Something similar seems a good idea to me, too. Example. Germany has 42 million employees and 3 million unemployeds. Reduce working hours from 40 to 37 hours per week - with reduction in salary, but probably not the full 7.5 % - and hire one new employee for every 13 employees. And there you go - no more unemployment and more leisure time for everybody. Saved unemployment benefits can be used to counter salary reduction for maybe a few years. Problems: salary reduction, small companies, differences in job demand and availability.
Sweden: The New Laboratory for a Six-Hour Work Day
21–30 of 113 posts
Re: Sweden: The New Laboratory for a Six-Hour Work Day
#22> It's unclear how, or if, a lunch break will factor into the scheme. It's a common misconception that eight-hour work day means 9-17 everywhere. In Sweden, the common work day is from 8-17, meaning 8 hours paid time and 1 hour non-paid lunch hour. To my understanding, it's more or less required by law. So if you look on how many hours we will be "at work", we will go from working one hour more than Americans to one…
It's true that most people work 9-17 in Sweden, but it isn't legally mandated. A lot of the details about when and how we work is decided through collective bargaining between businesses and unions.
This system has very deep historical roots, and is something that the social democrats (that dominated swedish politics for a long time) and the unions are very proud of. Because of this Sweden doesn't have a minimum wage, for instance. It could be argued that this is a more liberal (in the classical sense, not the us meaning) way to go than what most of the US has done, which is a bit interesting.
(We do have laws about paternity leave, vacation time etc, so it doesn't encompass everything.)
Re: Sweden: The New Laboratory for a Six-Hour Work Day
#23> It's unclear how, or if, a lunch break will factor into the scheme. It's a common misconception that eight-hour work day means 9-17 everywhere. In Sweden, the common work day is from 8-17, meaning 8 hours paid time and 1 hour non-paid lunch hour. To my understanding, it's more or less required by law. So if you look on how many hours we will be "at work", we will go from working one hour more than Americans to one…
My experience in the US is the same. 9-5 is just a saying. More typically a work day is 9-6 or 8-5 to account for a 1 hour non-paid lunch.
I'm not really sure where the term 9-5 came from considering I've never had a job or known anyone who actually worked 9-5 with a one hour lunch.
Re: Sweden: The New Laboratory for a Six-Hour Work Day
#24Something similar seems a good idea to me, too. Example. Germany has 42 million employees and 3 million unemployeds. Reduce working hours from 40 to 37 hours per week - with reduction in salary, but probably not the full 7.5 % - and hire one new employee for every 13 employees. And there you go - no more unemployment and more leisure time for everybody. Saved unemployment benefits can be used to counter salary reduct…
There are tons of problems with these types of schemes, the primary one being that there is management overhead and people aren't substitutable. The more people doing the same task, the more work will need to be coordinated and thus overall output would probably decrease.
Re: Sweden: The New Laboratory for a Six-Hour Work Day
#25How about four 8-hour days per week? Could they schedule this as the next experiment the following year?
The California state government has been running this experiment for a while (sort of). They require all their workers to take a day off out of each 10 work days (so a 5 day week and then a 4 day).
However, they don't get to choose the day. It is assigned to them. The state is doing it to cut down on traffic and commuting, as well as facilities costs.
However, so far they say they haven't lost any productivity by doing this program. Of course:
1) They want it to work because the taxpayers are watching 2) A lot of folks work from home on their "day off"
My point is these are all tough experiments to run due to human nature and not wanting to be perceived as working less than your peers.
Re: Sweden: The New Laboratory for a Six-Hour Work Day
#26I live & work in Stockholm, Sweden. I start work at 8:00 & leave at sharp 15:00 to pick my son from day care. And these are the most beautiful days of my life. I play with my son every day, I'm doing hobby projects, preparing for summer marathon, read HN & CS papers on cutting edge & getting full 8 hrs sleep. Now tell me how can I do that all with working like donkeys? Human side of life is much more than living in a…
This is the life I want and the main reason I keep trying to start my own business. I really don't think it makes sense to work that long and having adults leave work when children get out of school makes perfect sense.
Re: Sweden: The New Laboratory for a Six-Hour Work Day
#27How about four 8-hour days per week? Could they schedule this as the next experiment the following year?
Indeed, I'd value a day off in the week more than just fewer hours per work day. In fact, personally, I'd work longer hours on the days I do work in order to compensate--that's how much I'd value a four day work week. At least in the US, having, say, a Friday off means you can easily run to the bank or do other personal business that is much easier to do during the week than the weekend.
One company I worked had 9-hour workdays, and then every other Friday we had off. It was pretty nice, but it was also before kids came into the picture. Now a 6-hour workday sounds amazing.
Re: Sweden: The New Laboratory for a Six-Hour Work Day
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
My experience in the US is the same. 9-5 is just a saying. More typically a work day is 9-6 or 8-5 to account for a 1 hour non-paid lunch.
I'm not really sure where the term 9-5 came from considering I've never had a job or known anyone who actually worked 9-5 with a one hour lunch.
7.5h of work with 30 mins lunch break is fairly common in Europe; when my wife was an accountant in London, she had that schedule. In the UK, the typical hours for that would indeed be 9-5. (In some parts of Europe, 8-4 seems more common)
Re: Sweden: The New Laboratory for a Six-Hour Work Day
#29I live & work in Stockholm, Sweden. I start work at 8:00 & leave at sharp 15:00 to pick my son from day care. And these are the most beautiful days of my life. I play with my son every day, I'm doing hobby projects, preparing for summer marathon, read HN & CS papers on cutting edge & getting full 8 hrs sleep. Now tell me how can I do that all with working like donkeys? Human side of life is much more than living in a…
At what company do you work, and as what?
I'm a Software Engineer working at EPiServer.
You get 480 days paid vacation per child (shared between husband and wife). It is very common in every office (regardless of occupation, work type) that people go to 6-8 months vacation for full time. Lot of persons take half day off for extended period of time.
Re: Sweden: The New Laboratory for a Six-Hour Work Day
#30Something similar seems a good idea to me, too. Example. Germany has 42 million employees and 3 million unemployeds. Reduce working hours from 40 to 37 hours per week - with reduction in salary, but probably not the full 7.5 % - and hire one new employee for every 13 employees. And there you go - no more unemployment and more leisure time for everybody. Saved unemployment benefits can be used to counter salary reduct…
There are tons of problems with these types of schemes, the primary one being that there is management overhead and people aren't substitutable. The more people doing the same task, the more work will need to be coordinated and thus overall output would probably decrease.
This is called the lump of labor fallacy: