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I don't bill during lunch but I do get paid the same if I skip lunch or if I take a 2 hour lunch as I'm salaried.
And I am sure that you are expected to work at least 40 hours a week, not including lunch. And, realistically, I am sure that if you only work 40 hours a week, you get in trouble for "not working enough overtime".
And I am sure that you are expected to work at least 40 hours a week, not including lunch. And, realistically, I am sure that if you only work 40 hours a week, you get in trouble for "not working enough overtime".
You don't know anything about CSK's employment, again you are making ignorant generalizations based on your crappy situation.
Hell no MITS. Overtime gets billed and burns through the clients funds, which makes for a very unhappy client. We try to manage our time and work to keep things at 40. We also are not required to be 100% billable per week as sometimes partners or clients have systems that are down, or we're in training, or mentoring someone, but I like to be 100% so will make up time. But in the end it's about meeting goals and making the client happy.
The people who claim that they are paid for their lunch break are probably lying. Most jobs are all about billable hours. You can't bill your lunch break to a client, nor would it be ethical to do so. So why should you get paid for it?
I work for a large global company who sends billable hours to clients, at ridiculously high rates that we don't even get as workers for obvious reasons. We estimate to a client a project will take 160 hours (4 weeks simply put into hours which is understood by all parties) including testing and deployment. This also accounts for a project manager's time (2 FTEs at different rates). At the end of 4 weeks (not 160 business hours exactly), it is expected to be in production. Nowhere do they (or any client I've ever heard of) ask to account for off-time or who did what and when between my PM and myself. We worked 4 weeks to get it done, and meanwhile I could've also taken a half day off as long as I was on target. Client pays company what was quoted, end of story.
When it's laid out like that, it's not too different from mechanics who fix cars by the book hours. Even if they did the job in 45 mins, if the book says it's an hour job, that's what is billed.
What you consider ethical or not is not always how companies work. That's the point. Once again, not everything is black and white.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mitsguy2001
And I am sure that you are expected to work at least 40 hours a week, not including lunch. And, realistically, I am sure that if you only work 40 hours a week, you get in trouble for "not working enough overtime".
EVERY COMPANY IS DIFFERENT. You want to know the kicker? I'm a salaried full-time employee at home and do what I want whenever as long as my work is done on target. Yes they pay for my lunch hour and then some, and I lol @ the concept of OT, but the company still bills it at least internally.
Face it, other than your decent pay, your company is terrible to its employees if what you say is what goes on. More reason to explore.
Name them. All the jobs in the universe, and we'll see which ones require billable hours. Plenty don't. If you are in a job that requires that, it may be too stressful for your personality type, which is not a slam. Everyone is different.
Most salaried jobs at a certain level, if you can't make it at 9 one day and show up at 10 instead, you come in at 8 the next day, or stay an hour later. Generally unless your boss is an ogre, they simply want you to get the job done.
Hell no MITS. Overtime gets billed and burns through the clients funds, which makes for a very unhappy client. We try to manage our time and work to keep things at 40. We also are not required to be 100% billable per week as sometimes partners or clients have systems that are down, or we're in training, or mentoring someone, but I like to be 100% so will make up time. But in the end it's about meeting goals and making the client happy.
Thanks Peconic.
EDIT
Just to be clear MITs, above is my situation with my present employer. Early on I have worked for companies where they wanted us to bill as much as possible, even if it was to the detriment of quality of our work. I avoid those kind of companies at this stage of my career. I've also worked for start ups where not only was our lunch paid for but we were encouraged to exercise several times a week and were on the clock when we did it. Like ovi8 said, every company is different, and I hope as you progress in your career that you get to experience companies that are more interested in providing quality work than just removing as much cash from their client's coffers.
Name them. All the jobs in the universe, and we'll see which ones require billable hours. Plenty don't. If you are in a job that requires that, it may be too stressful for your personality type, which is not a slam. Everyone is different.
Civil engineering firms are all about billable hours. I know that in law, people always talk about billable hours. I thought that nearly all private sector jobs were all about billable hours. How else do you expect the firm to make money?
If you say that's too stressful for my personality type, then what type of job are you suggesting for me that doesn't involve going back to school again?
Last edited by mitsguy2001; 04-11-2015 at 09:50 AM..
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