Reply To: Working over 40 hours?

Andrew,

10 to 12 hour days can be the norm if the firm is busy.  I oversaw a seven person LA department and my team worked 40 to 45 hours a week.  I myself worked 45-50 hours depending on how much admin stuff piled up (reviewing billings, time cards, meetings with staff and the boss, etc.)  Every now and then a couple of us would work till 10-11 pm getting ready for the next days presentations or if we recieved a last minute base file update and the project was due in the morning.  As everyone was salary, we paid out our bonuses based on overtime worked.  Wen it was crunch time we always picked up dinner and drinks and if everything got done that night those that stayed usually came in the next day around 9-10am versus our standard 7am.  We believed in creating a great environment where people enjoyed coming to work. 

Right now, our LA department is down to just two of us and I do a lot of work at home since budgets are extremly tight (or non-existent!).  To get through these times we’ve joined up with a corporate firm which watches the numbers very closely and once you go over budget you must work on it on your own time. 

With all that said, if you are entering the job market now and you are successful in landing a job, you may have to work some O.T. but it’ll depend on what’s coming up.  Just be glad to get hired!  Once the economy picks up (please be soon!) we will return to a steady 40-45 hours a week of “billable time” and will hire people once we start hitting 55 hours a week of pure billable time.  I think you might find that most firms now will be slow to hire as they don’t want to take on employees unless they know for sure that they can keep them.  Laying people off is not pleasant and makes for real crappy day.

If you are still in school, I’m recommending students to stay in for a bit longer, if possible, to hold out the storm.  Get another degree that compliments Landscape Architecture that will enhance your skills and will put you above the rest.  Graphic Arts, a minor in biology or ecology…something that can offer other avenues of work. 

Ask other LA’s what they think could help someone entering this field at this time.