4 ms·

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.