Is it Time to Work Less?

Is it time to work less?

Well you don't have to question me about it I say yes it is time to work less!

As far as someone not being able to stop to pick up money because it will cost them too much that is just stupid. It's called multitasking and examples like this just show how idiotic one sided statistical analysis of everyday actions can be.

Do you think that whenever my stocks go up I immediately stop working and just sit there until their value balances what I would have made if I had been working for that time? Or that when they go down I immediately start filling out job applications to pick up more work to balance the losses out?

CVs/resumés to where, please?

I don't consider myself especially socialist, but I do have to admit that the 40 hour work week, minimum wage and the very existance of weekends are a triumph indeed. I am sure that when 80 hour work weeks were the norm, fat cats with big cigars would sit on their broad chairs and complain that such government interferance in free enterprise like reducing the work week to a mere 40 hours would ruin their industry and provide a population that has so much leisure that there would be town meetings and political disturbances.

Personally, I rather like the idea of a 21 hour week.

Of course, there is that "pay" thing...I would not logically expect to work a 21 hour week and expect to get paid for 42 hours!

Come to think of it, I do that now. I just keep my expectations lower.

Henry Ford is a fat cat that pushed for a 40 hour work week....... Of course he did the math on it to see its value.

Reducing the work week would certainly create more jobs. The extra cost for this would be borne by the consumer. This would be the easiest and fairest way to create jobs. Companies are so efficient now, that very few new jobs are being created. Reducing the workweek is something the government could do. With the extra time, some people would do extra jobs in the service industry. The ambitious people would use the extra time to better themselves. However, the fat cats and their followers would denounce it as inflationary, communistic, socialist, un-American, unconstitutional, illegal, antichristian, fattening, and will cause the country to bankrupt.

Have some fun today,

PAPADOC

RMFR

All projects should be analyzed from the time the project materials come from the earth to when they go back to the earth - PAPADOC

One only needs to go to France to see how well that works out.

There must be reasonableness in most solutions. If a 21 hour work week is too little, what about a 32 hour work week? Or, have no government interference and go back to the old sweat shop days?

Have some fun today,

PAPADOC

RMFR

The presentation has to address all of the negative points that can be raised against it and still have it come out a plus argument.

With reduced hours, I feel it would be bad becsaue the biggest reason is boredom.......

I have found if I work less, there is more time to spend money, with a shorter work week, there will be days where the hammer drops, nothing is being spent becasue there is nothing to spend.

As opposed to working more and saving.

I sure there are economist that would say thats good, it stimulate the economy becsaue all the money is back in circulation, but the safety net is removed.

I'm sorry but my "contract" (verbal or written) between me and my employer is MY business. Beyond guaranteeing my basic rights, I would resent any more Federal (or State) intrusion. The FLSA is more than enough regulation for the US, IMO.

Hooker

Basic rights like....?????

Here in the US, the Constitution and the

Fair Labor Standards Act

Hooker

Wow...thats pretty inclusive!

I'm surprised that politicians didn't already latch onto this lowering the standard work week ......... for all the wrong reasons......................

I was looking for a simple graph of work hours per week over several decades and found this article/paper. I skimmed it and it raises quite a number of questions in one's mind. For all the data presented, the Discussion is a bit thin. Still, I find it interesting and some of it counter-intuitive. It covers the transition where households became "working" couples, instead of just one breadwinner. And another article about the transition for stay-at-home Moms (https://www.census.gov/hhes/families/files/ASA2010_Kreider_Elliott.pdf - sorry, link no longer available). It does also raise the cultural question of our view of the importance of work in the overall scheme of things. As it is, work is favored with a 5 consecutive day period, vs. our 2 consecutive days of "free" time.

My "shoot from the hip" contention is that the 20% increase in work hours would show a period of higher increase (slope) coinciding with outsourcing and downsizing, when the employees who were retained were asked to produce the same amount of work as the prior, larger workforce; i.e., the remaining employees saw a sharper increase in the average hours worked per week after the cutbacks. And the cutbacks were seldom if ever reversed; thus the longer working hours per week. After a few years, newer employees would think that was just the company "culture."

Regarding the need for coping with the stresses of work (we do work longer hours here in the U.S. than most other countries as the OP cites), I find 2 days a week off to be barely, to not quite, sufficient. So many people have "working" weekends to try to get the things done they can't get around to during the week -- householders especially. If we were to go to a 21 hour work week across the board it would be quite an adjustment. Some services, such as Police, Fire and medical establishments (hospitals) would still be expected to be available 24/7 by citizens. How many industries are there like that? Changes would have to be made in working schedules to accommodate that expectation. It might create some jobs. I think even a 32-hour work week would be helpful to most. Pay cuts couldn't be tolerated by many -- especially the working poor, who would probably suffer in some way -- lower income due to the reduced hours and/or no chance for working longer hours to maintain their current paycheck or take advantage of increased opportunities. On top of it all, labor laws are such that they can still result in the equivalent of slavery.

In France department stores, similar to Walmart, (and most businesses) close in the middle of the day and then reopen in the late afternoon, closing early evening. We would, initially, probably panic over that. Would we find tasks, such as getting new tires on our car more difficult? Or any service? I don't know, but I do wonder. Like many things in life, one adjusts to whatever exists, like it or not. We all have many issues we can bitch about, but we still find a way to live with them (or around them, as the case may be). We can't force other countries to our work schedule (or their currency ratings ). We live with it. So making changes shouldn't be taboo.

What about a restructuring whereby we work 2 days on and 1 day off, with "x" floating days off a month in lieu of the odd 7 days as a week? (I think that would mean the final week of a 28-day period would be different, so some employees would cover the floating days off for other employee -- a rotating schedule of some sort.) Or some other plan to accomplish the same intent -- looking at another period; a month, or a year, rather than a week, for instance? Sometimes I think the 5 days at a time is as much a part of the stress as the total hours. Chopping it up means days off are always more around the corner. We would lose "hump" day, though. Would such a pioneering business be attractive to you as a prospective employee?

We think of ourselves as a creative people. So... let's create.

Well, when my girl friend goes to work in the morning, she gets up at three AM to be on the road and into the temp agency by five. If she is late, she is placed at the bottom of the list for the rest of the week. If she does not bring a soda pop and a bag of chips to the controller, she is on the bottom of the list again. There is never enough work for everybody, so the reward-punishment system is very petty but very effective.

And there is nothing she can do about it except maybe sign up to a different temp agency. The system cannot be fixed.

When my cousin needs a job done, he drives past a certain street corner, and picks up a few people who will fight for the opportunity to trim his trees or whatever. He pays them a fair wage, but under the table...for the simple reason that the paperwork burden to get things done is too great. If the hoops that the government makes him follow were less onerous, he would jump through them.

My teacher's union wanted me to sign on to a "standard wage package" to bring the instructors at my college in line with "industry standards". We noted that more than 65 per cent of the tuition monies went into our salaries, and that if we doubled our salaries, the tuition would rise. Reducing the number of students. Most of the courses were being run pretty close to the edge as it was, so I voted against a salary rise. In public. I was snubbed and shunned by my union brothers. But continued to be employed. Covers the mortgage I guess.

In addition to my teaching duties, (which have cut back to one day a week now) I also run my own blacksmith shop in which I make suits of armour, swords, daggers, and some pretty awesome memories. I work in that shop sometimes for sixty hours, rarely less than fifty hours per week. I am the owner, not an employee, so none of the "rights" apply to me. I am content, but there are times when I wonder why I bother. (then some gorgeous silicon sister comes jiggling in wanting a sexy halter, and it all comes back to me...) But sometimes it is an uphill battle.

So my experience in the work force is probably not typical.

I am greatly interested in how you guys do it! Should we all simply, like Hank Reardon, simply "shrug" and start our own companies? Or should we all fall into line and support our unions? Or somewhere in the middle?

Another story about Bill Gates was that he did not intend to leave his kids a massive fortune (heck, I suppose such things are relative). The reason quoted was, 'will that bring them success or happiness ? I have no idea if that quote is true, but it seems reasonably sane.

Just my 2-cents, but I think the guy is castigated too much. Microsoft may make some real annoying stuff, but overall it's done a great deal for the world. I'll bet a fair few people first got online with a microsft product such as WFWG. We wouldn't be here in cyberspace without it, and that pony long since bolted from the stable door. With all due respect to a dead guy, Steve Jobs might not come out so good when history is written -engineering sold as a fashion accessory. Astonishing marketing savvy, but does all that i-crap help the world ? It's mostly oversold junk that people don't honestly need. Still, it looks pretty.

I'd comment on the rest, But I'm intrigued to go for a stroll and see if anyone has dropped a large value bill. It's surprising how often you can stumble acros some lost money. The point is very interesting - just how big a coin or note would cause people to stop and pick it up ? Even more interesting, if it was a large amount would you hand it in to the police or whoever. I'd love to sound rightious, but it's a fair bet that if I stumbled across a fiver I'd simply pocket it (). Not the same if I spotted somebody drop it and could thereby know who to give it to, but that's a slightly shameful realization. My only excuse is that nobody losing a few quid is likely to report it to the police. The very thing happened to a family member - several hundred quid. They handed it in to the police with all available info that might help iD the person who had lost it. After the due period of time, the police handed it back (to family member) with the explanation that it hasn't been claimed within however many months the law dictates, so it's yours. Somewhat bitter-sweet. It might have been some pensioners monthly income, yet there was no way to return it.

What's not up for debate.....and so all employers should allow staff a little time on CR4. A 'power nap/time out' does wonders for the soul. It's usually Del, but this time the Teamsters made me say that.