Thread: What percentage of your workday do you really work?

Office and administrative positions are different from an assembly line job. On an assembly line, most work 7 out of 8 hours clocked. Office jobs are different in that they offer a great deal of down time or unproductive hours.

My question is: How many hours do you actually and actively engage in productive work out of an 8 hour shift?

With 1700 units, once I lean back on the office chair, I realize I have 5,000 other things to do. Makes the day go by quicker...This last year has FLOWN by! (but now I'm older, so catch-22) LOL!

I'm with Shannon. Hurlco, the poll is flawed; I believe there are many of us who put in more than the required "8" hours and yes, productive time. Now if you asked, do you have an unproductive day or two a month, I would respond with a resounding "Yes". Some days no matter how hard you try, Murphy works against you, so we cut bait and call it an employee recognition day. We order in from our favorite BBQ place and enjoy a well-deserved break for good behavior.

Great Question Hurlco! I think you will get a variety of answers, hopefully honest and not self serving.

I do agree with Gina on the long productive days managers put in at some facilities from time to time, however I feel that this is not the case for the majority of facilities or members on this forum. My vote is in.

where's the 8+ poll choice?

I am at a facility with over 1,000 units. While things can be busy AT TIMES. The reality for me, and I am being honest here, is that I have more idle time than actual work time. There has been a few instances where I could vote along with the rest of you about 7-8 hours. For example, I once had to re-enter all my tenants because of a computer crash. I madly worked for three days. But on balance, much of my day does not require me to be typing on a keyboard, sweeping up mouse turds or making collection calls.

As for overtime, our company has a strict policy regarding overtime, only if it involved direct customer service is it allowed. Much of the overtime we see in self storage is due to piss poor planning. The construction field is plagued with "overtimeitis." Overtimeitis is a disease where the employee expands what they could do in 8 or 40 hours to 9 or 48.

Now before everyone attacks me, remember, that I am not pointing my bony finger at anyone specifically, I am just talking about the good ole' Hurlco!

I think some of the busyness factor is influenced by

a) how many employees are on duty at any given time

and

b) what ancillary products/services you offer.


Here, we have a small amount of item a and a time-consuming amount of item b


The other factor(s) are
a) how neat and clean your tenants are and
b) how your facility is laid out as far as dirt/leaf collection in areas.

Our tenants here are wonderful about not depositing trash and unwanted items around the facility, and also not leaving human bodily waste. In Florida however, we rarely went a week without one or more human bodily waste fluid or solid deposits being left somewhere on the facility, in addition to all the fast food wrappers, drink bottles, and other assorted garbage, not to mention all the unwanted items people left in another hallway or beind a building when they moved out. The Florida facility was also laid out poorly, with row after row after row (28 rows) of non climate units with hallways inbetween with no doors on the ends. The 300+ unit doors in these "interior hallways" became covered in dirt and grime and needed cleaning almost weekly, not to mention the leaf accumulation in these hallways. Just keeping the facility clean was a full-time job plus some for one person, in addition to being a top 100 U-Haul dealer, a storage renter turnover of 80+ units per month, and merchandise/box sales....added to all that were all the reporting requirements and tracking/recordkeeping of the 3rd party management company. We had 2-3 people working each day, and we were all on roller skates all day, and 8 months of the year it was in 100 degree plus heat plus humidity.

I do believe that working for a 3rd party management company is more time intensive, as they seem to require a tremendous amout of reports, which always made me feel like "busy work" so their employees wouldn't have any idle time. Even a big company like U-Haul didn't require nearly the amount of manual reports that 3rd party management companies do. As one example of many, at our previous employer, who was a 3rd party management company, we had a 5 page marketing report to prepare weekly, then a 25 page marketing report to do monthly. This report was sent to our DM and also to the marketing dept. at headquarters. After a few months of this, on page 23 of the monthly marketing report, I typed in BIG BOLD LETTERS "IF ANYONE IS STILL READING THIS, PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL AND LET ME KNOW I'M NOT WASTING 4 HOURS OF MY LIFE EACH WEEK DOING THESE MARKETING REPORTS".

I left that sentence in my template for the next 2 1/2 years, and never got a response.

So each facility and employer is different, and I don't think any amount of time is "standard" in the storage industry.

yes I am going to be honest I would say the most productive time for me is 5-6 Hours, and I am including all the time I spend at Chamber Mixer's and when I get here an hour early or stay later, If everyone had 8 plus hours productive time, how do so many of you spend so much time on here?? I dont have alot of time to read all this good stuff.. But when I do have down time, I am doing this as I feel at least I am learning a little from all of you!!

Originally Posted by LauraGVAZ

yes I am going to be honest I would say the most productive time for me is 5-6 Hours, and I am including all the time I spend at Chamber Mixer's and when I get here an hour early or stay later, If everyone had 8 plus hours productive time, how do so many of you spend so much time on here?? I dont have alot of time to read all this good stuff.. But when I do have down time, I am doing this as I feel at least I am learning a little from all of you!!

I just love you Laura, a truthful woman!

Originally Posted by Lisa T

So each facility and employer is different, and I don't think any amount of time is "standard" in the storage industry.

As more people vote and contribute honest feedback we will get better idea of the average work day. Hurlco is asking actual hours that you are actively busy not the hours you occupy the office or facility.

Facility sizes will vary along with procedures and staffing level. Being in the business as long as if not longer than most posters, I KNOW the average day is closer to 5 hours actual work time. However everyone manages and measures time differently and there is always that "special circumstance"