The comparison ignores the blistering daily poverty of a medieval peasant. This is not merely a lack of technology - that would be a historical argument. But e

The comparison ignores the blistering daily poverty of a medieval peasant. This is not merely a lack of technology - that would be a historical argument. But even basic amenities that could be easily built in this time period were difficult to come by. Entire villages might have to share a few pieces of furniture, like a stool. These people may have had a lot of "time off", but they spent it in horrible poverty, many months of the year near starvation, even within the context of what was available to them in their own time. I would hazard to say that many modern office workers rarely actually accomplish 40 hours of productive work in a given week. They may be physically present, but how often are they chatting, goofing off, or standing around waiting for an interaction. Modern business is built upon availability, not necessarily toil.