Economy & LaborAUG 19, 2023

"It's About Not Going Mental": 30 People Share How Much Work They Actually Do At Their Office Job

There’s something deeply wrong with office work culture, and it’s not the low-quality free coffee in the kitchen. There is a disconnect between how much employees work and how long the workday lasts. Though a lot depends on the industry, many honest office workers will tell you that unless there’s a super important deadline looming, they’ll have tons of time every single day when they’re left doing nothing.

For one, there’s a limit to how much deep, focused work people can do until they’re mentally drained. Not only that, if someone’s diligent, they’ll get their tasks done very quickly and end up warming their seats. Redditor u/dogvillager, who is fairly new to office life, asked the internet whether it’s normal to have “absolutely nothing” to do after just a couple of hours of real work. The Reddit community was happy to share their thoughts on this. Check out their thoughts below.

#1

"It's About Not Going Mental": 30 People Share How Much Work They Actually Do At Their Office Job

Remember this: the movie "Office Space" is a documentary and should be required viewing for anyone entering the office workforce.

jelloslug, 0th Century Fox

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87points

#2

As an IT guy, this is so painful to read. I'm literally busy from the moment I sit at my desk till the minute I leave, with a queue of jobs fighting for my attention, and a line of people following me up because they have nothing better to do.

ChristmasLunch, Tim Gouw

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72points

#3

I have never done less at a job and got paid as much. I do actually use the downtime to study for more certs so I can get more money for even less work! That's actually not a joke.

Downtown_Tadpole_817, Oladimeji Ajegbile

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67points

Research shows that, on average, employees tend to do only around three to four hours of real work every single day. The rest of their time is spent reading the news, talking to their colleagues, surfing social media, looking for a new job, taking breaks, and doing other things.

Ideally, the more transparency there is in an office, the better it would be for everyone. Practically, however, talking about how you’re able to get your daily tasks done in just a few hours is a wonderful way to be resented by some of your coworkers. It’s also a direct path toward getting more work dumped on you by your boss.

If everyone were honest about how much they actually work, society as a whole could move toward shorter workdays and a more grounded understanding of efficiency. Instead, what you have is folks who feel like they have to pretend that they’re incredibly busy or drag out their tasks as much as possible. This leads to inefficiency, complacency, and a lack of trust between the staff and their superiors.

#4

Do NOT BRING IT UP to anyone unless you want more work. Just do what is on your task list and chill.

Striking_Ad_5885, Andrea Piacquadio

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59points

#5

Yes.

Typically I only have about three hours of actual work on any given day. The rest of the time is spent, well, on here with you fine AntiWorkers.

Survive1014, Tima Miroshnichenko

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48points

#6

10% calm work, 80% sheer boredom, 10% of absolute panic

Montirath, Andrea Piacquadio

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48points

After all, if the only reward for efficient and smart work is… even more (unpaid) work, what’s the point of being honest with management? Unless your company has set out a clear career path for everyone who’s joined and genuinely rewards speed and skill in very tangible ways, each employee needs to be honest with themselves about their priorities in life.

For some, it might mean combining those free hours with remote work to spend more quality time with their loved ones. For others, it might offer the opportunity to save time and exercise, do chores, and work on their hobbies that they’d otherwise neglect because they’re exhausted after their long commutes.

Others still might use this time to sharpen their work-related skills or learn new ones, network with other professionals, and take on new projects for new challenges.

#7

I work for Geico (claims) and they literally time our bathroom breaks. We are given more work than can be done in 8-9 hours a day and constantly being given more. It just snowballs. If you happen to look like you are caught up or not drowning, they will not stand for that. They will assign you someone else's work. They'd rather die than know someone wasn't productive for a full minute.

So yea, your gig sounds pretty rad haha. Are they hiring? 😬

ETA: check out r/Geico. Tell everyone. F**k that company

sugarandvegetables85, Mizuno K

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46points

#8

I’m going to tell you something I wish someone would have told me when I was 25, playing Minesweeper for hours at a time at work—spend the down time to learn a new skill or to become a specialist at something that will improve your career prospects.

Sgt_Waters, Tirachard Kumtanom

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42points

#9

Yes. It's called winning capitalism. The ultimate victory is working from home with one of those jobs. You're paid for your skills to do a specific type of work and you have the rest of the day for yourself

middlingwhiteguy, William Fortunato

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38points

How employee flexibility is treated will, of course, depend on your particular job and the company’s philosophy. Some businesses only care about the results and understand that their staff have lives outside of the office. Others, however, practically demand that you’re stuck to your seat, even if you’re ahead of the pack.

If you’re doing extra work to impress the higher-ups for some nebulous reward in the far-off future, you may want to talk to your manager about setting out some specific details. Preferably on paper. Similarly, if you’re exhausted, demotivated, and burned out from all the additional work that’s been dumped on you, you may want to enforce some healthy boundaries to restore some semblance to your work-life balance. You could start off by refusing to check your work email after hours and going home instead of doing (unpaid) overtime.

#10

It's also normal to have people with literally nothing to do while other people (sometimes in the same team) are stressed and overworked beyond redemption

ojetemor, Gustavo Fring

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36points

#11

I was going to come on here and ask this EXACT question.

I am just......so confused? I went from 5 years of jobs that required umpteen million metrics, bosses over my shoulder all the time, constantly being nitpicked. To.....relative silence? No one does work unless it's needed. Most of the time everyone is on their phones or staring at a wall or chatting.

I did like a weeks worth of work in one day, was like wtf. Only to be told to "Slow down" and it wasn't hard. Transfered data sheet info. Easy as pie. Point click copy paste function count if countra sum....

I'm being paid double what I was paid 5 years ago and I'm doing a small SMALL fraction of the work.

Like, the f**k is going on. I have such an ingrained insane work ethic that I feel like I'm stagnating. But I'm constantly being told I'm doing an amazing job???

Lashdemonca

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35points

#12

Sometimes it can be super busy. But most of the time all my tasks can be done in just a few hours. I also work an “office job” and I spend a lot of my time finding things to do and making my spreadsheets look pretty.

CopperHead49, RDNE Stock project

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33points

#13

The hardest—and most necessary / common—part of any office job is looking busy.

God bless those cubicles with high walls.

DrDepravo, Tima Miroshnichenko

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30points

#14

It can happen. Last year, I finished a project right before thanksgiving. Obviously, nothing new started before the Thanksgiving holiday, but then nothing new started afterward because of end of year and Christmas coming up. I didn’t start a new project until sometime in the middle of January, so I had almost 2 months where I barely did anything. use that time to your advantage. I finished editing my book. Take an online class. Work on a certificate or something. Or just watch YouTube videos. As long as you do what they are requiring, you’re good. Don’t overthink it.

atreides78723, https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-wearing-white-pants-and-white-socks-standing-beside-brown-broom-4108715/

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28points

#15

B******t jobs suck if they force you to sit onsite all day, warming a chair and trying to look busy. But if you get one where you can work from home most of the time, you have it made. Clean your house, do your chores, and then you truly have your evenings and weekends free.

TheOldPug, cottonbro studio

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23points

#16

Every office job I have had is feast or famine . So some days there ISN'T much to do. But they can't eliminate the position because other days, it is absolutely insane and someone is needed.

mamakazi

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23points

#17

This is why WFH was so amazing. We actually got to live our lives instead of boring the s**t out of ourselves with office nonsense and stupid interactions.

dishwasher_mayhem

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22points

#18

Well depends really. In my last job I only work 1 hour a day. In my current job I don't do anything that's why I'm on reddit. My day consist of drinking coffee and checking on my social media.

Momo-kkun, cottonbro studio

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20points

#19

This is a great opportunity you have. Remember the good old days when we were paid for on the job training? Me neither.

Use it to do self-directed learning. Many public libraries offer LinkedIn Learning (used to be called Lynda) for free to up your skills in a variety of topics.

I used my downtime to learn new MS Excel skills, workplace safety training. You can also learn about labour regulations. And based on the industry you are in, any industry specific topics.

You can also ask your manager for shadowing opportunities but that's risky because a*****e managers will red flag this with a "what? You don't have enough work?"

t3m3r1t4

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20points

#20

"I'd say in a given week, I probably only do about 15 minutes of real, actual work."

ticapnews, Sora Shimazaki

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19points