Average work week

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As I was checking out NORC's website after seeing it mentioned in another thread, I came across this interesting publication about average work weeks in doctoral professions.

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf06302/

What do folks consider to be a reasonable number of hours to work? These numbers seemed low to me - although I am in that category where I am tenure-track and not tenured yet, so they mention that my subgroup does work longer hours.

How many hours to people work each week in private practice? It seems to me that the days of a 40 hour work week are long gone, unless you work a government job.

Interesting.

I'd be quite happy with those hours. Anything at or below 50 sounds quite reasonable to me. I expect that to be more like 60ish pre-tenure, depending on where I end up.

One thing I like about the academic path is the flexibility. Yes, the hours might be long overall but I find it hard to estimate how many hours I actually work. I can be sitting at home reading articles and that is "work". I can go to a conference and that's "work". To me, there is an enormous difference between 50 hours that includes things like that, and 50 hours sitting in an office.

Originally Posted by Ollie123

Interesting.

I'd be quite happy with those hours. Anything at or below 50 sounds quite reasonable to me. I expect that to be more like 60ish pre-tenure, depending on where I end up.

One thing I like about the academic path is the flexibility. Yes, the hours might be long overall but I find it hard to estimate how many hours I actually work. I can be sitting at home reading articles and that is "work". I can go to a conference and that's "work". To me, there is an enormous difference between 50 hours that includes things like that, and 50 hours sitting in an office.

Yeah definitely a perk of the industry. In my new position, it's been an adjustment to realize I don't have to actually be at the office everyday.

I hope to get myself to about 50 hours per week eventually, but that is going to be impossible while I have new preps and am trying to get a grant. I have to say though, I much prefer it to my hospital postdoc, where I'd be there from 7-7 and bring work home. The flexibility at a University setting is wonderful.

My internship has been a steady 40 hours/week, although like Ollie, I have a hard time tracking work that I do at home. However, everything I've done at home has been non-internship related (e.g., dissertation, manuscript prep).

Based on what I've seen and been told, postdoc should be in the 45-50 hours/week range, and that's what I'd expect for the majority of my career from here on out. Although again, I'm notoriously horrible about keeping up with at-home hours, and often end up forgetting to count those when I'm talking to people about work.

Originally Posted by AcronymAllergy

My internship has been a steady 40 hours/week, although like Ollie, I have a hard time tracking work that I do at home. However, everything I've done at home has been non-internship related (e.g., dissertation, manuscript prep).

Based on what I've seen and been told, postdoc should be in the 45-50 hours/week range, and that's what I'd expect for the majority of my career from here on out. Although again, I'm notoriously horrible about keeping up with at-home hours, and often end up forgetting to count those when I'm talking to people about work.

Good for you! As I (and probably T4C) would tell you...that's a great postdoc arrangement. Awhile back I noted that mine averaged 55-60 hours and it sounded like T4C had it even worse.

Originally Posted by Pragma

Good for you! As I (and probably T4C) would tell you...that's a great postdoc arrangement. Awhile back I noted that mine averaged 55-60 hours and it sounded like T4C had it even worse.

Thank ya; and yep, I definitely remember reading about both your and T4C's experiences, which is one reason why I weighted the average work week factor a bit more than I might have otherwise when deciding on where to go. Mind you, I'm not against putting my hours in, but if I have the choice between the extra 10-20 hours/week being voluntary vs. expected, I'll go with the former. If nothing else, with the clinical duties seemingly able to be handled in a standard work week, I figure that (finally) leaves time for putting together a few manuscripts. Lord knows, I'm behind on some of that...heck, my thesis data hasn't seen the light of day in years at this point.

Glad to hear that it's all paid off for you, though, in the form of finding a great position.

Originally Posted by AcronymAllergy

Thank ya; and yep, I definitely remember reading about both your and T4C's experiences, which is one reason why I weighted the average work week factor a bit more than I might have otherwise when deciding on where to go. Mind you, I'm not against putting my hours in, but if I have the choice between the extra 10-20 hours/week being voluntary vs. expected, I'll go with the former. If nothing else, with the clinical duties seemingly able to be handled in a standard work week, I figure that (finally) leaves time for putting together a few manuscripts. Lord knows, I'm behind on some of that...heck, my thesis data hasn't seen the light of day in years at this point.

Glad to hear that it's all paid off for you, though, in the form of finding a great position.

That is definitely how it should be (put in the crazier hours on your own to write papers). Good luck!

I complained about my postdoc a fair amount, but 2 years does give you the opportunity to build some solid skills. Enjoy!

Noticed in the figures posted that government psychologists appear to have the shortest average work-week of anyone.... best thing that ever happened to me was starting my VA job three months before my son was born, hands down.