Working at Home and Fifteen Minute Breaks
According to the Department of Labor, there are several states that require paid rest periods as part of a work day, with the average being a ten to fifteen minute break for employees to use the bathroom facilities for every four hours of time worked. That equates to two fifteen minute breaks in an average 8 hour work day.
People that work at home should keep in mind the necessity of taking a break after four hours of work. In fact, in Washington it is required that no one be made work longer than 3 hours before they are granted a paid ten minute break in which they can stretch their bodies and use the restroom facilities. Employees with work times of less than 3 and a half hours in several states, including Nevada and California, are not required to be given paid breaks.
When you are determining your work time for a project or for a day's work, you should schedule for taking a break after four hours of work. This is in addition to a thirty minute unpaid break for lunch.
Now... reality check time. Who can afford to take a full hour out of their work day? And what person running a small business can afford to pay themselves half an hour's wages when they have done nothing in that time to earn the money?
It is all well and good to draw out a timesheet that says that you will work for 8 hours, taking two fifteen minute breaks and half an hour off for lunch. Just try, however, to put that into practice for more than a couple of weeks.
Working from home means mastering the art of multitasking in everything that we do. As I am writing this I have a sink full of dishes behind me in the kitchen waiting for the water to cool a bit so I can finish the last of the more baked on foodstuffs, I have a nephew I take care of for several hours a day under watchful eye in the living room next to me, and I have a little dog wagging its tail and woofing at me asking for attention (I already got him water and food and let him outside).
I think the better idea - and oh shoot! I need to feed the fish! They can wait until I get this thought out though. But that is what it is like to work from home. You have all kinds of distractions pulling your attention this way and that, and I have not even mentioned phone calls and visitors and all of the other things that can distract a person over the course of an average at home work day.
So, yes, working at home and trying to take fifteen minute breaks is pretty much a failed plan as soon as it is set to paper. There is, however, hope!
While we can not, no matter how much we want to, just close the world out and do our work like people in office buildings can, we are able to take some control over the world around us and make our distractions less. Plan those fifteen minute breaks into your day, and use them to battle back the things that would force you to be pulled away from working.
Do you have children? If they are old enough to understand the "please don't bother me right now" requests make a bargain with them. Set a kitchen timer for three and a half hours when you start working, and let everyone know that until the timer goes off, you would prefer not to be disturbed. You have to stop work when the timer goes off, however, visit the restroom and then give your kids your full undivided attention for the remainder of your fifteen minute break so they can ask you about sleepovers and if they can get a particular video game and any other "water cooler" talk that happens in your home office during work breaks.
No kids? Do what I do, get up and take care of animals or wash the dishes or load the laundry into the washer while you stretch your legs and get away from the work for fifteen minutes.
I have, I admit, not yet successfully implemented the butt in chair hands on keyboard for three hours rule. I simply do not, at this time, have the necessary focus, but I am getting a lot better at it and can manage a couple of hours before I suddenly think of something else I just HAVE to take care of.
I am going to issue a challenge to everyone, but it will be in my next post, so make sure you check out the Work Challenge post that I am going to post next.
People that work at home should keep in mind the necessity of taking a break after four hours of work. In fact, in Washington it is required that no one be made work longer than 3 hours before they are granted a paid ten minute break in which they can stretch their bodies and use the restroom facilities. Employees with work times of less than 3 and a half hours in several states, including Nevada and California, are not required to be given paid breaks.
When you are determining your work time for a project or for a day's work, you should schedule for taking a break after four hours of work. This is in addition to a thirty minute unpaid break for lunch.
Now... reality check time. Who can afford to take a full hour out of their work day? And what person running a small business can afford to pay themselves half an hour's wages when they have done nothing in that time to earn the money?
It is all well and good to draw out a timesheet that says that you will work for 8 hours, taking two fifteen minute breaks and half an hour off for lunch. Just try, however, to put that into practice for more than a couple of weeks.
Working from home means mastering the art of multitasking in everything that we do. As I am writing this I have a sink full of dishes behind me in the kitchen waiting for the water to cool a bit so I can finish the last of the more baked on foodstuffs, I have a nephew I take care of for several hours a day under watchful eye in the living room next to me, and I have a little dog wagging its tail and woofing at me asking for attention (I already got him water and food and let him outside).
I think the better idea - and oh shoot! I need to feed the fish! They can wait until I get this thought out though. But that is what it is like to work from home. You have all kinds of distractions pulling your attention this way and that, and I have not even mentioned phone calls and visitors and all of the other things that can distract a person over the course of an average at home work day.
So, yes, working at home and trying to take fifteen minute breaks is pretty much a failed plan as soon as it is set to paper. There is, however, hope!
While we can not, no matter how much we want to, just close the world out and do our work like people in office buildings can, we are able to take some control over the world around us and make our distractions less. Plan those fifteen minute breaks into your day, and use them to battle back the things that would force you to be pulled away from working.
Do you have children? If they are old enough to understand the "please don't bother me right now" requests make a bargain with them. Set a kitchen timer for three and a half hours when you start working, and let everyone know that until the timer goes off, you would prefer not to be disturbed. You have to stop work when the timer goes off, however, visit the restroom and then give your kids your full undivided attention for the remainder of your fifteen minute break so they can ask you about sleepovers and if they can get a particular video game and any other "water cooler" talk that happens in your home office during work breaks.
No kids? Do what I do, get up and take care of animals or wash the dishes or load the laundry into the washer while you stretch your legs and get away from the work for fifteen minutes.
I have, I admit, not yet successfully implemented the butt in chair hands on keyboard for three hours rule. I simply do not, at this time, have the necessary focus, but I am getting a lot better at it and can manage a couple of hours before I suddenly think of something else I just HAVE to take care of.
I am going to issue a challenge to everyone, but it will be in my next post, so make sure you check out the Work Challenge post that I am going to post next.
Labels: break, work, work tips, working at home
posted by Sandra at 4:31 PM
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