

The End Of 9-To-5: When Work Time Is Anytime - elptacek
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124705801

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patio11
Freedom to schedule work around life instead of life around work is literally
the #1 benefit I'm looking forward to from self-employment. No more showing up
for 14 hours just to be seen at the office for the right 14 hours, huzzah.

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duck
I guess it depends on your exact plan, but I think a lot of people think that
and then find out self-employment is more like finding _any_ life because of
how much time you have to put into it.

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gte910h
Naw, it's all about method. You have to get _fast_ at doing different things,
especially "non-billable" things that don't cause revenue.

Many people are just crappy at maintaining self control, so throw hours at
problems they don't need to. Little companies doing accrual based account then
putting a high value employee on bookeeping, spending too much type discussing
(or if it is just 1 guy, too much time thinking about it) what to do rather
than doing it, spending too much time on clients who aren't high enough
probability to land are three errors I see over and over in small companies.

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lsc
I personally use a pretty similar (though less formalized) approach at
prgmr.com, more out of laziness and cheapness than anything else. 1. I don't
want to pay for an office, and 2. people will work for less money if you let
them work whenever. (and you can often get a good deal hiring people who get
fired from regular jobs for not showing up on time.)

The thing in my case is that support stuff needs to be answered. Most people
are cool waiting 12 hours for non-urgent stuff, so that's fine. Then the
monitoring system needs to page, which it doesn't right now, which is a pretty
big hole,but one that should be able to be solved automatically.

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harshpotatoes
So how do vacations work? Can you still get that week off where no results are
expected from you? Or would bosses presume with all this flextime you are
already on vacation? "Sure you can go on vacation, just make sure you make
those calls and send out the emails"

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davidedicillo
From my personal experience, being self-employed definitely makes you feel
more productive. No more wasting time on obviously useless or invented tasks
just to justify your presence in the office. Also, being a designer, I don't
have to look for a creativity switch anymore that should function from 9 to 5.
Sorry, my mom made me really creative and productive from 10pm on.

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petervandijck
Yea. I'm productive from about 7am (first coffee) to, say, 12pm, and then not
until the evening. Working according to your own rhythm makes things so much
more fun.

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duck
_So where did this radical work system come from? It was created by two human
resource workers who became frustrated that the daily grind wasn't only
constraining, it was also inefficient._

Some good points, but I don't really think they invented the non-traditional
work system, but this article sure makes it sound that way.

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enjo
They're the first that I heard actually formalize it. It was several years
ago. While I'm sure that it's been done for decades (if not longer) you still
have to give them credit for recognizing it as a great idea.

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elptacek
This reminds me of a book I've been meaning to read for over 10 years:
[http://www.amazon.com/Leveraging-People-Profit-Hard-
Manageme...](http://www.amazon.com/Leveraging-People-Profit-Hard-
Management/dp/0750699612)

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Psyonic
Sounds like you'll still be meaning to read it in another 10 years.

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elptacek
Likely. Too busy working. ;-)

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Psyonic
That's ok :) My reading wishlist grows a lot faster than I read books, so
unless that changes, I'll clearly never be able to read all the books I want
to. Just the way things are.

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billybob
I used to work as a freelance journalist, and did find a couple of downsides
to working from home.

1) It's easy to procrastinate, so it's bad if you're not disciplined. 2) Your
'office' is always a few feet away, so it's bad if you're a workaholic.

There is something nice about clocking out, going home, and forgetting about
work for a while, instead of sitting at dinner thinking "I've really got to do
X."

But if you're disciplined and balanced, yes, it can be great.

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tgerhard
I am fortunate enough to have an employer and a manager who allow me to work
from home. This used to be an infrequent option but became a necessity when I
lost access to a car. (The office is a 45-minute drive away.) Even with having
to get three children ready for school, helping with homework, preparing
dinner and doing other household chores, I have never been more productive.

I start my day early and sometimes end it fairly late, but as earlier noted,
with balance and discipline it can be extremely rewarding for both you and
your employer.

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aduric
Personally, I like the 9-5 daily regiment. I guess it doesn't have to be a
specific time frame, as long as I can block off 8-10 hours per day and do my
work only during that time. Another important thing for me is to separate my
work environment from my home as much as possible. Judging by the other
comments on here, maybe I'm becoming a minority.

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eande
Lately this topic gets repeated and I picked up this phrase which I like
"Control your own schedule while paying all the bills is a pretty good life"

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shadowsun7
I wonder how firing's like under such a system. Do they do performance reviews
once every two weeks, or something like that?

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wisty
Why should it matter? People in normal workplaces can screw around for months
before they get fired. Physical workplaces are good for identifying the
workers who do nothing, but not the workers who do nothing useful.

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shadowsun7
Good point, thanks.

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albertcardona
Flexible time is what is so great about academia. If only the university
bureaucrats also worked on flexible time.

