A growing number of voices are pushing for the U.S. to embrace a four-day work week, leading critics to question the wisdom of what would be a cultural sea change.
When humans went to a six day work week, the wealthy said it would end civilization.
When we went to a five day work week, they said the same.
Same as when we said overtime needs more pay, women should be paid more, 9 year olds can't work in coal mines, and basically every other labor law from the past 10,000 years.
And we are more productive than ever due to automation. I bet 2 days would be enough to keep society running. Nothing fancy though. 3 would be enough for economic growth.
Oh and I am sure fox is discussing it in good faith and will come to the conclusion that actually, working less is better, because that's what republicans believe. Sure...
Some of the people at my workplace have a 4-day work week... 10 hours a day. Fuck that. I can barely make it through 8. That's what this will turn into if it gains steam in the U.S. because corporations wouldn't dare admit that people don't actually have to work 40 hours a week and still be very productive.
I do 4x10 and it’s a joy - for me. I can work from home when I want and 10 hours flies by when you know you have a 3 day weekend to look forward to at the end. I’m definitely more focused and productive.
I used to work 9:30a-8p four days a week and it was actually a pretty sweet gig. I did nothing but work and sleep for four days, then had three days off every weekend.
I did it for 4 years while my son was very young. I loved it and would return to it if not for school hours. 6am to 4pm worked really well and having 3 days off meant some great family time.
My wife did a 4 day week too and we offset our days so that our son only needed 3 days in daycare during the week.
Then there is me, a professor, who works every day because students do homework on weekends and need help. I figure instead of a 4x10, I am doing a 7x5.
"Companies need to produce the same level of work, so they may need to hire and train more people. Would the tax breaks offered be enough to cover these extra expenses? This could cause businesses to really sweat."
It's funny how the criticism is basically "But this will create more jobs!"
I also can't help but notice how her personification of businesses (as things that can "really sweat") and empathy for them far exceeds the level at which she humanizes workers.
It's almost like "Mary Elizabeth Elkordy, founder of the remote-based company Elkordy Global Strategies," has a keen sense for which team she belongs to.
It's gonna be middle managers and owners criticizing. The former because they add no value, the latter because... oh they add no value either, but they also profit off our work. But they're afraid their lack of value adding will be discovered.
it's entirely job dependent, a grocery store worker can't just decide they will not work one of the days anymore because the store needs to be open. but they work in shifts and different days already.
There will also be white collar jobs that can't just move to a different schedule, like support needs to be everyday regardless.
and if you are a software engineer there is a good chance you are already working remote and if you are good enough you are only working the days you want to.