Working 70 hour weeks, is this normal? (employee, average, profit, employer)

[Jessicanons]

For the past three weeks I have been working 70 hour weeks. I am married and have a two year old, so it's been very difficult. Is this normal? They call it crunch time

[Suburban_Guy]

It sure is normal.

There is no set standard of 40 hours per week for any job.

[bUU]

Let me guess: You're an exempt employee (i.e., not paid for overtime).


To answer your question, it is pretty normal these days, in many jobs, for employers to extract whatever they feel that they can get away with from their employees. I'm about to quit a job with an employer that has effectively imported the horrendous working conditions from some other part of the world as a means of cutting costs. With unfettered capitalism, "normal" becomes practically whatever best fosters profits.

[WannabeCPA]

Yes, no, maybe. I've worked 70 hours a week in a previous job and it was considered normal during "crunch time" but in my current job it would be highly unusual and there's no way I would do it. Why do people ask questions like this without giving the slightest information about their job?

[Lekrii]

If it's really only a few weeks/year, yes it can be normal. If it ends up being more than 40 hours/week regularly, that's not normal at all. Average hours/week for full time workers is a hair under 40 hours/week.

[Hemlock140]

It's normal in some kinds of jobs and at some employers, but it's not at all common.


In my 30+ years as an exempt manager in 3 places I have never worked more than about 45 hours even with major projects going on.

[Oh Oh It's Magic]

That's ridiculous. There is no benefit to being that loyal. If they did not want you tomorrow you would be gone.

[GeoffD]

70 is not normal. It's not sustainable for any job that requires critical thought and productivity goes into the toilet after a couple months of it.

[naterator]

We CPA's call it "busy season". I'm leaving at 3:00 on Fridays the rest of the year though. It's just one of those things. I certainly wouldn't do it year round.

[BostonMike7]

Depends on the job.


I've been in engineering for the last 12 years and have never worked more than 35-45 hours in a week. I'm home by 5PM every night and every weekend to play with my kids. That's even with major projects going on.