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Who came up with the 40 hour work week? It always seemed to be excess. I don’t foresee WFH to be the standard. There will be a cascading effect on many other s

Who came up with the 40 hour work week? It always seemed to be excess. I don’t foresee WFH to be the standard. There will be a cascading effect on many other sectors including commercial real estate, restaurant industries, public transport and eventually mental health because housing isn’t going to get cheaper when population expands exponentially. Not everyone has extra office space at home. The solution lies in the middle. It would make more sense to at least halve work hours and have the option for hybrid work culture. It’s not like we are hand writing ledgers at work. The nature of work has changed with computers and internet. We can also expect work to be outsourced to cheaper locations as WFH becomes the norm. Why pay American salaries when it may as well be done at a fraction of the cost overseas. Perhaps this would mean that there will be more emigration of English speaking American workforce to countries with lower cost of living. Altho’ most of those are already over populated and have severe energy crunches/constraints. Not to mention the existence of local educated population that needs to be employed. Most countries aren’t privileged economically like the USA and rely on taxes from work force to keep the country running. Eventually, the cost of doing business overseas will become equal to doing it in America. I do not see 100% WFH as a viable solution for majority of the population. I have only seen effective employees work longer hours. Can’t imagine how this will be beneficial for work/home balance or mental health. If the case for WFH is made by beckoning high gas prices and long painful commute, then it is a failure on the part of govt for not supporting its working tax paying population with what is necessary to support commerce and the economy. The Achilles heel of America is the lack of public transport network. If that one weakness in the system is remedied, so many issues from housing to cost of living to work/life balance to quality of life would be improved. The country would be overall more vibrant and happier. I can’t understand why this gaping hole of public transport has never been remedied. From a macro economic pov, WFH will be an unmitigated disaster to the economy and GDP.

dbbk 4y ago
Ford, the 40 hour week comes from car manufacturing in factories, it's not tailored for office work.
- jelliclesfarm 4y ago
  Manual blue collar work is also largely automated these days and doesn’t require that many man hours. I feel like we need a whole paradigm shift in how we look at ‘work’. I farm and there is no way I can work 40 hours/week. I will drop dead from sheer exhaustion. When I was working restaurant jobs, we had a shift system and only one double shift per week…but only if the restaurant was super busy. Because I worked in fancy Michelin restaurants, we always knew bookings in advance. And because of the nature of the job, always one double shift/week. In places like..McDonalds, it’s just a way to keep people on the payroll as they surely are not working 8 hours/everyday. In the middle level jobs like management or even certain tech jobs, this will create a gap for incoming young workforce. Because the older workforce will simply be idle and can’t afford to retire(esp in America). When young people should be employed and accumulating resources to start families, they are not gainfully employed. Older people cannot retire comfortably. More jobs would open up if we cut work hours to 20 hours/week.

dbbk 4y ago

Ford, the 40 hour week comes from car manufacturing in factories, it's not tailored for office work.

jelliclesfarm 4y ago
Manual blue collar work is also largely automated these days and doesn’t require that many man hours. I feel like we need a whole paradigm shift in how we look at ‘work’. I farm and there is no way I can work 40 hours/week. I will drop dead from sheer exhaustion. When I was working restaurant jobs, we had a shift system and only one double shift per week…but only if the restaurant was super busy. Because I worked in fancy Michelin restaurants, we always knew bookings in advance. And because of the nature of the job, always one double shift/week. In places like..McDonalds, it’s just a way to keep people on the payroll as they surely are not working 8 hours/everyday. In the middle level jobs like management or even certain tech jobs, this will create a gap for incoming young workforce. Because the older workforce will simply be idle and can’t afford to retire(esp in America). When young people should be employed and accumulating resources to start families, they are not gainfully employed. Older people cannot retire comfortably. More jobs would open up if we cut work hours to 20 hours/week.