30 Hour Work Week

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rockerrockstar

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Dec 27, 2011
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Everyone says they like freedom but how can you be free if you have to work so much? Anyone besides me want to work less hours? I can imagine how much better life would be if you did not have to work so many hours in order to just provide a basic living?

Most jobs that pay any decent amount require at least 40 hours a week. Imagine if you could get a good job and only be required to work 30 hours a week. That would be great. You would have more time to enjoy your freedom. More time to spend with family and friends. You would be healthier because you would not be strapped to a desk for 40 or more hours a week. Added benefit for you and the company is that if you have more free time you are bound to have more creativity. You would also have lower stress. You would have more time to be political and this would be good for democracy.

Studies have shown that sedentary life style the typical office worker has is known to be bad for you. It is a major cause of heart disease. It kills more people than smoking according to one study. It is talked about in this article http://www.naturalnews.com/001547.html Less time at work means less time setting at a desk. It would give you more time to be active and exercise. Even walking is better than sitting.

Productivity has gone way up but wages have not gone up at the same rate. The productivity has led to needing less people to do the same work and thus layoffs. Many companies layoff people and expect their remaining workers to do more work. This leads to burn out of the remaining workers and added stress. To top it off the workers don't get paid extra for the extra work they need to do because of the other workers getting laid off.

"worker productivity has been on a steady increase, rising 62.5% from 1989 to 2010, but wages during that time are only up 12%."- http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...01103/productivity-is-wages-are-down-what-s-0

If productivity increases people should be allowed to do less work for the same amount of money. Since companies are know not to give workers compensation for their added productivity. Increased productivity leads to more unemployment we should demand 30 hour work week. This is the same principal that led France to the 35 work week. Make anything over 30 hours a week too expensive for companies to pay so they have to hire more workers.

Anyways, I know I am sure this is not a perfect idea and there could be issues with implementing it. I know the people in France like the 35 hour work week from what I have read.

At minimum we should look at the FLSA and remove all exemptions to the 40 hour work week that allow people to work overtime for free. It does not make since that companies should make workers work overtime for free. We tell our kids to go to college and get a degree to get a good job. I don't think working overtime for free was something they expected when they got their degree and job. Being a professional should not exempt you from getting overtime pay. I think we should remove all exemptions. Having exemptions makes not sense with a depression and this many people unemployed.

We should consider quality of life in America for the people of America. We work too much when will we get wise and improve our lives in America the land of the free and consider the 30 hour work week.
 
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Yeah I got a book on the 4 hour work week written by Timothy Ferriss. Is that what you are talking about? I will look at the iphone app.

Onlyrp the companies don't care about the workers so allowing the market to decide is not going to give you more hours of freedom. Good luck finding a regular job that pays well for less than 40 hours a week. The only way is to start your own company and be very smart/lucky maybe doing something like Timothy Ferris talks about.

Anyways, I think starting with 30 is more realistic then saying 5 or 10. If France got 35 maybe we could get something similar. I agree ideally less than 30 would be better. You got to start some where.
 
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Transportation workers aren't subject to it overtime. You would pay a lot more for everything.
 
This should be fun...

Freedom is not without responsibility. If you want to work 30 hours, you should expect 75 percent of your wages. Smart companies offer their employees plenty of time off, for the very reasons you mentioned. If a company sees a lot of burnout and employee turnover, then it is up to that company to change the work hour policies. I've been working six nights a wweek, for almost a year now. It sucks sometimes, but I do what I half to, to pay the bills. Meanwhile I never stop looking for better options.
 
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You can make a living doing as many hours per week you want. But your salary/income will reflect how long and hard you worked. ;) ETA: you can combat the effects of a sedentary job by getting a good, full body workout 3 times per week.
 
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thequietkid10 said:
This should be fun...

Freedom is not without responsibility. If you want to work 30 hours, you should expect 75 percent of your wages. Smart companies offer their employees plenty of time off, for the very reasons you mentioned. If a company sees a lot of burnout and employee turnover, then it is up to that company to change the work hour policies.
Click to expand...

exactly. or, if your labor and skills are high value, you can negotiate to work less for more, and some simply choose to work 20 hours or less depending on their needs.

recently there was a stupid zerohedge article claiming that a family of 4 on minimum wage has more disposable income than one making $60,000. If they actually believed that, I dare them take a paycut and see how easy it is.
 
Well the answer is easy, end the fed.. Accomplishing that, however, is the challenge... Kinda disappointed in some of the responses so far..

013-USWorkHours.gif


Living in the year 1900, people enjoyed a much higher standard of living, as compared to 100 years prior... and they accomplished this while working less as well. I understand the "mentality" of some of the poor responses, as its easy to just say you need to work more to get more etc... but the whole point is we are not getting all of the benefits of our great productivity. The point is, we could be enjoying all the things we are currently used to having, while working less. The point is, when your money holds it value, and actually increases in value with your productivity gains, it lets more people into the work place... and the other side of that, inflating the currency, makes it harder and harder for an increasing population to find work.



Again, disappointed in some of these responses... There are reasons why we are increasing productivity, and still now both parents must work full time jobs... with a lifetime of debt attached to it as well. This topic gets directly to the heart of many of the problems we face as a country.
 
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no, not exactly... Another way to think about this situation is, we are working 100%, but only getting paid 75% because of the illusion of our money... We get paid more "dollars" but those dollars buy you less and less and make it hard to see what is really going on... and savings is also eaten away via inflation. $180,000 in the year 1970 has the same purchasing power as $1 million dollars today, and thats using the governments statistics...
 
heavenlyboy34 said:
You can make a living doing as many hours per week you want. But your salary/income will reflect how long and hard you worked. ;) ETA: you can combat the effects of a sedentary job by getting a good, full body workout 3 times per week.
Click to expand...

It will also reflect how smart you work, or how much you are making. (for different reasons)
 
You sleep 8 hours a night on average, and work an addition 8 hours. That leaves a good 8 hours still at home. If that isn't enough time to excercise than cutting a few hours off of work isn't going to make you lose weight and get in shape
 
I honestly don't know what the fuck you're talking about.

I would kill (metaphor.. :p) for a job that lets me work 40 hours a week.

Secondly, I would definitely like to be able to work MORE than 40 hours.

Some of the places I've worked at tried their hardest to NOT let us work more than 40 hours.
 
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30 hours is just as arbitrary as 40. Full-time should be defined at a businesses discretion. My work has a lot of temps that work 40 hours a week with zero benefits. You'd better believe the turnover rate is really high. I'm sure other businesses would see that as a huge problem, but I got the hours I needed and was given a chance to gain experience. Now I'm a full employee with benefits and a pay raise. The government doesn't need to set workplace rules because employees will work in their own best interests.
 
TastyWheat said:
The government doesn't need to set workplace rules because employees will work in their own best interests.
Click to expand...

This. It also ties in to the minimum wage.

If I could find a part-time job right now that paid say $6/hr I would take it.
 
We'll it all goes to the choices you make in life. or im some cases day to day. In my business it depends on what I'm doing how much I make. I can make my weeks worth in 2 days or in 6, depends on what is in demand and what I want to be doing, obviously I generally choose to do things that take the least amount of time, but it can be a trade off. I like doing some things more and choose them but they take longer.

But don't look for the government to make things better for you it will always back fire. XD
 
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