We should only work 25 hours a week, argues professor
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We should only work 25 hours a week, argues professor
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Re: We should only work 25 hours a week, argues professor
#2Until we come to grips with what will likely be a post-labor world, this is a good transitional approach. The 40 hour week is an arbitrary standard, and it may now be rational to reduce that number. Few jobs are now so arduous that 70 year olds cannot perform well. We are suffering from outdated standards for work weeks and retirement age, and un-sticking our assumptions is likely to benefit the situation.
Re: We should only work 25 hours a week, argues professor
#3This is interesting. I live in Indonesia, where except on our capital (Jakarta and most Java), working 60 hours a week is the norm. I have noticed (and I think this has been proved over and over again) that people who works 60 hours a week is actually less productive and less happy than those who have a free weekends and work only 8 hours a day.
I wonder how much working time can we cut until the benefits disappear.
Re: We should only work 25 hours a week, argues professor
#4Centrist professor takes a moderate position about halfway between the "standard" workweek and Tim Ferriss's 4-hour workweek. ;-)
Re: We should only work 25 hours a week, argues professor
#5Until we come to grips with what will likely be a post-labor world, this is a good transitional approach. The 40 hour week is an arbitrary standard, and it may now be rational to reduce that number. Few jobs are now so arduous that 70 year olds cannot perform well. We are suffering from outdated standards for work weeks and retirement age, and un-sticking our assumptions is likely to benefit the situation.
> Few jobs are now so arduous that 70 year olds cannot perform well.
I think it's mostly physical jobs that 70 year olds cannot perform well. And that kind of job can be automated by robots anyway. For job like programming or CEO, I kind of think that 70 year olds can do better than say 20 year olds.
Re: We should only work 25 hours a week, argues professor
#6Until we come to grips with what will likely be a post-labor world, this is a good transitional approach. The 40 hour week is an arbitrary standard, and it may now be rational to reduce that number. Few jobs are now so arduous that 70 year olds cannot perform well. We are suffering from outdated standards for work weeks and retirement age, and un-sticking our assumptions is likely to benefit the situation.
More years at fewer hours per week is an interesting idea. Managing burnout could be one way to make it reasonable for people to work into older age, and having norms with fewer hours a week could be one part of that. You see a lot of burnout in tech currently even by middle-age, but I'm not sure the subject matter fundamentally requires it.
Re: We should only work 25 hours a week, argues professor
#7The time you spend past 25 hours a week is making you less productive anyway...
Re: We should only work 25 hours a week, argues professor
#8This is interesting. I live in Indonesia, where except on our capital (Jakarta and most Java), working 60 hours a week is the norm. I have noticed (and I think this has been proved over and over again) that people who works 60 hours a week is actually less productive and less happy than those who have a free weekends and work only 8 hours a day. I wonder how much working time can we cut until the benefits disappear.
do you have extremely long days but 5 days a week or do you spread it out over 6 or 7 days?
Re: We should only work 25 hours a week, argues professor
#9I do this but in a different way. I work 40 hours a week for most of the year and then take off a few months at a time. This allows me to travel with my family before I'm retired and too old to climb mountains etc. You have your whole life to live, it doesn't begin when you retire. I'm fully prepared to work past the standard retirement age.
Re: We should only work 25 hours a week, argues professor
#10Twenty-five hours a week at what rate of pay? There are people working at Walmart and such who make in a week what I would make in a day or two in past years. I also did 60-80 hour weeks in my life (eejit that I was). With all the opposition towards a living wage (read: serf wages), I'll file this under the category that includes jetpacks and flying cars -- and I'd bet on those appearing first.