5 ms·

Where do these numbers come from that you proclaim them to be universal human standards? Why not 7 hours of work? Why not 9?

• dalek_cannes 13y ago
  Don't take the numbers literally, and read it as "I believe every man deserves...". Merely an unscientific three-way split of a 24-hour day, with a liberal sleep quota and a traditional weekend. It's also the most defensible scheme against the old guard. Commuting is a different problem.
  • mnsc 13y ago
    I think that "logical" three way split with weekend was big reason why that battle was won. It seems "right" and a fair divide. But at the same time it is a great obstacle moving forward the logical path to less work hours and more free time. I don't know how the 35 hour work week in France is working out but I feel that they are the anomaly and could just as easily swing back to 39/40 hrs.
    • stuaxo 13y ago
      Of course 8 hours at work is not really 8 hours... it's 8 hours + time for travel. In the 8 hours for 'free time', a lot is taken up by chores etc. I totally agree that working less makes more sense - although we are much more productive, this has not gone into working less, or even paying people more (except those at the top).
  • joelrunyon 13y ago
    But why split it in 3? Why not allocate more time for sleep or activities? Why not work more (not all people hate working). Seems like we could come up with a bunch of other arbitrary decisions that would make just as much sense if they were already a part of our culture for the last 100 years.
• henrik_w 13y ago
  There's a good article called "Bring back the 40-hour work week"[1] that seems to indicate that working more than 40 hours per week is less productive. [1] http://www.salon.com/2012/03/14/bring_back_the_40_hour_work_week/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/14/bring_back_the_40_hour_work_...
• curyous 13y ago
  Henry Ford tested his workforce, he discovered that reducing hours to a 5-day 40-hour workweek increased total output.
  • joelrunyon 13y ago
    Source? If true - that's really interesting. I wonder what the other outcomes / configurations were.
    • 001sky 13y ago
      On January 5, 1914, the Ford Motor Company took the radical step of doubling pay to $5 a day and cut shifts from nine hours to eight, moves that were not popular with rival companies, although seeing the increase in Ford's productivity, and a significant increase in profit margin (from $30 million to $60 million in two years), most soon followed suit.[10][11][12][13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day#United_States
      • joelrunyon 13y ago
        That's really interesting - thanks.
    • nostrademons 13y ago
      Kellogg experimented with a 30-hour work week starting in 1930. The experiment lasted until 1985, though the company started phasing it out in 1946. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg_Company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg_Company Thye found (in the 1930s) that the reduced work week paid for itself in reduced workplace accidents. However, after WW2 companies moved to employer-paid accident insurance instead of paying out-of-pocket workman's comp, and as a result, the cost savings would be socialized anyway. This tilted the equation back toward an 8-hour day, at least from management's perspective, though employees remained staunchly opposed to the longer day for a generation. What ultimately killed it was a status thing: by the 70s and 80s, employees on the 30-hour work week felt like they were "slackers", and didn't have the same social status as those who worked harder.
• ptr 13y ago
  It seems people in Norway deserve just 7 hours of work/day.