How much do we work?
52 hours. This is the longest time I've ever gone without sleep. During my university years, this wasn't special at all, we often had assignments that required us to pull all-nighters.
These all-nighters did not cause any issues back then. Everyone in our class did it, we all had to. However, today, I don't think I would be able to go a whole evening without sleep with no consequences.
It is the same with the number of hours we work a week. We might be able to manage 60+ working hours every now and then, or constantly when we are young, but there is no way we can keep it doing in the long term without harmful consequences for our health, relationships and family.
And yet, many firms expect their employees to work 12 hours a day and sacrifice their health, relationships and hobbies. Unfortunately, this issue is common among patent attorneys as well. Last week I had online meetings with some great patent attorneys from all over the world; and half of them mentioned leaving their previous jobs because of the number of working hours. (I'll give you a hint: it was too high, not maintainable in the long term.)
Let's see how much we, patent attorneys work on average. (LinkedIn poll with 123 votes)
max. 7 hrs. (max. 35 hrs. a week) – 15% based on the votes
8-9 hours a day – 47% based on the votes
10-11 hours a day – 29% based on the votes
more than 12 hours (60+ hours a week) – 8% based on the votes
If you work more than 60 hours a week, is it only temporary, or does it work for you well?
Link to the original post is here.