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I work in academia and the way contracts work here is that we have to do research, teaching, and service (for those not familiar with academia, service is like administrative work). Nowhere in the contract are the weekly hours stated. In fact, sometimes we have to work at night (for example teaching a late class) or in the weekends (for example, workshop for high-school kids). However, you only need to physically be at the university when you are teaching or for meetings. It does not matter where you are when you are preparing your classes, grading, doing research, etc.

Traditionally (say, in the last 100 years), the duties are given so that it roughly takes 40hrs/week, but due to increasing enrollment and other issues, most faculty work much more than 40hrs/week, see link. By the way, we do not get overtime or anything like that. We are officially exempt employees. We also do not get summer salary, so we either teach in the summer to get salary, or get someone to fund our research. Most faculty do the research for free in the summer.

After different jobs, I took a position in academia (with the features explained above) that I can do in 10 hours. With the extra time I do hobbies or am with my family. It is not that the job is easy, it is more that the job exactly matches my skills, and that my weaknesses do not affect my performance. My colleagues, as most faculty, work at least 40hrs/week (many work more as explained in the link above).

Some questions I got before:

  1. Is it really a 40 hour a week job for other people to do and you are just much faster?

Yes (more information in the link above)

  1. Are there additional things you could do to better the project/company that you are not doing because it's not directly instructed to you?

I already do extra things that my colleagues do not. That is why they are very happy with me and I have already gotten several bonuses. I could do even more, but that would be going way beyond my contract.

  1. Are you available to them for the 40 hour window that you are supposed to be available?

Due to the way academia works, I can be anywhere when I am not teaching or in meetings. However, I never say "I cannot meet because I am at home".

  1. Are not getting paid as a second business while on the clock for the first business?

I am allowed to do that. My job allows me to do consulting. In fact, the university often gets "overhead" if I do that. However, due to the nature of academia the concept of "on the clock" is very blurry.

My question: Should I inform my bosses how long it takes me to finish the job (10hrs/week)?

mutt
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Carl
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    I fail to see how your question is significantly different than the one you link. – David K Jun 29 '17 at 16:46
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    In particular, Joe's answer addresses your situation very well. – David K Jun 29 '17 at 16:48
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    I have to agree with David; I also fail to see any significant differences to the other question, other than the difference in numbers (10 hours vs. 2 hours). If you feel that your situation is different, then please [edit] the question to highlight the differences. – Martin Tournoij Jun 29 '17 at 16:49
  • Please edit to clarify how this is different from the linked question; it's similar enough that any valid answer on the linked question likely answers yours as well. It seems to me the only difference is the number of hours, and the fact that you're in academia whereas the other person automated their job, but the core issue to be resolved / responded to is very much the same. – schizoid04 Jun 29 '17 at 16:51
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    I think I see the difference clearly. The other person was deceiving the amount of work done to look like he did more. This person does all that is assigned without mentioning anything either way. They pay for the job, he is just very good at it, not trying to get around the work. It could be worded better to clearly bring that out though. – mutt Jun 29 '17 at 16:53
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    I think all of these questions come down to, why are you afraid to tell your boss? If you are not afraid, just tell them so they know and everything will be fine. If you are afraid to tell them, you clearly know something is wrong with what you are doing and you want this SE group to validate your decision. – SaggingRufus Jun 29 '17 at 16:56
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    @SaggingRufus I have been afraid in the past as well, and the main reason is being taken advantage of. If someone takes x time to do it and is considered a successful employee and then I do it in 50% less time that should make me an exceptional employee and not mean I get 2x the work and am a successful employee just like the other person and then get complaints that I don't continue at 2x the work rate of someone paid the same thing for half the work rate. – mutt Jun 29 '17 at 17:07
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    @ OP: You mentioned you sometimes work on hobbies when you're "on the clock" but done your tasks... I don't know if this applies in academia, but in software development, for example, there's often a clause in one's contract saying "anything you work on while we're paying you belongs to the company." You may want to check your contract in case any of these hobbies ever become a profitable venture for you. Then there might be an ethical dilemma. Regarding your actual question, I think you're fine, tho. – Steve-O Jun 29 '17 at 17:14
  • @Steve-O Good point, hobbies around the house is one thing, running a side business while being paid for another one is something else entirely. – mutt Jun 29 '17 at 17:16
  • @mutt Why are you comparing yourself to other people? Everyone should trying to work at their best. I complete my work fast than some on my colleagues. When I complete my work, I actively seek out more work. I personally think its the professional thing to do. Unless you contract clearly states you do this one thing and in exchange, we will pay you X. Then they are paying for a product/service. Aside from that you are normally expected to work a regular work day (how ever many hours that is where you live). In Canada, its an 8 hour day. So if I complete my work early, I have to get more work. – SaggingRufus Jun 29 '17 at 17:19
  • Not myself, but the work produced based on the job category. When one does the job of a team lead as well as part of the manager's job and is only paid for a standard team worker while they have to also pick up the slack of team members who are under-performing it's pretty ridiculous. My experience is that many employers want as much as possible for as little pay as possible which leads to anyone over-performing as bonus for the company instead of more valued employee. – mutt Jun 29 '17 at 17:21
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    If you are working on projects that are invoiced by the hour to clients and you report 40 hours and work 10, then that is fraud and you could actually go to jail if you get caught. – HLGEM Jun 29 '17 at 17:22
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    Key is you employment contract. Does the contract explicitly state a number of hours or work schedule? – paparazzo Jun 29 '17 at 17:23
  • Secondly, if someone is that much more productive and you have that rule then it only motivates one to twiddle their thumbs and take longer to do things cause the company doesn't give a crap about high performance, only wants to use people like mice in wheels. An intelligent company and manager values the people who work for them and their skills, not just time logged with output. – mutt Jun 29 '17 at 17:23
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    @mutt Both questions involve misleading one's employer about the amount of time spent (lying by omission is still lying), the other one is just a bit more actively deceptive. – Bernhard Barker Jun 29 '17 at 17:26
  • @HLGEM Extremely well aware of those laws, and not saying to violate it, but as a human you get paid to go to the bathroom, collect your thoughts, talk to others, take smoking breaks, sometimes gov. mandated work breaks, etc... The statement you make without context would mean I need to not charge when I need to take a #2 cause I'm not producing for the contract. This is also a reverse unethical and illegal activity as health and safety guidelines must be adhered to. People are not machines and shouldn't be assessed as machines. If you want AI then pay for AI, if you want people... – mutt Jun 29 '17 at 17:27
  • @Dukeling The only thing that is lying is if the person says "I took 40 hours to do x" this week when in actuality it only took 10 hours. I'm not saying that and the question doesn't state that either. It states salary 40 hour position to do x and x only takes 10 hours for this individual. – mutt Jun 29 '17 at 17:29
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    related: Copying questions that had a misfortune of being widely exposed in the hot list – gnat Jun 29 '17 at 17:46
  • Completely rewording the question not only negates most of the comment but an answer. I'm not voting to reopen that. You're better off just deleting this and submitting a new question that doesn't bring all the baggage if you genuinely feel it is that different. It will also get more exposure since most regulars have already read this one and really don't want to diff compare it for topicality. – Chris E Jul 06 '17 at 16:46

1 Answers1

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You are paid to do job x and you do it with flying colors. They determined it was a 40 hour a week job which they seem happy to pay you to continue doing.

4 things to consider:

  1. Is it really a 40 hour a week job for other people to do and you are just much faster?
  2. Are there additional things you could do to better the project/company that you are not doing because it's not directly instructed to you?
  3. Are you available to them for the 40 hour window that you are supposed to be available?
  4. Are not getting paid as a second business while on the clock for the first business?

If you can honestly say, I see some other jobs out there like this one that take 40 hours to do similar stuff and you are just that much faster, then that's fine, you shouldn't be penalized for being super good at what you do. If it's total ignorance of your company, sure it's there fault, but I think you have a duty to try and make your pay worth it to them by helping in other ways that aren't spelled out in your job category. There should be plenty of time to figure out how to do more for them than what you currently do.

Also, they pay you for 40 hours a week, so you should be available in case they need anything and be able to jump on it immediately. Sure sometimes people will pay just for availability if something goes wrong...nice when things are working, but you should be readily available if they need anything else during your work time.

If you are working another profession at the same time and getting paid for it while on the clock for the first one, this could be a legal situation and certainly isn't ethical.

P.S. The main goal is to do the job hired for and make your employer satisfied with your work without taking advantage of them. Keep that in mind and if you feel you are taking advantage of them find some other way to help out or confirm that even though you feel that way they disagree and are happy with the way you perform your job.

With edit to question:

  • You might approach it to indicate efficiencies that you are able to do and ask if there is something else you might take on in order to help out. It would totally suck to let everyone know you are at 10 hours and they are at 50 hours.

Is it technically legit for you not to say anything, it seems like based on your question it is, but if you are in the same boat as alot of people working more than 40 hours that it would be good for you to indicate in some way you have some more bandwidth to help out the rest of the staff if there is something you can help with. You don't even have to mention the amount of time, but I would say you need to specify you can help out to decrease other workloads is the right ethical approach and also kind to your fellow team mates.

You say it's "way beyond your contract scope" but it seems that is where you fall in your skill set and it would be good to help more than to pocket while others suffer. If everyone was less than 40 hours it wouldn't be that big a deal, but to have some working a ton of hours while you work so little it seems you should be going way beyond your contract scope to help out as you have the time/skills to do so.

I would discuss that you feel you could help out staff alot more and if your boss knows some ways you might contribute additional help in order to decrease the amount of overtime some of the staff is currently working.

mutt
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