. We were usually up against the clock to get pages off to the printer. Only the morning after putting the magazine to bed was it a bit more relaxed.
I did work in a university as student liaison- I found it hard as nothing tangible was produced at the end if the week. No sales figures, no actual product. It was a job that was undefined too - I kind of created what it meant. I was busy though but I had no real measurement of my success.
Now I work for myself so I can do four intense hours, there's no one watching me, no one monitoring how many clicks I am making, rather than eight half hearted ones.
I think the way work is now that most people seemed overworked; in that 'back in the day' their job might have been done by two people. I know my uncle (now 97), went in at 9, left at 5, worked at the same firm his whole life, no real stress. He did his job thoroughly and methodically. Could he done more in his hours? Probably, but the rate he worked was enough to be interesting without being pressured. You mention readies and I used to flip properties and it was always by the job, not a day rate.
If you are efficient at your job in that you can do it in shorter hours, then wouldn't you ask for more work to fill those hours if they are set? I want my work to be interesting and satisfying.

but why wouldn’t you have enough to do? Your job is designed to take the number of hours you’re working. I haven’t noticed companies that have so many extra people to run the company that many are idle - in fact largely the opposite, in that recent economic circumstances have caused companies to cut and cut staff base.

or are you referring to poor management where people are not performing, but it goes unnoticed or ignored?

I have a salaried role...decent salary, great benefits, good company. 6 of us in my role, a further 25 or so in a very similar role but more junior/lower pay.

During and after the Covid shitstorm we were inundated. Far too much work...so we were offered unlimited OT, but paid on a per-case basis rather than per hour.

The case work we do...from picking up to finishing a case could take from one hour to four hours.

During our OT periods, guess what happened - yep, all of a sudden some individuals' productivity went through the roof. And cases that would usually take three hours were being smashed out in 90 minutes and one hour cases in half that. And the quality was shit.

I can absolutely understand why big/office based employers pay for set hours, not set work completed.

Umm, I actually kinda have one of those jobs! Actually most of my accounts jobs have always been like this. I do the accounts and I often finish what I need to do. I can do more, or I don't need to. Sometimes I'm very busy, others not so much. I mainly work from the office but a bit of wfh.

So you're looking for something that will pay you a fixed amount for a set of deliverables. i.e. you get paid the same amount regardless of whether that takes ten hours in a week or whether it takes 40. You won't find that with an employer though. If they're paying you a fixed amount, the problem with that is, if it takes you too long to complete then your pay could fall below minimum wage. You need to be self employed.

I agree OP. It is partly why productivity is so bad. I was reading an article a while ago about people working from home who could do their full time job in half the time so they took on another full time job. One of them even had 3 full time jobs. Presumably it is illegal but it may depend on the contract.

No, I get the impression that she would like full time money but to get the job done in part time hours, and then treat the un-worked hours as her own.

I think a self employed situation would work better here. I am my own boss and when I am ‘done’ I finish for the day.

Started work at 7 this morning, we have worked through practically everything that needs doing today - we will be finished by 10. There is no other work coming in today but we are going to be here until 3, such a waste of time

Yes as above I would suggest work from home for jobs which you think you can achieve the output on sooner than the end of the day. For me I know I am productive working part time so probably do almost as much as others would working full time, but as things crop up urgently the employer is paying for my availability during the set hours I work.

Yeah I can’t imagine many employers being happy with that in the long term. I suspect the whole ‘other duties as and when’ part of a lot of contracts exists precisely to avoid efficient workers doing their job and then leaving. And I can’t think of many full-time jobs where you aren’t contracted to a minimum amount of hours in any case, so the employer’s argument would presumably be that they’ve paid for your time as well as your expertise.

Presenteeism is also when nobody wants to be seen to be the first person to tidy their desk and leave the office etc.

That's exactly my role. I'm salaried based on duties that are estimated to take around 37 hrs a week, but no one clock watches, and I just need to make sure I'm available between the core hours of 10:00 to 15:00. Some weeks I can complete all my tasks in 25 hrs, others it's 45 hrs, but on average it's around 30 hrs.

As we're professionals, we are tasked at about 80% utilisation.

Emails and incoming phone calls can take up a LOT of time in some jobs!! That might be why the workload looks low.

Bin man. It’s job and knock. You finish your round and you go home.