Does anyone else feel anxious about recording billable hrs? This is my first agency job, and I feel anxiety/guilt if I took too long to complete something, not billable enough in a day, etc.

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Don’t worry too much about it if this is your first agency job. Unless your boss, PM or finance dept brings it up to you then you’re fine. Typically when PMs resource hours, they have an accurate number and will pad it to account for delays or blockers. The PM will also examine forcasted hours vs actuals during the life of a project and will see what they can do to bring in more budget if it’s absolutely necessary.

If you’re on an AOR retainer (agency of record), then the hours you report don’t really mean anything since the client is paying flat/fixed fee to the agency.

It if takes you 20 hours to complete something that should take 5 hours, then that’s a cause for concern and you should assess (in a very rational way) how you can improve your output.

The biggest no-no with billable hours is when you lie about how much hours it takes you to complete a task. That’s when you go into a territory of business ethics. You should always report actual hours worked when you’re billing hours to a client.

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Thank you — very practical advice! I think it’s mostly anxiety about whether I’m doing enough and comparing myself to coworkers. Some self doubt that I need to work on. But this is a good reminder that it’s really all about transparency for the client.

Yep. 3 years and it still hasn’t gone away.

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I think what also helps is not thinking of deliverables in terms of hours but in terms of buying a final product. Does it make sense for a client to pay for me to spend 15 hours working on a single press release or content calendar? No, but it does make sense for them to pay €1k a month not to think about it themselves and find it waiting for them in their inbox.

It’s really nice of you to be concerned with accurately recording your hours. I’d guess 70% of the agency doesn’t give a shit.

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(When they record theirs I mean.) how accurate can one be when they’re weeks behind?

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I wouldn’t worry about it...

Don’t feel guilty. Record your time as you’re spending it, and your manager will speak with you if they’re seeing anything that looks amiss.

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