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I’m starting to take some liberties at work (1 Viewer)

Otis

Otis

Footballguy
Been with the same place for almost 20 years. Have worked hard and performed at a pretty high level relative to peers.  Don’t take a ton of vacation. Kids these days take like 3 months “paternity leave.”  I was emailing while my wife was in labor and took a week tops with each kid. 

Lately I’ve come to the conclusion that Fridays, especially summer Fridays, are better at home.  I don’t take a ton of vacation, so justify it in part that way, and also based on the fact that sometimes I have to travel a bunch, and also based on tenure.  But basically I haven’t been to the office on a Friday in a good long while at this point.  I get done what I need to get done. But I’ve realized the four day work week is where it’s at.

Am I taking advantage?

kthx

 
Not a bit. I've shifted to almost entirely home based when I'm not traveling and it has been glorious in every respect. Getting more done, working more but feeling like I'm working less, and the flexibility is just awesome.

 
we have a lady working 4 day weeks. she loves it. and a lady who just retired that took every Friday off all summer. it's the way to go if you have the time. especially with kids, Oat.

 
Otis said:
Been with the same place for almost 20 years. Have worked hard and performed at a pretty high level relative to peers.  Don’t take a ton of vacation. Kids these days take like 3 months “paternity leave.”  I was emailing while my wife was in labor and took a week tops with each kid. 

Lately I’ve come to the conclusion that Fridays, especially summer Fridays, are better at home.  I don’t take a ton of vacation, so justify it in part that way, and also based on the fact that sometimes I have to travel a bunch, and also based on tenure.  But basically I haven’t been to the office on a Friday in a good long while at this point.  I get done what I need to get done. But I’ve realized the four day work week is where it’s at.

Am I taking advantage?

kthx
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hi I take 4 weeks of vacation a year. You work too hard. When you die some other mope will be sitting in your office a week after they clear the flowers out. 

 
I work from home every Thursday and Friday and that's on the low end for everyone in my group. If my kid was in school full time I'd probably only go in once a week or so.

 
Ron Swanson said:
Not a bit. I've shifted to almost entirely home based when I'm not traveling and it has been glorious in every respect. Getting more done, working more but feeling like I'm working less, and the flexibility is just awesome.
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I have been working from home for the last few years when I'm not traveling and I love it.  I wish I had started doing it years earlier.  

 
I get about 10 weeks of vacation. But if I can ever figure out how to do my job from home once a week, you better believe I would be all over it

 
If there's one thing I've learned in the past couple of years, its that's in 99.9% of companies (and absolutely all companies of any sort of size), you are nothing but a set of numbers to them. You're nothing but your salary and what you bring in in comparison.  No matter how hard you work, how much you go out of your way to help others, how much you sacrifice,  or just flat out how good you are, they will always find a way undersell you, undercut you and just flat out screw you.  And even if they're not ACTIVELY trying to screw you, there's often nothing you can do to avoid getting screwed by circumstance.

I used to think that by not taking random "sick days" (which for most people, are just days they dont feel like coming in), not regularly working from home (since my team has a lot of less experienced people that come to me with lots of questions) and volunteering to step in and help, I was setting myself up for success. About 6 months ago, I realized that it just made me a sucker. 

Punch the clock, do your work to the best of your ability, forget about it the second you walk out the door. That's where I'm at now. Life's too short.

 
TLEF316 said:
If there's one thing I've learned in the past couple of years, its that's in 99.9% of companies (and absolutely all companies of any sort of size), you are nothing but a set of numbers to them. You're nothing but your salary and what you bring in in comparison.  No matter how hard you work, how much you go out of your way to help others, how much you sacrifice,  or just flat out how good you are, they will always find a way undersell you, undercut you and just flat out screw you.  And even if they're not ACTIVELY trying to screw you, there's often nothing you can do to avoid getting screwed by circumstance.

I used to think that by not taking random "sick days" (which for most people, are just days they dont feel like coming in), not regularly working from home (since my team has a lot of less experienced people that come to me with lots of questions) and volunteering to step in and help, I was setting myself up for success. About 6 months ago, I realized that it just made me a sucker. 

Punch the clock, do your work to the best of your ability, forget about it the second you walk out the door. That's where I'm at now. Life's too short.
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I read this in the voice of Peter Gibbons.

 
Otis said:
Been with the same place for almost 20 years. Have worked hard and performed at a pretty high level relative to peers.  Don’t take a ton of vacation. Kids these days take like 3 months “paternity leave.”  I was emailing while my wife was in labor and took a week tops with each kid. 

Lately I’ve come to the conclusion that Fridays, especially summer Fridays, are better at home.  I don’t take a ton of vacation, so justify it in part that way, and also based on the fact that sometimes I have to travel a bunch, and also based on tenure.  But basically I haven’t been to the office on a Friday in a good long while at this point.  I get done what I need to get done. But I’ve realized the four day work week is where it’s at.

Am I taking advantage?

kthx
Click to expand...
Been doing the same for over 3 years now.  I don`t work Fridays in the summer months.  Then I switch in fall and winter on my schedule and take Mondays off.   Nothing better than sleeping in on a Monday morning.

 
I took 4 days off when my first kid was born and 1 day off with the second. Third was born July 9th and I'm off Labor Day to Veteran's Day. Boss is not pleased, but I'll remember time with the kids a lot longer than time in the office.

"Thanks for the ball dad, c'mon let's play..."

(Written from an Atlanta Holiday Inn after Delta cancelled my ATL-JFK flight and I'm away from the family for an extra day)

 
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I work from home or the road every day.  I haven't worked more than ten mins in my office since they took the TV out of the conference room back in 17.  Boss probably hates me as I skip all company meetings and trainings.  But I do make them money and that's what really matters imo.  

 
Otis said:
Been with the same place for almost 20 years. Have worked hard and performed at a pretty high level relative to peers.  Don’t take a ton of vacation. Kids these days take like 3 months “paternity leave.”  I was emailing while my wife was in labor and took a week tops with each kid. 

Lately I’ve come to the conclusion that Fridays, especially summer Fridays, are better at home.  I don’t take a ton of vacation, so justify it in part that way, and also based on the fact that sometimes I have to travel a bunch, and also based on tenure.  But basically I haven’t been to the office on a Friday in a good long while at this point.  I get done what I need to get done. But I’ve realized the four day work week is where it’s at.

Am I taking advantage?

kthx
Click to expand...
You are taking advantage, but the typical 5 day, 40 hour work week isn’t based on anything scientific. Other places throughout the world have no such standard. If you do your job and do it well, the actual time spent in the office is immaterial.

 
Otis said:
Been with the same place for almost 20 years. Have worked hard and performed at a pretty high level relative to peers.  Don’t take a ton of vacation. Kids these days take like 3 months “paternity leave.”  I was emailing while my wife was in labor and took a week tops with each kid. 

Lately I’ve come to the conclusion that Fridays, especially summer Fridays, are better at home.  I don’t take a ton of vacation, so justify it in part that way, and also based on the fact that sometimes I have to travel a bunch, and also based on tenure.  But basically I haven’t been to the office on a Friday in a good long while at this point.  I get done what I need to get done. But I’ve realized the four day work week is where it’s at.

Am I taking advantage?

kthx
Click to expand...
Are you still beholden to a senior partner for work?  If so, I can see why you’re asking the question. Once you are working pretty exclusively for your own clients, you can do whatever the hell you want. I came in when I wanted, left when I wanted, and worked from wherever I wanted. As long as I was accessible to my clients, generating business, and billing hours, it didn’t matter to anyone. Of course, being regularly in the office is often the most convenient and efficient for a big firm lawyer because you need to meet with your minions on cases, access paper files, attend meetings, etc. But once you have your own book and no “superiors” looking for you, you are largely free to do whatever the hell you want. 

Now if you are in the above situation and are still asking if it’s okay to work from home on Fridays, that’s a self-imposed mindset. 

EDIT:  Now that I’m in house, I’ve lost that flexibility, which is one of the downsides to going in house in a corporate environment where people expect you to be available for face to face meetings. 

 
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If you don't start doing this now, you will never enjoy any of those $100K weddings.

Serious answer: It's already been mentioned, but don't be the guy that regrets working too much. On your deathbed, later in life, if you are lucky to even have that moment, I can guarantee you will not look back and wish you were at work just a little bit more. It will be the opposite.

And along the same lines, start taking care of yourself. Those 3 girls of yours don't want a $100K wedding from you. They want you around to be with them years from now when they have kids. They want you to be a grandpa. You can't do that if you don't start getting healthy now.

 
Gawain said:
I took 4 days off when my first kid was born and 1 day off with the second. Third was born July 9th and I'm off Labor Day to Veteran's Day. Boss is not pleased, but I'll remember time with the kids a lot longer than time in the office.

"Thanks for the ball dad, c'mon let's play..."

(Written from an Atlanta Holiday Inn after Delta cancelled my ATL-JFK flight and I'm away from the family for an extra day)
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That song kills me. I have no personal connection to the song as my father was always there and had time and I have no children, but it's still a painful thought. 

As far as four days a week goes and the OP, I have no idea about the situation and the ramifications of working for big law as a junior partner in NYC. That's a whole different animal from my experience that Otis has to judge for himself with guidance. I think bb did a nice synopsis on his situation. 

 
Capella said:
Otis I don’t know who convinced you that you need to give up a life and be some desk hound but they were wrong buddy. Go enjoy it. 
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:goodposting:

I'll never understand why people hold as much vacation time as the company allows.  I take every single day every single year.  What they'd pay me in $$ isn't close to what my personal time is worth, so "saving" PTO days never made any sense to me.  An interesting new phenomena is coming from the new company we are being sold to.  Apparently there they don't have a set number of PTO days.  Take as many as you want as long as your manager approves.  I plan on fully testing the limits of that policy.

 
I thought this was going to be about Otis going to work with his pitbull and an AK strapped over his shoulder.  I was mistaken.

 
I've always been a show-up-in-my-office-every-day guy, but I've been making a point to create more three- and four-day weekends.  I seldom have anything in particular planned for those days -- they tend to just involve sleeping in a little and hanging out around the house quietly, but my office functions just fine when I'm away.  Amazingly, people often end up solving their own problems when I'm not around to solve their problems for them.

 
Da Guru said:
Been doing the same for over 3 years now.  I don`t work Fridays in the summer months.  Then I switch in fall and winter on my schedule and take Mondays off.   Nothing better than sleeping in on a Monday morning.
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:goodposting:

I get a day off every two weeks. I've moved it around a bunch over the years, and I've concluded that unless you're single and still partying on weekdays Monday is the best day off by far. If you have some kind of flexibility in your work schedule I highly recommend it. I had to switch to Fridays recently (kids' schedule thing) and it's killing me.

 
Otis said:
Been with the same place for almost 20 years. Have worked hard and performed at a pretty high level relative to peers.  Don’t take a ton of vacation. Kids these days take like 3 months “paternity leave.”  I was emailing while my wife was in labor and took a week tops with each kid. 

Lately I’ve come to the conclusion that Fridays, especially summer Fridays, are better at home.  I don’t take a ton of vacation, so justify it in part that way, and also based on the fact that sometimes I have to travel a bunch, and also based on tenure.  But basically I haven’t been to the office on a Friday in a good long while at this point.  I get done what I need to get done. But I’ve realized the four day work week is where it’s at.

Am I taking advantage?

kthx
Click to expand...
If the company is OK with it, you're not taking advantage. All the rest of your reasoning is where you kind of lose me. I've never been big on the "I earned it" type of thought process. 

 
Terminalxylem said:
You are taking advantage, but the typical 5 day, 40 hour work week isn’t based on anything scientific. Other places throughout the world have no such standard. If you do your job and do it well, the actual time spent in the office is immaterial.
Click to expand...


This is an excellent point.

I do most of my work with our overseas offices. Right now we're really slow (which is why I've taken 3 of the past 4 Fridays off and plan to do so for the rest of the summer) You know why? Because all of Europe is basically on Holiday for the entire month of August. They'll all on vacation.

Europeans are mostly pretty stupid and ridiculous (and exceptionally terrible at the industry that I'm in)  but this they got right.

 
Most jobs I've worked for (not including my current job) have had the philosophy that were all grown adults.  We know what our jobs are.  If you can get your job done by the agreed upon date, they didn't care where you were on what day or how you got it done.  If you're getting your job done, then there's no reason to think you're taking advantage of your job.  Enjoy life, GB.

 
TobiasFunke said:
:goodposting:

I get a day off every two weeks. I've moved it around a bunch over the years, and I've concluded that unless you're single and still partying on weekdays Monday is the best day off by far. If you have some kind of flexibility in your work schedule I highly recommend it. I had to switch to Fridays recently (kids' schedule thing) and it's killing me.
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My wife says the same....she's a professor.  Says there is nothing better than no classes on Monday.  It's the best change she's ever made.

 
Otis said:
Been with the same place for almost 20 years. Have worked hard and performed at a pretty high level relative to peers.  Don’t take a ton of vacation. Kids these days take like 3 months “paternity leave.”  I was emailing while my wife was in labor and took a week tops with each kid. 

Lately I’ve come to the conclusion that Fridays, especially summer Fridays, are better at home.  I don’t take a ton of vacation, so justify it in part that way, and also based on the fact that sometimes I have to travel a bunch, and also based on tenure.  But basically I haven’t been to the office on a Friday in a good long while at this point.  I get done what I need to get done. But I’ve realized the four day work week is where it’s at.

Am I taking advantage?

kthx
Click to expand...
Absolutely not.

Deep down everyone knows if they’re pulling their weight or not, and we all know what our reputation/perception is around the office. Theres a BIG difference between easing off the throttle and coasting.

If anything I think the people that matter will respect you for making that move while still performing at a high level. In today’s connected work environment, you can likely do a large part of your job from your phone or home office anyway. Your company keeps the roof over your head but they don’t own ya. 

With my current role I’ve been lucky enough to work from home about half the time if not more. I haven’t worked a Friday in ages aside from one or two fires that needed my presence. I think showing up for those earns a lot of leeway, knowing I’m available if the SHTF. 

About to head to lunch with some buddies from the BBQ team who are coming in from  out of town. Wings, beers, and bull####ting are the order of the day. :banned:  

Enjoy it GB, you’ve earned it. 

 
Terminalxylem said:
You are taking advantage, but the typical 5 day, 40 hour work week isn’t based on anything scientific. Other places throughout the world have no such standard. If you do your job and do it well, the actual time spent in the office is immaterial.
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If anything we are way overdue for a reduction in this.  I mean the standard work week hasn't changed at all since the invention of freaking computers. 

Non-farm labor productivity is almost 6x greater than it was when we switched to the 40 hour work week.  Many of the tasks that people used to have to do by hand are now automated instantly.

Logically we are working more efficiently so we should be working less, but in practice it's just meant the same amount of work and much higher profits for corporations and corporate execs.

 
The Commish said:
:goodposting:

I'll never understand why people hold as much vacation time as the company allows.  I take every single day every single year.  What they'd pay me in $$ isn't close to what my personal time is worth, so "saving" PTO days never made any sense to me.  An interesting new phenomena is coming from the new company we are being sold to.  Apparently there they don't have a set number of PTO days.  Take as many as you want as long as your manager approves.  I plan on fully testing the limits of that policy.
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You're plan re: the bolded is how you should handle that. This new "unlimited" PTO thing is such a scam. They don't have to pay out unused PTO, and they know most people will actually take less PTO if they don't have a set number of days they can take off. 

 
FreeBaGeL said:
If anything we are way overdue for a reduction in this.  I mean the standard work week hasn't changed at all since the invention of freaking computers. 
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I dont disagree, but wouldnt this severely hinder hourly employees? Having days off is great, but I cant see many people thinking its cool when their check is $400 less. 

 
do what makes you happy, otis.

you work hard, and have provided a great life for your family. be proud of that.

only you can say if you're happy with your work/family balance. if you're not happy with it- make changes... which is maybe what the friday thing is about? not clear as you didn't really mention your family in your OP- but I'll go ahead and assume "home" = "family".

I'd assume you'll know from senior partners pdq if you've overstepped in some way. until then- do what feels right. and even after then- work it out with them in a way that works for you. you've been loyal to them for 20 years- I'd imagine the loyalty would be reciprocated. 

 
Cjw_55106 said:
I dont disagree, but wouldnt this severely hinder hourly employees? Having days off is great, but I cant see many people thinking its cool when their check is $400 less. 
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4x10 instead of 5x8

My company from may through sept has a summer schedule. Shop employees can pick 4x10 and off friday and office employees can do 9 hour days and off every other Friday. 

Some office people are on the 4x10s 

I did the 4x10s last few years which is basically 17 fridays off. This year i did the every other friday off.

Also agree would much rather have off Mondays but i run several production meetings on mondays that people rely on.

 
I worked from home this entire week to pick up and drop my son off at baseball camp. And I havent work a full Friday all summer! I basically saved up all my vacation days to have a Summer of Shady!

 
FBG26 said:
You're plan re: the bolded is how you should handle that. This new "unlimited" PTO thing is such a scam. They don't have to pay out unused PTO, and they know most people will actually take less PTO if they don't have a set number of days they can take off. 
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They're in for a rude awakening my friend :lmao:

My current employer cut PTO carry over to 5 days....and they have to be used in the first three months of the following year or they are lost.  I don't know why they don't just make a rule that you can't carry it over....problem solved from a bookkeeping perspective.

 
FBG26 said:
You're plan re: the bolded is how you should handle that. This new "unlimited" PTO thing is such a scam. They don't have to pay out unused PTO, and they know most people will actually take less PTO if they don't have a set number of days they can take off. 
Click to expand...
Yep, and saving up PTO is no different that saving money in the bank.  Use it when you want, between jobs or when you retire.  If your personal time isn't as valuable as much as they pay you why work at all.

The Commish said:
They're in for a rude awakening my friend :lmao:

My current employer cut PTO carry over to 5 days....and they have to be used in the first three months of the following year or they are lost.  I don't know why they don't just make a rule that you can't carry it over....problem solved from a bookkeeping perspective.
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:lmao:   Jesus, no wonder.  My carry over is twelve weeks. 

 
The Commish said:
An interesting new phenomena is coming from the new company we are being sold to.  Apparently there they don't have a set number of PTO days.  Take as many as you want as long as your manager approves.  I plan on fully testing the limits of that policy.
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I’m not sure how that works in other industries, but in the law firm world that’s code for “you don’t get vacation.”

 
tonydead said:
Yep, and saving up PTO is no different that saving money in the bank.  Use it when you want, between jobs or when you retire.  If your personal time isn't as valuable as much as they pay you why work at all.

:lmao:   Jesus, no wonder.  My carry over is twelve weeks. 
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I've seen your financial philosophy in a few threads now...we'll just agree to disagree.   The bold is exactly why I run down my days to 0.  My personal time is far more valuable than what they pay me.  Every day I carry over, I lose.

It kind of shocks me that companies are still dumb enough to allow this sort of acrument of time by their employees.  It only hurts their bottom line, yet still there are companies like this.

 
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The Commish said:
My current employer cut PTO carry over to 5 days....and they have to be used in the first three months of the following year or they are lost.  I don't know why they don't just make a rule that you can't carry it over....problem solved from a bookkeeping perspective.
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Unlimited PTO is a terrible Catch-22. Because you don't have days you have to use, most people end up taking less under an unlimited PTO system than if they simply received 3 weeks of vacation.

 
Gawain said:
Unlimited PTO is a terrible Catch-22. Because you don't have days you have to use, most people end up taking less under an unlimited PTO system than if they simply received 3 weeks of vacation.
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Oh, I can absolutely see it being a problem if you don't pay attention.....I don't think I'm gonna have that problem. 

 
The Commish said:
They're in for a rude awakening my friend :lmao:

My current employer cut PTO carry over to 5 days....and they have to be used in the first three months of the following year or they are lost.  I don't know why they don't just make a rule that you can't carry it over....problem solved from a bookkeeping perspective.
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That would be against the law if you were in California.  Other states need to step up. 

 
bigbottom said:
Accrued vacation cannot be forfeited. In other words, use it lose it policies are unlawful. 
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I need to talk with some coworkers in SF to see if they have the same rule.  Learned something new today.  It won't impact me one way or the other, but it'll be interesting to see if different groups get different messages within the company.

 
I think I need to start taking some liberties myself, particularly during the summer months when work is a bit slower.

I did a half work from home, half vacation day earlier this week.  I did not do anything too, too fun with my half day off, but I was able to take the car in to get the A/C compressor replaced (which they could fix quicker during the week than when busier on the weekends) and pick up some beers from a limited can release at a nearby brewery.  I was debating seeing the new Tarantino movie that my wife has no interest in, but decided to be semi-productive instead.  I think I'm going to find another day to do that with.

 
jon_mx said:
I assume that is only for employees working in California.  
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Correct.  But if the company has a standard company-wide policy, they are breaking the law with respect to their California employees.  And if they have rules that vacation time can't be forfeited only for their CA employees, but everyone else has to forfeit accrued vacation, that could be a headache, if not a nightmare, from an employee morale standpoint, particularly if its a California-based company.

 
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