Ok so let's look at this from the economical side of things A, let's say, assembly worker has a maximum production output. In a perfect system, their workload

Ok so let's look at this from the economical side of things A, let's say, assembly worker has a maximum production output. In a perfect system, their workload is uniform, and so is their production output. So a 20% increase in work would yield 20% increase in output, and vise versa. That is obviously not true for a wide range of work that involves thinking - like creative work, many white collar jobs, academia, etc. Your output may not be a linear function of time, and your workload is probably not uniformly distributed across your workday. If you provide value, employers will keep paying you - even though you might only do what seems like bullshit work to others. And it does not matter that you have periods where you do nothing, because in the end - you're producing something, and that's all that maters. With that said, yes - less hours do simply not translate well into certain jobs, unless you start setting up specific shift rotations. This is just one variable. What about sick leave? Is that a problem, and how to reduce it? If a 20% decrease in work yields a 60% improvement in sick leaves, that's another important metric to consider.