3 answers
Katia
Student
Elk River, Minnesota
3
Questions
Asked
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how flexible is you schedule?
Are you able to take time off for vacations, or take weekends off?
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3 answers
Jennifer Gottschalk
Attorney
6
Answers
Reno, Nevada
Updated
Jennifer’s Answer
Hi Katia, It depends on what career you end up in and what company you work for. I am an attorney in house for Chegg. I work a pretty full week, at least 9-5 most days, but sometimes starting at 8 and sometimes working in the evenings. At Chegg I find that many of us have families, so there is a lot of understanding if my child is sick or I need time for appointments or things like that. I have a lot of flexibility in that way. For our company, vacation is "unlimited," which means you use your best judgment on what you can take and what allows you to still do your job effectively. I mostly take weekends off. For some comparison, at my last job, I accrued 4.5 weeks of vacation per year and my day to day/weekly schedule was similar.
Alla Gonzalez
16
Answers
Houston, Texas
Updated
Alla’s Answer
Hello Katia! Like David mentioned, your work schedule will largely depend on the kind of employer you work for and the kind of work you do for that employer. Most office jobs require a 40-hour work week Monday through Friday. Vacation time also largely depends on your particular situation. Many companies offer a pro-rated amount of vacation time per month and may also increase vacation time offered to you the longer your work there.
david kirk
Retired Computing Manager
472
Answers
Syracuse, New York
Updated
david’s Answer
These are good questions, especially since many young people assume that vacations and weekends off are the norm. As a general guideline, the more important and challenging the work, the less control you have over scheduled time away from work. For example, an employee doing standardized work may have regular work hours each day and work only five days a week. A person with accountability for important components in a business, such as an account, might leave work early some days, but work long hours when there are accounting irregularities to review. Persons who support critical business functions, or are involved in life safety or medical career, may find their weekends are often interrupted with work requirements. For me, my first job was in a personnel office, where I administered a routine flow of paperwork. It was essential, but routine to the business. So, I worked 8 hours a day and 5 days a week. Later, I became a computer programmer and sometimes the phone would ring in the middle of the night for a problem and I had to address the problem right then, and sometimes into the weekend. But the pay was much more, and those events weren't regular. Later, I became a manager and almost every week, there were issues that kept me in the office an extra hour or so, and doing some administrative catch-up on weekends was not unusual. However, I was also empowered to schedule my own vacation time, and took extra days off on occasion. That is, when you work longer hours, you usually are more entitled to participate in vacation planning.