What is your real number of hours worked a year? It sounds like a straightforward number. When you start adding in holidays, vacations, sick days and the rest of it it gets very complicated very quickly.
Let’s run through the actual numbers together!
The Misconception
So let’s begin with what you already know – or suspect you know.
If you have a regular full-time job, you probably assume this about your working hours in a year:
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There are 52 weeks in a year.
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You get 40 to 50 hours per week.
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Okay, so 52 weeks x 40 hours per week is about 2,080 hours of work per year.
Right?
At first, that makes sense. But unfortunately, it's way oversimplified.
There are so many variables involved in making your total actual work hours for the year very small.
You Don’t Actually Work 52 Weeks A Year
Let’s dive a little deeper into that "52 weeks a year" statistic. Spoiler alert: it's nonsense.
Only if you worked 365 days a year, and had NO vacations. No holidays, no vacations, no sick days.
Unless you never leave the house, you DON’T work 52 weeks in a year. Consider all of the sick leave the typical U.S. worker gets. That’s why some companies often hire social media agencies on an outcome base (not by hour) to promote their business.
You Take Vacation Time
The average full-time worker gets around 2 weeks of paid vacation per year. That’s 10 good days where you don’t work.
Even 3 or 4 weeks if you have been with a company for years. Yet let’s pretend 2 weeks is normal.
And just by vacation time alone, you have already removed 10 whole days of work from the calendar.
You Get Paid Holidays Off
If you work in a high-wage city, then you probably get 8-10 paid holidays a year:
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New Year's Day
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Martin Luther King Jr. Day (March 29).
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Presidents' Day
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Memorial Day
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Independence Day
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Labor Day
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Thanksgiving Day
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Day After Thanksgiving
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Christmas Day
NOT ALL companies give you ALL those days off. ...but you get at least 8 paid holidays and maybe more.
That’s 8-10 more days you don’t actually have to work.
You Use Sick Days
You can’t do everything to stay healthy and you’re going to have to take a sick leave once or twice a year. You catch the flu, maybe you get hurt, or you just need a day off.
Full-time employees average 5-10 sick days for their money per year. But by statistics, they’re taking only 3 sick days on average every year.
Let’s knock 3 more days off of work schedule because of illness.
Tally Up Your Time Off
Add all this paid vacation time up to now:
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10 vacation days
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10 holidays
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3 sick days
That's 23 days in all, which is almost 5 PERFECT work weeks (i.e. 5 days a week) you're NOT working.
It is because up to now, we have to change our number from 52 work weeks to 47 work weeks.
And oh honey, we are only getting started down this rabbit hole. And now things get even weirder!
You Don't Work "Full" 40 Hour Work Weeks Either
Ok, so we’ve changed our baseline from 52 to 47 work weeks per year, so let's now look at the next assumption in more detail:
That you are consistently put in FULL 40 hours weeks every week of those weeks.
Sorry if I have to break this to you but that’s fuckin’ hooey too. You get slashed even MORE because:
Vacation Time
Remember those vacation days? Say you go on a very small 1-week vacation.
Oh, oh, so those are 5 days you’re NOT actually working nearly 40 hours that week.
Maybe the other week you are on an ordinary schedule before and after vacation. But either way- during 1 week you’re much less than 40 hours.
This already slashes the calculation.
You Use Sick Days
The same goes for sick days. When you’re calling in sick, you’re DEFINITELY NOT working an 8+ hour day.
So you work way less than 40 hours that week in the 3 normal sick days.
Mental Health Days Reduce Weekly Hours
In most ordinary worker benefits these days there are also a few "mental health days" or "personal days" each year.
Other companies have unlimited personal days or work from home. But if you’re like me, then you take at least 2 to 3 mental health days.
That’s 2-3 extra days in a year where you don’t clock 40 hours in a week.
Holidays Shorten Work Weeks
Here's another big one. Christmas and Independence Day which are weekday holidays cut your hours even further.
For example:
Let’s say Christmas is on a Monday. Many people don’t work that week so no time worked.
But even if you only take Christmas Day off - that is still one day you are SURELY NOT working 8 hours. Which reduces your weekly total.
Depending on the calendar dates, you might be out 5+ hours on SEVERAL different weeks in the year because of holidays.
Partial Days Off Are Common
How about days of leave with no excuses, for doctor’s appointments or your child’s school play or if you go early on Friday as well, because you can?
Those modern businesses let their workers take a few hours of downtime when they need them, without treating it like a full day of holiday.
Those 2-4 hour half days add up over a year and shrink your hours even more.
Don't Forget Lunch Breaks!
And this is the big one we never get time to do: lunch. You can get 1 hour of lunch a day.
You’re working 5 days per week, so 5 hours of your "full time" 40-hour work week that you’re NOT working.
Meetings and Training = Hours You Don't Actually Work
Consider the time spent in meetings, trainings, conferences, etc.
Those are the hours you work but you’re not working - you’re sitting in a useless meeting about alignment and participation.
From useless meetings to quota-imposed training, you spend at least 5 hours a week staring blankly at a computer screen.
Be Honest - You Chat By the Water Cooler
We all chat with teammates at the water fountain or in Slack. And don’t try to hide it.
How much time do you lose every week blabbering about Carol in accounting? Maybe 1 - 2 hours really if you want to be real.
It adds up!
Tally Your "Non-Work" Hours
Add all of this unwork time and it takes 5+ hours off your "full-time" 40-hour work weeks.
Here's a quick breakdown:
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Vacation days: 40 hours
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Sick days: 24 hours
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Personal days: 16 hours
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Holidays: 20 hours
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Breaks: 15 hours Partial days off.
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Lunch breaks: 260 hours
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Meetings/training: 260 hours
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Water cooler chit-chat: 60 hours.
That’s like 700 of the "40-hour" work week you never actually work for all year. Or nearly 17 lost hours a week, on average.
So now instead of working 40 hours, your true weekly average is down to just around 23 hours of real productive work when you subtract all those hours out.
