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That's true in the sort of desk jobs most of the people who inhabit Hacker News do. It's patently not true of things like manufacturing line work, delivery driv

That's true in the sort of desk jobs most of the people who inhabit Hacker News do. It's patently not true of things like manufacturing line work, delivery drivers, chefs, and call centre operators. A chef can't drop 8 hours a week and still expect to serve the same number of meals because of efficiency gains, and a call centre needs to be accessible at the times people are calling. For the record I fully support any push to reduce the amount of work people are expected to do, but claiming there's no impact because of productivity gains just doesn't add up in many cases.

ceejayoz 5y ago
> A chef can't drop 8 hours a week and still expect to serve the same number of meals because of efficiency gains... Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps being better rested makes them collaborate better with the other chefs. Maybe the improved morale helps come up with a new menu item, or a more efficient way to make a dish. Maybe they wind up staving off carpal tunnel.
sudosysgen 5y ago
Actually, this is largely true even for other professions. A chef for example will slow down significantly after 5 hours of work and make more mistakes, so will manufacturing line workers and call center operators. For sure, some jobs are more affected than others. But there are few jobs that aren't affected at all, and we shouldn't cut off the nose to spite the face.
dragonwriter 5y ago
> That's true in the sort of desk jobs most of the people who inhabit Hacker News do. It's patently not true of things like manufacturing line work, delivery drivers, chefs, and call centre operators. The study wasn't restricted to desk jobs. Broader studies and international comparisons lead to a similar though weaker conclusion; in general more working hours over the range seen in most of the world (from about the mid-20s average hours worked per week, including both full workweek length and time off up) leads to a dramatic fall off in per-hour productivity.

ceejayoz 5y ago

> A chef can't drop 8 hours a week and still expect to serve the same number of meals because of efficiency gains... Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps being better rested makes them collaborate better with the other chefs. Maybe the improved morale helps come up with a new menu item, or a more efficient way to make a dish. Maybe they wind up staving off carpal tunnel.

sudosysgen 5y ago

Actually, this is largely true even for other professions. A chef for example will slow down significantly after 5 hours of work and make more mistakes, so will manufacturing line workers and call center operators. For sure, some jobs are more affected than others. But there are few jobs that aren't affected at all, and we shouldn't cut off the nose to spite the face.

dragonwriter 5y ago

> That's true in the sort of desk jobs most of the people who inhabit Hacker News do. It's patently not true of things like manufacturing line work, delivery drivers, chefs, and call centre operators. The study wasn't restricted to desk jobs. Broader studies and international comparisons lead to a similar though weaker conclusion; in general more working hours over the range seen in most of the world (from about the mid-20s average hours worked per week, including both full workweek length and time off up) leads to a dramatic fall off in per-hour productivity.