Working Hours in Denver (sales, college, salary)

[step33]

Originally Posted by denverian

I have a laptop and can work from home a little, so I can leave at 3, be home by 3:30, log back in later and do another hour of work if needed.

And I think the laid back piece comes in because in many Denver offices, that is often the norm, not just acceptable. Further I think many employers "allow" this because that's what it takes to keep good people happy out here. If many companies went to more rigid schedules, they'd find productivity declining, and some segment of their "talent" would go elsewhere (where they can get that quality of life back).

[denverian]

Originally Posted by step33

And I think the laid back piece comes in because in many Denver offices, that is often the norm, not just acceptable. Further I think many employers "allow" this because that's what it takes to keep good people happy out here. If many companies went to more rigid schedules, they'd find productivity declining, and some segment of their "talent" would go elsewhere (where they can get that quality of life back).

Plus it helps with traffic to have people working different hours and working from home some days. If everyone who could was allowed to WFH one day per week, it would probably make the freeways much more tolerable.

[reed303]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

Eldora's lifts are not turning at 5pm so unless you're skinning up....

Was thinking of the years they did have night skiing, 70s-80s ?

[downtownnola]

I moved from Denver to Chicago in the fall of 2013. I really miss the laid back office culture in Denver.

There have been a few times that I've had to put in late hours at my office in Chicago. I'm always surprised how many people are still at the office at 6:30 or later. It may just be the culture of my company, but it's amazing how many emails are sent late at night, and throughout the weekend. I found the "work around the clock" culture to be much less common in Denver. I loved how the office would start getting quiet after 3:00 on Fridays.

I also agree that it's more common in the midwest/northeast for people to put in long hours in order to get noticed or impress their boss. I have no doubt that many of them are indeed working hard, but no one takes time out of their day to go outside for a quick walk, have a quick chat with coworkers, etc. It's just rush, rush, rush, work, work, work. Since that is an unspoken expectation, there is always pressure to conform to the same. The thing that's so great about Denver is that people are indeed hard working and motivated, but more balanced in their approach to life.

I definitely miss the quality of life in Denver and hope to return next year.

[ayoitzrimz]

Gotta tell you, working late hours does not equal producing quality work. If the job is results based, and intellectually challenging work (such as software development, my field, and many others) the quality of work drops significantly the longer your hours are. If I am pulling 10 hour days I find myself spending every morning fixing the bugs and stupid mistakes I made the night before. I stick to 8 hours a day unless it's an emergency, to produce quality over quantity.

I don't know about Chicago, but when I lived in NYC if you produced results in my old companies you'd get the recognition and nobody cares what hour you sent an email out at.

[Kar54]

Now you all have me jealous. 70 miles south, we have morning rush starting @ 7:00am and in the evening 5:30-6:00 is the norm. I'm from Denver but find down here in the Springs, more of the "old school" 8-6 work day is expected, at least in the insurance and financial fields. I get in at 7:15 each morning and if I leave before 5:00 it gets noticed. And most of us don't take a lunch "break".

[Katarina Witt]

I've lived here 35 years. I've never had a job like that, and neither has my spouse. We've both worked in Boulder (he for the past 14 years) and other places. DH's jobs in telecom, etc, have always had more flexible hours than mine in health care.

[zenkonami]

1) I start work at 6AM and know a lot of people working similar (7AM - 4PM, for example.)
2) Work SMARTER not HARDER. If you want good quality of life, you better learn how to manage your time. I think Denverites are pretty good at that. How else would we know how/when to squeeze in some time on the slopes or a well placed tee time ;-)
3) Daylight seems to end sooner here...the front range at least appears to shorten days a bit. People want their daylight.

I really have to disagree with the notion of more hours = higher productivity. I've done it...put in many 60h+ workweeks in our busy periods and they are NOT more productive. If anything they lead to burnout, low morale, mistakes and create a culture of enmity.

If the most important thing in your life is your job, then more power to ya...stick to L.A., Chicago, New York...but if you are working so that you can have friends, family and some kind of positive life...Denver's a breath of fresh air.

[dnvrsoul]

I don't think it's a laid back office environment, it's called flex hours and I've had it for as long as I can remember-I get to work at 5:15am...and leave between 3 and 3:30 don't take a lunch. At my other job I went to work from 6-3:30no lunch....it's because of the traffic. I work 21 miles away and it takes me 40 minutes to get to work and an hour to get home....

[step33]

Originally Posted by dnvrsoul

I don't think it's a laid back office environment, it's called flex hours and I've had it for as long as I can remember-I get to work at 5:15am...and leave between 3 and 3:30 don't take a lunch. At my other job I went to work from 6-3:30no lunch....it's because of the traffic. I work 21 miles away and it takes me 40 minutes to get to work and an hour to get home....

I still tend to think the flex hours seem to be more prevalent here in Denver, at least unofficially. Heck, in my own company we don't really have facility wide "hours". People just work that out with their bosses. and in a lot of cases it they stagger people through the day to get more "coverage" of a normal work day. It is interesting that here in Denver, most people WANT to come in early and leave early to do stuff after work. Back in the midwest, most everyone at my old company wanted to come in at 10am and work 'til 6:30pm.

I think a part of that is what people do after work. Particularly in the winter in the midwest, you aren't concerned about the sun being out, because outdoor activities are limited. Here it seems people go home and go outside a lot more - just a feeling, not validated scientific evidence, but that's just what I see around me.