Your time or Company time?
 

I'm working on a report, and I'd like to understand if business travelers think of time on the plane as your time or company time? Then as a follow up, how does that impact what you do while you are on the plane?

I have some follow ups as well, so if you have an opinion you'd like to share, please let me know if you are open to an email discussion.

Thanks!

Welcome to Flyertalk.

Mine was probably split pretty equally between both. I usually had some work to get done, and then would consider it my time. Even if there was not anything pressing, it was a great time to do the mundane stuff you hated doing in the office like reorganizing your e-mail or updating stuff, finishing presentations, etc you didn't need to be online to do at the time.

I've never worked for a place that in any way expected you to get work done on the airplane, so it was always my choice. I've always felt it was way more productive at times then at my desk.

If I am doing billable work such as drafting a report or presentation, then it is company time. Otherwise, I consider it my time. One thing that is important to me is that this is pretty much the only time I ever get to turn off my blackberry and not be constantly available, so I value that aspect highly.

I consider it work time - i would not be away from my family and friends if it were not for this travel for work. My company tries to consider it my personal time and make us still work (bill) 40 hours a week. If there is work to be done that can be performed on the plane then i do it however we normally have to connect to servers to be able to perform our work so usually i am watching something or listening to music.

This is an ongoing battle at the moment.

E

I do the whatever is the relevant combination of most valuable and/or pressing at the time, whether work or personal.

If I get work done on the plane, then it's something I don't have to do on the ground. The idea that I work C hours and do whatever I can in those hours and that's how my performance is judged just doesn't apply to my life.

There's always stuff to accomplish, business and personal, and my business life bleeds into my 6am coffee time in the mornings and into my late evenings but I don't have any compunction about talking to my wife during the business day or picking up out of town visitors at the airport when they arrive during the day.

What is this bright-line distinction between personal time and work time of which you speak? This will be controverial, and I don't mean to be normative about it, but I tend to think of that as a concept more appropriate to an industrial era, when we were working at work, maybe in a factory or with machinery.

But those of us who won't, whose roles are strategic, or advisory, or sales, or financial... we do the things that are most valuable at any given moment, maximizing net present value for ourselves through a calculation that includes effort in our jobs and our families and our bobbies. Much more of a unified whole than a bifurcated work/home life distinction.

I think that more people's jobs adhered to the "work/non-work" dichotomy in earlier times and that more jobs today are more flexible and there are more grey areas (mine included), but it is certainly reality for plenty of people still.

Any sort of hourly/service job has a very strong "on-the-clock/off-the-clock" component and likely always will, as long as there are hourly jobs out there.

Personally, I am similar to you. I work a lot outside of the traditional 8:30-6:00 time slot (I travel a great deal for work) and thus I, too, have little compunction about taking a little extra time here and there. My employers have no problem with this as they know I perform just as well. I treat my team members the same and it works for us - but we are professionals working in a professional environment. This type of arrangement certainly would not work everywhere.

Actually, Mr. Hand, isn't it our time? :D :D :D

I agree that the work time/personal time dichotomy is antiquated. I do whatever I can to be productive in an aircraft seat, but I don't think productivity in the sky is all that high.

On my last trip, I went through and pruned my Outlook Contacts which had swelled to 3,000. My contacts are both business and personal. Is that work or personal?

I agree, you would not be on the plane if not for work. It should be considered work time.

This is slightly off topic, but I really wanted to plug the iPad (and I'm sure the forthcoming Android tablets as well) for use on the plane.

If I don't get lucky enough to score an upgrade, I find it almost impossible to work with a laptop in a coach seat. The iPad has been much better. It fits on the tray perfectly and isn't going to get smashed if someone reclines back. For reviewing digital documents, the book orientation works way better.

Now that Docs2Go has come out with a workable MS-Office compatible suite and GoodReader has come out with a great PDF reader, I feel like I can get some work done at 20,000 feet.

Stu

Disagree completely. If you're going to use that line of reasoning and apply it to the time you spend on the plane, then where does it stop? I wouldn't be in the taxi from the airport to the hotel if not for work, so is that work time? I wouldn't be in the hotel if not for work, so is that work time?

So are you saying when you go on a business trip, you're on the clock from the moment you leave the house to the moment you return home? And if that's not what you're saying, than how is plane time different from any other activity I'm doing while on a business trip? Lets face it, if I'm on a 4 day business trip, no matter where I am at any point over those 4 days, I wouldn't be there if not for work. If I check into my hotel at 6p every night, am I expected to be doing work until I go to bed, since I would not be there if not for work?

Mark me down in the work time / personal time dichotomy being antiquated camp.

My work week starts when I wake up Monday morning and ends when I go to sleep Sunday evening. Within that 7 day window I'll work about 40-50 hours, on average. With the exception of specific meetings that I need to attend, I set my own hours. And I work for one of the largest organizations in the world, not some 'hip' startup.

My employer expects certain results out of me, and as long as I am satisfying my internal customers, external customers, and spending some time on my own career development, my employer doesn't care what time I "punch in" or "punch out".

Sure, there's a certain expectation of responsibility that comes with a schedule like this, and if I ever became complacent my employer would likely scrutinize how and where I'm spending my time. But as long as work is getting done on time, with great results, and all constituents are happy, why does it matter what time I start or stop?

One more twist to it - if its a weekday during normal business hours, I consider it work time. If its after hours, I consider it my time. I know, its an odd distinction as I work many nights long after 5pm in a hotel room, but I consider that my decision to do that. I think its also important to put some constraints around travel. Its easy to work 'non stop' on a trip since you are away from your family, but thats not very healthy either. I make myself available as I would if I were in the office - but as we all know, there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done that we might need to. Another piece for some folks is the added challenge of time zones and international customers. Sometimes its time sensitive -

My wife worked most of last week in Texas. SHe arrived home yesterday at 1pm and I greeted her at the airport. We went to our waterfront area and had a long late lunch on the waterfront (with a bottle of wine), followed by a long walk.

Technically yesterday was a work day, but we knew that rain was forecasted over the weekend. She is writing her trip report today. As long as the report is done, no one cares about time shifting.

I agree that when you are working not he road, you sometimes need to guard some personal time, but I think more and more salaried jobs focus on your productivity rather than the exact time when the work was carried out.

I agree, and thats the way my employer looks at it as well. Good use of time by your wife - and really keeps a nice work/life balance for the both of you!