Busting the Myth of Long IT Work Weeks
By Allan Holmes | Thursday, May 24, 2007 | 02:50 PM
By Allan Holmes | Thursday, May 24, 2007 | 02:50 PM
In one of its recent reports on the U.S. workforce, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that information technology workers don't work the long hours that the media and, well, the IT industry have portrayed. The average computer professional works 42 hours and 24 minutes a week, according to the BLS. That's the lightest work week of any professional group save one -- that would be educators, trainers and librarians, who average 41 hours and 18 minutes a week, blogger Eric Chabrow of CIO Insight journal wrote in his blog.
To top it off, Chabrow points out, IT workers as a group had the fewest portion of workers working the insane 60-plus hours a week: 7 percent of IT professionals say they work those long hours. Legal professionals have the largest percentage of workers (15 percent) who say they work more than 60 hours a week.
Another interesting fact in the BLS survey, Chabrow points out: The number of women working in the IT field dropped by 75,000 from 2000 to 2006. Chabrow, using that statistic, busts another myth: Women are leaving the IT field because of the long hours, which leaves less time for family. If that is not the case, then what gives?
As expected, many readers questioned BLS' stats when Chabrow first wrote about the survey findings in April.
Comments
I have to go with what the folks in the real world are saying based upon
the previous comments I've read as well as my own personal experiences.
Besides, the media is just too biased in its fact finding and reporting
techniques these days. Anyone who is just working for a living knows
the truth and it is just the sad state that the workplace has evolved
into.
I might be able to pinpoint what this data constitutes. We did a
study/data gathering at my office not too long ago where we filled out a
spreadsheet form wherein we selected 25 from about 120 predefined tasks
indicating the number of hours we spent on each. The exercise also
included the number of vacation days we took (negligible for me), sick
days (ditto), travel days and the total was NOT TO EXCEED 2080 hours (52
weeks x 40 hrs). The only exception to this was for formal overtime
requests that were granted. Getting paid overtime is practically an
extinct practice these days; very rare in my office with all the budget
constraints. In my 15+ years of work, I have never been paid overtime.
Anyway, under any circumstances were we allowed to enter in the many
hours of extra, non-compensated work time. It was pure salary
determined facts: You get paid for 40 hrs a week, so you work 40 hrs a
week. Yeah Right!
It would be interesting to see the breakdowns of work week by age group and by IT assignment. Regarding the former, I suspect that the hotshot developers in their 20s are indeed working 60-plus hours a week, eating cold pizza, and sleeping on cots in their offices just like the media portrays, while their elders work shorter (read, "more normal") hours as interest in other pursuits (marriage, family, hobbies -- in others words, having a real life) increases. Likewise with regard to IT assignment, my guess is that developers are predominantly working the long hours while maintenance types, e.g., those responsible for routine care and feeding of corporate networks, spend a more reasonable number of hours at work.
By the way, the belief held by many that educators "have the lightest work week of any professional group" is the real myth. While that may hold true for "time in the office" (i.e., the classroom), I can assure you that my high school teacher wife and every one of her colleagues whom I personally know spend a lot more than 41 working hours a week when time spent at home on school business is taken into account. I suggest instead that our President, who seems to be on vacation in Crawford, Texas, every time I turn on CNN, is the real slacker. But then that might be a plus for the country -- less time at work, less opportunity to screw things up even more than he already has.
Igorfetch | Friday, May 25, 2007 | 01:09 PMIt would be interesting to correlate the compensation level of those working in the 50+ hour professional fields, as well as the hours worked.
If an IT professional is paid 90K a year, versus a 200K lawyer, then the disparity in hours worked becomes acedemic.
Let's attempt a more thorough analysis in the future; before we critisize an entire professions's work ethic.
US | Friday, May 25, 2007 | 10:34 AMABOUT THIS BLOG
Allan Holmes on what's happening and what's being discussed in the world of federal information technology.
feed