this may be an Unpopular Opinion (even on tumblr) but like the 8-hour workday is just Too Gotdamn Long
like even sitting in an office for eight hours a day isnāt particularly pleasant (or healthy, as we are beginning to see) but when weāre talking about doing *actual work* for that same amount time it gets pretty fucking brutal
doing literally *anything* (even leisure activities) for eight hours straight tends to be less than enjoyable but when weāre talking about things like construction, landscaping, factory work, and hell, even foodservice and retail, eight hours is a fucking ETERNITY
i might just be a lazy weak-willed bitch but honestly i think iām not entirely wrong
this was being worked towards by leftist labor unions way back in the day after the time of FDRs new deal. people in the 40s and 50s were already starting to realize that we no longer actually needed an 8 hour work day or even a 5 day work week.
even with the comparatively primitive factory tech of the time we were already creating a huge amount of excess production back then and companies were making massive amounts of profit. So it already stood to reason that companies should either let their employees work less and thus each employee could work a shorter shift without lowering the yearly compensation of each employee, or in cases where businesses provide an active service they would shorten the shift but hire more people to cover the necessary operating time. but of course that would mean less money for people at the top so companies fought back hard and we ended up with nixonās bullshit and so on and now its considered the norm for us to spend the vast majority of our lives doing work that really just amounts to waste.Ā
The IWW realised this and were fighting for it all the way back in the 1930s. This is a take with a lot of historical and theoretical grounding, OP, so youāre standing in good stead.
Iād also like to add itās also been studied and scientifically proven that after 6 hours, we have an extremely noticeable drop in productivity. Sweden saw nothing but benefits from a 6-hour work day, including worker productivity, happiness, and half the amount of sick-leave used when applied to nurses.
https://onlinemasters.ohio.edu/the-six-hour-workday/
Just gonna add that the IWW is still kicking and basically anyone who is not an employer can join.
Apparently Bernie has now proposed this.
I still hate his ass for 2016, but if he can pull it off thatād be cool.
Another option is the 4-day week. There has been a sizeable trial of the 4-day week in the UK, with really positive results. 61 companies involved, 92% of which said that they would continue with it, 18 permanently. 57% fall in employee turnover, 39% of employees said that they were less stressed, a majority said that it improved their work-life balance. In fact, it was so successful that the Conservative government threatened to sue Cambridgeshire County Council for taking part.
I suspect that the 4 day week and 6 hour day will suit different people. For an in-person role, one extra day without commuting will be more helpful than shorter shifts on the same number of days. For someone with care responsibilities, an extra 1 or 2 hours a day will be more useful. Flexibility is, by definition, not a one-size-fits-all solution.
Read the full results from the world's largest four-day week trial to date, offering a 'major breakthrough' for shorter working hours.
