Sweden’s proposed six-hour workday
washingtonpost.com
Sweden’s proposed six-hour workday
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Re: Sweden’s proposed six-hour workday
#2This stood out to me:
>The Swedish town of Kiruna actually gave up its six-hour working days in 2005 after finding that the increased intensity of work was not a positive. "People have seen there that the intensity of the job increases significantly, with negative effects on health as a consequence,"
Could that be because we are used to fit our work in 8 hours and work accordingly? Doing 100% of your work in 75% of the time does sound more intense.
It might be interesting to see how the stress changes as people get used to a 6h day.
Re: Sweden’s proposed six-hour workday
#3As we move from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, it becomes more about managing our energy as individuals, not how many hours we're putting on the clock
Tony Schwarz's "Leading at Google" talk on this topic is excellent - http://youtu.be/tke6X2eME3c
Re: Sweden’s proposed six-hour workday
#4And once again the Netherlands shows up on the bottom of that list, so I'll say it once more: we have a high participation of women in the work force, but most of those only work part-time, often in stereotypically "women's jobs" (receptionist, secretary, kindergarten).
Makes the stats look much more progressive than reality, even though 32/36 hour work weeks are common.
Re: Sweden’s proposed six-hour workday
#5I hope we start seeing more things like this, especially in the US. Does 6 hours a day maximize happiness / productivity? I don't know. Does 8 hours? It's the custom, but I don't know. I think it's almost impossible that 8 hours is the best number across every industry => vertical => company. I'd love to see more experimentation
Re: Sweden’s proposed six-hour workday
#6I'd rather go to 4 days a week. One less commute.
Re: Sweden’s proposed six-hour workday
#7If someone gave me the chance of a 30-hour work week, I would rather work 4 days of 7,5 hours than 5 days of 6 hours. Just the hassle of getting up early, dressing up for work, commuting etc. isn't really worth it when I'm only going to work 6 hours anyway. I'd rather take an extra day off.
Re: Sweden’s proposed six-hour workday
#8I work for six hours a day. It fits very nicely into a 7.5 to 8 hour work day with enough rest time to get a proper six hours out.
I find that knowingly working only six hours lets me take better breaks because I don't feel like I'm supposed to be working eight hours.
Re: Sweden’s proposed six-hour workday
#9I hope we start seeing more things like this, especially in the US. Does 6 hours a day maximize happiness / productivity? I don't know. Does 8 hours? It's the custom, but I don't know. I think it's almost impossible that 8 hours is the best number across every industry => vertical => company. I'd love to see more experimentation
8 hours for work, 8 for leisure, 8 for sleep and 2 rest days a week seems reasonable, at least mathematically speaking. If it were up to me, I'd include commuting time in those 8 work hours as well, making the number no more than 7 hours.
Re: Sweden’s proposed six-hour workday
#10[deleted]