Work Hours

Depending on what type of job you have, you may have to work in shorter shifts (e.g., 4 hours), or longer shifts (e.g., 8 hours or 12 hours). Depending on how long your work shifts are and how many hours you work per week, you may be considered a full-time worker or a part-time worker.

	# of hours per day	# of days per week	# of hours per week
Full time jobs	8 hours per day or more	5 days per week OR 3-4 days per week	40 hours per week (or more)
Part time jobs	The average is 4 hours per day	It depends on the job	Less than 40 hours per week

 Different jobs have different work hours.  Listed below are examples of what the hours might be for different jobs:

• Regular office hours (8am - 5pm)
• Early morning hours (5am - 11am)
• Evening hours (5pm - 11pm)
• Late night hours (11pm - 6am)
• A combination of these hours (mornings on some days, late nights on others)

Listed below are part- or full-time jobs that usually occur during regular office hours (i.e. 8am-5pm):

Accountant Bank Teller Computer Programmer Computer Repair & Maintenance Worker Data entry worker Office clerk Bank Teller Accountant Computer Programmer Data entry worker Electrician Filing Clerk Librarian Mail Room Worker Mechanic Medical Technician Office Clerk Pharmacy Technician Professor Teacher Veterinary Technician

Some jobs may also require that you work hours in the evening (5pm – 11pm) or even late night hours (11pm - 6am). Jobs such as bus driver, baggage handler, cook, custodian, home health care aide, production line worker, stock clerk, and restaurant waiter might require someone to work in the evening, as well as the daytime.   It just depends on specific company that you work for! 

Some jobs may have rotating shifts – where you give a list of times that you are available to your supervisor, and he/she will put together a rotating schedule for all the workers.  This means that the times you work may change from week to week - you may not have a consistent work schedule each week.  Jobs such as cashier, production line worker, nurse, retail salesperson, or restaurant waiter might have rotating shift work. 

Here’s an example of a rotating shift schedule:

Sometimes, your job may require you to tolerate certain environmental demands that you do not like.  No work environment is perfect all the time.  Everyone has to cope with certain job-related environmental demands.

How can you cope with long work shifts? Here are some ideas:

Take scheduled breaks doing something you enjoy (i.e. read, text, surf the internet).

Schedule things to look forward to during your day (i.e. a good lunch, a good snack).

Write down your plan for the day or follow a visual schedule.

Check things off your list as you complete tasks.

It is important to learn coping strategies and techniques so you will keep the job you want.  Go to our Coping Section for help.