4 ms·
The problem you're describing is that the business is probably not viable. In some countries what you're describing would be illegal. In others there are some
by YZF 5y ago
The problem you're describing is that the business is probably not viable. In some countries what you're describing would be illegal. In others there are sometimes exemptions for tech workers (we should work to cancel those!). It is also doubtful whether such an employer is actually getting any additional productivity out of this practice.
On a personal level, the solution is to not work at this place. If that's an option. Some sort of organizing (like the U word) could help create leverage against abusive employers.
Consider that the 5 day work week is a relatively recent thing. Not too long ago everyone worked 7 days a week. The world didn't stop spinning when most people shifted to actually working 5 days a week with normal hours.
In Canada there is an endless supply of tech jobs that are 5 days a week and 8 hours per day. I am a hiring manager in a company where we care about our employees and pay them well and I can't find enough people. Partly because people prefer to work at places with a terrible work environment for various reasons (looks better on the resume, bragging rights, our work maybe isn't as exciting ...).
- HPsquared 5y agoI'd call it a "marginal" business - the kind of thing that would get killed off by this proposal. It's up to the reader to decide if this is good or bad.
- jkepler 5y agoActually, before the modern 5-day week, many Christians, Jews, and Muslims worked 6 days but had off on their respective holy days--- Sunday, Saturday, or Friday. Not sure what historical period you're referring to with broad 7-day work weeks.
- YZF 5y agoI forget where I read this exactly, but while some religious Jewish people would not work on Saturday I don't think this was the rule. Christians seem to have no religious issue that I know of today and plenty of secular Jewish people also still work on the weekend. Anyhow, I can't find the source right now. https://www.pbs.org/livelyhood/workday/weekend/8hourday.html https://www.pbs.org/livelyhood/workday/weekend/8hourday.html "In 1890, when the government first tracked workers' hours, the average workweek for full-time manufacturing employees was 100 hours and 102 hours for building tradesmen." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time "Before collective bargaining and worker protection laws, there was a financial incentive for a company to maximize the return on expensive machinery by having long hours. Records indicate that work schedules as long as twelve to sixteen hours per day, six to seven days per week were practiced in some industrial sites" (citation needed though) https://ourworldindata.org/working-hours https://ourworldindata.org/working-hours https://eh.net/encyclopedia/hours-of-work-in-u-s-history/ https://eh.net/encyclopedia/hours-of-work-in-u-s-history/