Leisure is the new productivity
edition.cnn.com
Leisure is the new productivity
1–10 of 32 posts
Re: Leisure is the new productivity
#2Lost me at giving Henry Ford credit for the 40-hour workweek. Do you even read history?
Re: Leisure is the new productivity
#3According to this (probably sugarcoated) article, the average person in the US works more than 40 hours per week. Attendant to this claim is the assumption that salaried employees are paid the same amount regardless of how much they work.
We work more, and earn the same. We get zero guaranteed vacation days. We have labor policies that are worse than many impoverished countries.
Our politicians are absolutely not working on solving this problem. What is needed are large scale strikes with a few simple demands, but it won't happen because people are too afraid of being cut loose and losing what little security they have.
Re: Leisure is the new productivity
#4If (and I believe this), workers can be more productive with more leisure time, these companies will eventually prevail.
Why try to regulate the market into doing it as she implies by comparing European countries, where by the way, unemployment is very high for the young? It is the surest way of doing it wrong.
Nothing prevents companies from offering more vacation time, but forcing it with regulation will prevent a host of other good things to happen.
Re: Leisure is the new productivity
#5According to this (probably sugarcoated) article, the average person in the US works more than 40 hours per week. Attendant to this claim is the assumption that salaried employees are paid the same amount regardless of how much they work. We work more, and earn the same. We get zero guaranteed vacation days. We have labor policies that are worse than many impoverished countries. Our politicians are absolutely not wor…
In the United States, they will never do this. Our society is too heavily influenced by the "Protestant work ethic", and we have a folk lore about hard work and success. Plus many politicians are "pro-business" and take the stance many business owners do: that we should be grateful for having a job and be willing to sacrifice for our company without any expectation of reward.
Re: Leisure is the new productivity
#6Lost me at giving Henry Ford credit for the 40-hour workweek. Do you even read history? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day
As far as I can tell, the link doesn't contradict what the post said. The article is US centric, and the link you gave supports their claim that Ford was the company which popularized the 40 hour work week.
"By 1905, the eight-hour day was widely installed in the printing trades – see International Typographical Union (section) – but the vast majority of Americans worked 12-14 hour days.
On January 5, 1914, the Ford Motor Company took the radical step of doubling pay to $5 a day and cut shifts from nine hours to eight, moves that were not popular with rival companies, although seeing the increase in Ford's productivity, and a significant increase in profit margin (from $30 million to $60 million in two years), most soon followed suit."
Re: Leisure is the new productivity
#7According to this (probably sugarcoated) article, the average person in the US works more than 40 hours per week. Attendant to this claim is the assumption that salaried employees are paid the same amount regardless of how much they work. We work more, and earn the same. We get zero guaranteed vacation days. We have labor policies that are worse than many impoverished countries. Our politicians are absolutely not wor…
Why does this have to be solved at the legislative level? Can't we rally around the idea that we are worth more than we're being compensated, and change our behavior accordingly, or is that relegated only to legalizing pot?
Re: Leisure is the new productivity
#8Lost me at giving Henry Ford credit for the 40-hour workweek. Do you even read history? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day
As far as I can tell, the link doesn't contradict what the post said. The article is US centric, and the link you gave supports their claim that Ford was the company which popularized the 40 hour work week. "By 1905, the eight-hour day was widely installed in the printing trades – see International Typographical Union (section) – but the vast majority of Americans worked 12-14 hour days. On January 5, 1914, the Ford…
Quote from the article:
"Ironically, it was only when Henry Ford took the wildly controversial step of shuttering his automobile manufacturing factories on Saturday and cutting daily work hours from the then-standard 12 to 8 that workers began not only enjoying leisure time at home, but became more efficient and productive at work."
Now if we re-read the Wikipedia article we see that, in fact, Ford was not the decisive factor but that there were a series of labor struggles before and after Ford's decision mostly outside the automotive industry that eventually won legislative support that truly universalized the 40-hour workweek. Thus Ford's role is minor, but perhaps decisive for the automotive industry only. Very different from the strong and historically warped claim made above.
Re: Leisure is the new productivity
#9According to this (probably sugarcoated) article, the average person in the US works more than 40 hours per week. Attendant to this claim is the assumption that salaried employees are paid the same amount regardless of how much they work. We work more, and earn the same. We get zero guaranteed vacation days. We have labor policies that are worse than many impoverished countries. Our politicians are absolutely not wor…
Why does this have to be solved at the legislative level? Can't we rally around the idea that we are worth more than we're being compensated, and change our behavior accordingly, or is that relegated only to legalizing pot?
What would you suggest the workers do? Striking collectively until all business owners agree to pay more wage? How much more? What is fair?
I would think a federal law is the best way to solve the problem while avoiding repeating the messy negotiations.
Many workers depend on their paycheck to survive day to day precisely because of the meager amount. In today's USA there is very few union who can back workers up while on a strike.
Edit: Part of what I meant by the third paragraph is that someone else will take the job at low pay if you work away. Thus the fact you are saying no individually has little effect on wages when the market (currently) is filled with job seekers. It takes a whole bunch of us saying no together to have an effect.
Re: Leisure is the new productivity
#10Lost me at giving Henry Ford credit for the 40-hour workweek. Do you even read history? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day
As far as I can tell, the link doesn't contradict what the post said. The article is US centric, and the link you gave supports their claim that Ford was the company which popularized the 40 hour work week. "By 1905, the eight-hour day was widely installed in the printing trades – see International Typographical Union (section) – but the vast majority of Americans worked 12-14 hour days. On January 5, 1914, the Ford…
The eight-hour workday is one of the fruits of the struggles of labor unions before Ford Motors even got started. To then turn around and assign its introduction to a capitalist is ridiculous on its face but the sort of pro-corporate propaganda that is all too common in US culture.