How many job hours do you average?

[anonomoose]

Very interesting responses.

I must clarify however that I don't believe in putting a gun to anyone's head, but in the short run, if companies were enticed to hire by tax credits or other similar incentives, and perhaps some tax consequences for those that seem to feel that they need to beat the system by making staff work beyond 40 hours a week, this would put a different twist on whether to gut it out and not hire, or take advantage of some nice tax reduction by hiring...this problem of hiring would end tomorrow.

Stroke of the pen....stuff.

Now faze in the tax credit and faze it out over 3 or 4 years. This would put folks to work...they would buy, creating more demand, and eventually they could cut back but the new demand would probably prevent that.

The issue of pushing stuff over seas, is a good concern, but frankly, anything that can be done over seas is going to go there anyway, so not much to prevent that as it is.

Personally I would not be apposed to anything that discourages that process either....as I am sick to death of talking with an "adviser" who has some super canned speech about "what can I do to make you happy today.." crap.

Move it back here...and I don't care who's toes we step on.

If you think about it...a worker who puts 40 hours in is more productive than one that puts in 60....it's an endurance thing. And if we pushed companies to hire enough staff to replace the over 40 work week, the whole country would get back to work. It would also give more leisure time and time for folks to buy stuff too.

While I hear some say that they can't find workers....I suggest that they advertise out of their market area and offer some assistance for workers to move there and take up residence WITH A JOB....and I think you would find more than 3 applicants would be showing up.

Also if your advertisements for workers goes like this...."Must be willing to work in a fast paced environment, be a good people person, and needs to have 2 life time worth of skills in the area of hire....." then you fit the average requirement for a job placement these days. If you don't have expertise up the wazzooo....you don't get hired. Frankly I think that this is a fishing expedition that some companies toss out there when they will hire...but only if they can find just that right kind of person....

This economy is like a big train.....once it has come to a stop it takes some doing to get it going again....far more than most figured it would. And I don't blame businesses that are holding back hiring because they know they can get the production out of fewer laborers and that means more to the bottom line. But it isn't good for the country....and ultimately everyone benefits with a robust economy, not just a few.

Right now there are a ton of have-nots out there....and those that do have a job, either take it for granted, or the company reminds them that they are "some of the lucky ones..."

I have little sympathy for those who NEED overtime to survive. That just means that they have built their lives around excessive amounts of work.

For the record....I have been self employed for more years than I want to say, but there was no such thing as overtime, and the work load went home and was there waiting when I got back to work again. (no rest for the wicked....eh?)

 

[Team Elkhorn]

My employer says absolutely no overtime. But they are definitely taking full advantage of the bad economy. They give us easily 10+ hours of work everyday to be completed in 8 hours. Quality suffers and they know it. Lately I go home, shower and eat dinner then pass out on the couch. And if I hear "you guys are the best thats why your still here and working" one more time......

 

[Grant Hoar]

average 50 plus. And, I am a salaried local government employee

 

[ezra]

funny I read the first 9 lines and thought must be a moose post and guess what I was spot on

 

[LoveMyDobe]

None

I was so thankful for hubbys JohnDeere pension so I can ride whenever I want!

 

[peter]

I have to say working in hvac I sometimes work 60+ hours week and sometimes 30 hours a week. Avrage it out its 40 hours a week

 

[anonomoose]

funny I read the first 9 lines and thought must be a moose post and guess what I was spot on

EZ...next time jist read who wrote the post before yah click on it, so that you don't have to suffer thru 9 lines to figure it out.

So far nearly 80% do more than 40 hours. While very un-scientific, this does indicate that there is plenty of room to hire more staff.

 

[mjkaliszak]

I wish I had a job .... sometimes ! I seem to be in the limbo land of being a severance check beneficiary . When I worked I always took care of my employer's needs and then some. The 1st 3 years of the last 6 , I worked way too many hours 50+ per week, calls late @ night, during the weekend, ect... The last 1.5 years I worked 40. The company was moving it's operation to Mexico for cheap labor. I flew back n forth for 5 months to MEX , and finally had enough. After I calculated my salary, I was paid a whopping $6.25 per hour for my time ( when traveling ). I stuck it out until the end, we moved 750+ molds to Mex, helped set up a toolroom & trained the locals in basic mold maintenance. Things became very interesting towards the end of our operations in Michigan. People would actually come over and try to do my job ( LOL ) that was a first.... no one wanted anything to do with my compilation of molds, packaging, organizing of spare details, change over details, banding & skidding & documenting procedure in the beginning of the move. I went through 5 " tool movers " over the 1.5 year process.

Towards the end , everyone that didn't get knocked off thru the transfer process was trying to look busy. Learned alot about people.

I havent been unemployed since 1995, I think I will just take this time off to reflect on what is important to my family, and recharge my batteries.... I have a while before I start to suckle off the tit of MARVIN...........

Kind of weird not working, the world just goes rushing bye.

Good time to think about my next fishing trip. =

0 hours per week.

 

[xsledder]

While I hear some say that they can't find workers....I suggest that they advertise out of their market area and offer some assistance for workers to move there and take up residence WITH A JOB....and I think you would find more than 3 applicants would be showing up.

Very idealistic. This statement makes the assumption that all companies are like GE, big and flush with cash. How does the small company that has lost 50% or more in revenue help move some buddy?

 

[anonomoose]

Very idealistic. This statement makes the assumption that all companies are like GE, big and flush with cash. How does the small company that has lost 50% or more in revenue help move some buddy?

Don't think so big.....

If you find an out of towner who can do your job, and thinks the smaller city life is better than mega mall areas, then reassurances that there is housing that they can acquire or rent, and an advance of some funds...perhaps as little as a grand to get them there....would be more then enough for the some 3.5 million workers who are wondering about what to do when the unemployment runs out.

This does NOT have to be much....perhaps a nudge...and

You might be surprised in what a fella could do if he knew he had a good job waiting for him when he gets into your neck of the woods.

Build on a good faith effort and watch what happens.

This is predicated upon a decent place to work and a decent wage, in a area that is safe to raise a family and grow old.

Whatchagot to lose? A couple advertisements in a paper 100 miles away and a bit of time to go thru the motions with someone who will help your company move along without draining your reserves.

 

[ezra]

EZ...next time jist read who wrote the post before yah click on it, so that you don't have to suffer thru 9 lines to figure it out.

So far nearly 80% do more than 40 hours. While very un-scientific, this does indicate that there is plenty of room to hire more staff.

living in la la land forgeting a few thigns arn't we? 1 workers comp insurance HUGE HUGE expence.2 med insurance 3 unimployment insurance 4SS payments.5 the huge uknowen what is this guy going to tax me at next yr ?what is this guys health care going to cost me in 2 yrs? remember most people in this country work for government the majority of the rest work for small biz of those sm biz over 1/2 are 15 workers or less way way chepper to [ay a guy time and 1/2 than hire some one train them pay above just to have to lay him off in 6mo and then keep paying for having hired him in the first place buy higher %of unimployment extortion payments

 

[anonomoose]

Each one of these could be addressed in some short term hire issue that would stop the bleeding of the unemployed.

When the FEDS can bail out a bank taking the losses on each one so that another bank will buy it up...we are talking huge numbers.

Those you mention pale in comparison to banking expenditures.

It could work...and once folks are back to work, and demand for everything picks back up because the income is there....the incentives can be fazed out over time. And the demand will prevent the new hires from being canned.

Everything else takes care of itself.

 

[Hoosier]

....the incentives can be fazed out over time.

How many government incentive programs are ever fazed out over time? To paraphrase Reagan (probably badly, this is off the top of my head), the closest thing we have on earth to an eternal life or immortality is a government program.

 

[brooks]

Interesting topic. Automation has really displaced a lot of workers, no longer does it take all day to plow 3 acre's behind a couple oxen. We all have far far more than we need and our economy is dependent on everyone buying more things they don't need.

I say: remove all incentives and benefits illegals receive, jack up the tariffs sky high on imports so that any import cost double made in USA, remove all the stupid regulations (i.e. let me choose if I want a $5,000 car with no seatbelts, no air bags, no doors that automatically lock when I'm driving, no a.b.s., etc.... or the $20,000 car loaded with all that), abandon all military bases and operation overseas, protect the border, stop sending people up in space shuttles until we our out of debt, outlaw gmo's, pesticides, and herbicides, in food sold publicly, eliminate welfare, eliminate unemployment, eliminate osha!, etc.... give it some time and see what happens.

Someone said 40 hrs/wk a worker is more productive, true but companies are not keeping the deadbeat, working him 60, and getting rid of the one who rocks.

 

[ezra]

what other things could be done to help people expand there Biz?
let people know what the tax rate is going to be for the next 3 yrs
let people in on what Health care reforme is going to cost them over the next 5 yrs
same as #1 streemline the tax code may cause a few cpa's to be out of work but they could prob keep there jobs and focuse on saving money for there employer in other ways
make it at least a tad bit harder to file workers comp clames TONS of dead beats scamming employers on that end and every one knows it
on the MN state side of gov quit making subcantractor laws so hard to work around and I would start using more of them again
I am actualy working on a new line of work because of the BS regulations and paper work involved with subs in MN who needs it.If I hire a guy to pick up trash at a job site he actualy has to be regesterd with the state to pick up trash on construction sites *** and if he is not regeterd and I hire hime to keep sites clean and did not check if he is registerd I could be spanked buy the state

 

[bobsledder]

Interesting topic. Automation has really displaced a lot of workers, no longer does it take all day to plow 3 acre's behind a couple oxen. We all have far far more than we need and our economy is dependent on everyone buying more things they don't need.

I say: remove all incentives and benefits illegals receive, jack up the tariffs sky high on imports so that any import cost double made in USA, remove all the stupid regulations (i.e. let me choose if I want a $5,000 car with no seatbelts, no air bags, no doors that automatically lock when I'm driving, no a.b.s., etc.... or the $20,000 car loaded with all that), abandon all military bases and operation overseas, protect the border, stop sending people up in space shuttles until we our out of debt, outlaw gmo's, pesticides, and herbicides, in food sold publicly, eliminate welfare, eliminate unemployment, eliminate osha!, etc.... give it some time and see what happens.

Someone said 40 hrs/wk a worker is more productive, true but companies are not keeping the deadbeat, working him 60, and getting rid of the one who rocks.

How would eliminating gmo's,pesticides and herbicides help our economy? We would be back to subsistence agriculture- that would not be pretty!