Timesheet / billing for general availability in lieu of a current task?

[krytonsheep]

4 hours work for 8 hours pay

Most contractors in the industries I've worked tend to live by "The 4-Hour Workweek". You bill 40 hours a week and do 4 hours work on Friday afternoon The only caveat being, you have to be working on site. Working remote, there's definitely more pressure to demonstrate you are doing some work.

[zonkkk]

Thanks lad for your reply. My issue is not that i'm billing 8 but doing 4; it's more that i'm expected to do 8, but can only do 4, and therefore will only bill for 4.

My original question was badly articulated - my bad.

You're too fast; slow down to half speed!

[bigrog]

Most contractors in the industries I've worked tend to live by "The 4-Hour Workweek". You bill 40 hours a week and do 4 hours work on Friday afternoon The only caveat being, you have to be working on site. Working remote, there's definitely more pressure to demonstrate you are doing some work.

Yes I think this is what i'm grinding up against; in order to preempt an "audit", I want to account for literally everything I do. I even have "canary" tasks, where I complete work but actually don't bill for it, so that I can gather them up as evidence of "good will" in case I get scrutinised.

I was actually a contractor in London during the 2000s, but I would bill daily instead of hourly. It was perfectly reasonable to go to the pub at 12 on a Friday, only to head back at 17:00 to pick up one's coat. Those days got billed 100%. My managers were also in the pub with me. The whole day. Ah the halcyon days of yore.

Wonder if it's still the same...?

[krytonsheep]

I want to account for literally everything I do

Not sure if it's suitable, but a good tool for giving a break down of work based on what applications your using is Rescue Time.
It's probably one of the most reliable ways to gauge how much someone is working, when they're remote.

[Paralytic]

Not sure if it's suitable, but a good tool for giving a break down of work based on what applications your using is Rescue Time.
It's probably one of the most reliable ways to gauge how much someone is working, when they're remote.

Does it record how long you spend using a spell checker?

[gables]

Yes I think this is what i'm grinding up against; in order to preempt an "audit", I want to account for literally everything I do. I even have "canary" tasks, where I complete work but actually don't bill for it, so that I can gather them up as evidence of "good will" in case I get scrutinised.

I was actually a contractor in London during the 2000s, but I would bill daily instead of hourly. It was perfectly reasonable to go to the pub at 12 on a Friday, only to head back at 17:00 to pick up one's coat. Those days got billed 100%. My managers were also in the pub with me. The whole day. Ah the halcyon days of yore.

Wonder if it's still the same...?

With them being there it made it a working lunch so obviously billable :-)

[ladymuck]

I have to say, I would not want to work somewhere where I would have to account for every minute of the day just in case someone checks up and does an audit. Perm or contract, that's not an environment I would want to work in.

I have been very fortunate to always work places where the management attitude is "this is what we need, get on with it" and as long I do get on with it and the output is to a sufficient standard, they sign off my timesheets.