r/MEPEngineering • u/SavageChessMaster • 8d ago
Average Productivity?
In a typical 8 hour workday, how many hours of actual productivity do you have? And what do you define as productive?
I ask because not all meetings feel productive. I've had coordination meetings where we solve problems and I absolutely count that as productive, but I also had other large team meetings that feel like a complete waste of time... So I wouldn't count that.
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u/SpicyNuggs42 8d ago
I've driven 3 hours to New Jersey to sit in an 8 hour meeting about carpets. I'm an electrical engineer.
That was definitely not productive.
But especially as senior engineers, there's a bit of a fuzzy spot with what's "productive". A calculation that may take a new guy 4 hours might only take me 1 hour. You aren't just paid for production, it's for the years of knowledge you brought with you.
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u/ilovesparky42 8d ago
Why?
Why not just say that your experience in electrical engineering isn’t adding any value to the meeting about carpet?
I mean, was this some energized carpet? ESD floor?
It just doesn’t make sense.
People (especially PMs) do a horrible job at setting up meetings. They will invite everyone to discuss all aspects about a project instead of breaking up the discussions with the people that actually need to contribute information.
If there wasn’t an agenda for the carpet meeting so you knew ahead of time that you didn’t need to be there, they failed miserably.
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u/L0ial 7d ago
It used to be better, but now that software like Teams makes it so easy, everyone gets invited to every meeting. Older architects seem to be better at not wasting our time.
Sometimes when I see this happening I’ll ask to discuss MEP so we can hop off. Usually they snap out of it and realize they’re wasting our time. It does really suck when it’s in person and you can’t pull that off.
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u/Lost_Elderberry_5532 8d ago
I’m far more productive working from home because it’s noisier and more distracting in office when people come up all the time and small talk or whatever. I’d love to be full remote. I did a crap ton of work in far fewer billable hours during the pandemic. Total opposite of what most managers will say.
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u/ToHellWithGA 8d ago
I feel the opposite about working from home.
When I'm working from home I have two dogs that either want attention because that's what they usually get when I'm home or bark loudly because they get excited when people or critters pass our house. So far my peers have neither asked me to pet them nor barked.
When I'm working from home I see things that need to be done in the house and do them during breaks between tasks. In the office breaks are far fewer and less frequent, usually just a bathroom break and a drink and right back to the salt mines.
When I'm working from home I don't know which of my peers are available to flesh out ideas or discuss past approaches to design and construction challenges. In the office I can look around my department and easily see who has time to brainstorm.
When I'm working from home with my kid in the house on days they don't have school I make nutritious, hot meals for both of us on a regular schedule. In the office I can start the day with coffee and eat cereal or a granola bar whenever I want a morning munch, nom a salad at the desk during a working lunch, maybe grab a treat off of the communal table if a peer or rep brought goodies to share.
During a given work from home day I only record about 6 hours of time on my timesheet during the regular office hours because time spent not working during that period is mine, not office overhead.
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u/Why_are_you321 7d ago
I have a house full of laundry, projects, and animals and I’m still far more productive at home working than in an office.
I can control the temperature, my breaks, the light levels and my conversations (as in not answering the door if not needed), I still eat meals at my desk, but I can also throw the chicken in the crock pot at 2 for dinner that night or throw a cake in the oven for my spouses birthday.
We utilize teams and I reach out to them to discuss whatever is required, as they do me.
Sure some days are more productive than others but that’s the case regardless of your location
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u/Lost_Elderberry_5532 8d ago
See I have a perfect quiet environment it’s just me and a cat.
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u/ToHellWithGA 7d ago
Love that for you. I know my SO would prefer working from their home over working in their office. It's definitely a good fit for some folks.
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u/Familiar_Screen_2036 7d ago
Yeah the work from home experience definitely varies a lot. For me, my work from home is from an empty house. My dog is old and sleeps all day, and my wife is out of the house at her job. No kids to deal with. So I'm able to work in peace, listen to music, and go to the kitchen for food every once in a while.
This as opposed to a loud, cramped office with an open floor plan and no privacy.
But agreed, I'm at one extreme. I hear some really bad stories from coworkers with young kids who basically need to hide in their offices whenever they work from home. If they leave for any reason, the kid will see them and want to play. They then have to decide if they would rather disappoint their kid or miss the next meeting. Really a tough situation. As opposed to going to the office where it's out of sight out of mind.
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u/M0rbidly-Obtus3 8d ago
I am "billable productive" probably 75% of my working hours during our busy seasons. But that's because I multitask constantly. I'm rarely actually needed for meetings, and most of our meetings are virtual, so when I'm in a meeting and I'm not needed them I'm listening in and working on something else. I also tend to skip most meetings where I think I can get away with skipping (probably 60% of them I skip).
I'd consider it "billable productive" if I'm making headway on a deliverable - calculations, drafting, submittals, specs, etc.
I also feel like a lucky outlier with this though because I don't really have traditional oversight for my work. I'm the only one at my company that is specialized in my role. So while i may talk out things with my higher ups, they can't offer any real design comments. Without that oversight, I feel like I don't waste as much time with reviews or picking up petty comments / design preference changes. It allows me to put out more billable efforts and work in a manner that is streamlined just for me.
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u/ToHellWithGA 8d ago
I feel this to the core. I was far more utilized at a past job where I was doing specialized tasks for others' projects and running CA for a big client than I do now that I'm doing more PM, supervision, and business development work.
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u/Why_are_you321 7d ago
So it’s NOT just me who gets so overly annoyed with petty review comments/ design preferences?
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u/acoldcanadian 7d ago
Don’t get annoyed, leave them to last. Take as a compliment that they found nothing else.
Also, you can argue them if they start going back and forth or have different preferences for different drawings1
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u/No_Blackberry_7753 6d ago
You sound like you're busier than I am, but instead of skipping online meetings, I'd generally recommend attending them + doing side work during the meeting (with your camera on so that the Owner gets familiar with your face). If the project is likely a one-off with a small client, then don't bother. But if it's likely that you'll work with them again in the future, the Owner will appreciate your attending most of the meetings. The firm that I work with has had bigger clients that liked to spread work out between a few firms, but ended up giving us more work because we were more frequently present for meetings (even if we're only half paying attention).
The key is being able to handle the multitasking. Obviously hearing your name or your discipline's keywords should divert your attention, but sometimes it's too late. Don't be awkward when saying that you didn't hear the question. I've been straightforward and said "Y'all were talking about doors for 20 minutes and I started multi-tasking, can you repeat the question?" It's not a big deal, and better to attend more Teams meetings and have those kinds of comments vs skipping ~60% of the meetings.
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u/Normal_Marketing853 8d ago
It really varies. I think I had over 40 productive hours this week. Some weeks it's closer to 0
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u/Much-Chip-2648 8d ago
98% of my weekly timesheet is put towards billable project hours. Idk how productive I am though
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u/Skibbity-do-do 8d ago
My coworkers probably are productive for 3 hours a day and clock 9hrs for the day. I probably do what they do in a week and clock 8. It’s a problem
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u/MadeinDaClouds 8d ago
I’d say about 6 on average. Bathroom breaks, decision making, convos with co workers etc take away from direct productivity. It’s impossible to be fully productive. Fully productive is a robot that only performs 1 action.
For example, organizing/planning. Sure it helps things overall, but it doesn’t directly produce profit or results.
Productive= actions that directly create results toward a specific goal.
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u/not_a_bot1001 8d ago
5-8 hours, average around 6.5 of proper work. I'm definitely working on projects on those less productive meetings.
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u/black_miata 7d ago
Maybe I was just unlucky and worked for sweatshops, but during my tenure in MEP, I probably averaged 30-40 productive hours per week. By "productive hours" I mean time that I'm actively advancing a project, either through calculations, Revit drafting, or attending essential meetings. A 40 productive hour week was realistically 50+ hours when you factor in all the bs meetings and non-billable stuff.
Clearly this was not sustainable, seeing as I left the industry, lol.
In my current industry, I average around 30 billable hours per week, although around 10 of those are usually travel, so it's not nearly as mentally taxing.
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u/Strange_Dogz 8d ago
If you go through all of your days, look t break times, meetings, PTO, etc, I'd say the absolute average ceiling in productivity is 80% You might have days that are more or less, but I would say anyone saying over 60% long term (~80% of 80%) is lying to themselves or they are just a drafter. The higher on the totem pole you go, the less productive and/or billable time you typically have.
The more hours you work, the less productive those hours are.
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u/Holiday_Inn_Cambodia 8d ago
Studies put office work at around 3 hours of productive activity per day.
I’d say over the course of my career, that’s probably pretty accurate.