PowerSwitch

Johann Hari proposes a four-day or 35-hour (or both) week.

What if, instead of working 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, the state’s employees only came in four days a week, but now from 8 to 6? The state would be getting the same forty hours a week out of its staff – but the costs of maintaining their offices would plummet. The employees would get a three-day weekend, and cut a whole day’s worth of tiring, polluting commuting out of their week.

A whole series of unexpected benefits started to emerge. The number of sick days claimed by workers fell by 9 percent. Air pollution fell, since people were spending 20 percent less time in their cars. Some 17,000 tonnes of warming gases were kept out of the atmosphere. They have a new slogan in Utah – Thank God It’s Thursday.

But wouldn’t people be pissed off that they couldn’t contact their state authorities on a Friday? Did the standard of service fall? It was a real worry when the programme started. But before, people had to take time off work to contact the authorities, since they were only open during work hours. Now they were open for an hour before work and an hour after it. It actually became easier to see them Monday to Thursday: waiting times for state services have fallen.

I've a better idea. The abolition of Tuesday.

There are not enough weekends in the year to do everything one wants and removing all Tuesdays would provide several more. Weeks would only have six days, normally four working days and two weekend days.

As a self employed person my entire working life apart from a 6 week stint in the NHS after leaving college, the idea of working a 35, 40, 50 or any number you care to name is ludicrous.

I hardly work at all now (at 52 tomorrow). This is because almost everything I do is by choice apart from shit like vat returns. This is not luck, it is design.

Ten years ago I resigned from doing what I, as a good sheeple, was supposed to do. I now dedicate myself to doing what I can to become less of a burden to this Earth, our home, and amusing myself by winding up religous nutters.

Happy Birthday (for tomorrer) eatyourveg!

Shorter working weeks are an excellent idea, with or without a Credit Crunch. I have shortened mine to zero hours, which is perhaps a little drastic, but there you go!

Kellogs (of all people) did the 3-day week during the Great Depression and found so many other benefits, they kept it on for decades afterwards...until overwhelming pressure from everybody else (other firms, state and fed governents, etc etc) finally forced an end to it, as late as the 1980s iirc.

22.5 hour 3-day week. Brilliant!

I voted NO.

The relativly few do-ers in this world need to be allowed to work as much as they like.

(Yes, yes, it's that A-type personality argument yet again).

I voted yes, though the USA style 4 x 10 hour days a week is a rather different thing from the French style "everyone has to work no more than 35 hours a week".

I have my own business and work anywhere between 25 and 50 hours a week depending on how much there is to do...suits me fine. You can tell the parts of the year I am less busy as I spend more time on here! Actually I am busy now so better get on with it...

I'm cutting back to a ten hour day this year, Now I just have to do is convince my boss that four days a week is a great idea.

I don't often stick up for my French colleagues but feel I should dispel a myth they often spend a lot more than 35 hours a week at work. Most of it is spent in endless meetings talking about what night have been and creating new bureaucratic controls and generally getting nothing done. But they are there.

Vortex wrote:I voted NO.
The relativly few do-ers in this world need to be allowed to work as much as they like.
(Yes, yes, it's that A-type personality argument yet again).

Ah, now that depends upon how you view the question. The idea that some centralised big brother should dictate that the population works 35 hours (or whatever) is daft. Everybody should be able to work as much or as little as they want.

It's more a question of should 35 hour on four days be seen as the norm rather than 35 hours on five days?

Being sort-of employed (ie, 10% ownership of the business) I voted 'yes'. I'd probably vote 'no' if I was totally self-employed.

Some businesses locally have cut their opening hours and at first are seen as a failure, next step closing completely. After a while, though, they're seen as simply sensible.

I would definitely encourage no non-self-employed person to work on weekends.

biffvernon wrote:

Vortex wrote:I voted NO.
The relativly few do-ers in this world need to be allowed to work as much as they like.
(Yes, yes, it's that A-type personality argument yet again).

Ah, now that depends upon how you view the question. The idea that some centralised big brother should dictate that the population works 35 hours (or whatever) is daft. Everybody should be able to work as much or as little as they want.

It's more a question of should 35 hour on four days be seen as the norm rather than 35 hours on five days?

The quotes in the OP only seem to suggest public sector employees, though- in which the state is itself the employer, and so dictates its opening hours.

I dare say they'd have to get past the unions, and one wonders if workers really relish the prospect of sacrificing time in the evenings/mornings for an extra day off. Clearly they do in Utah, but over here I don't know.

How this works with libraries I'll never know. I think it would be prudent to have libraries open more than four days a week (unless we're going back to the '73-'74 energy crisis mentality?) though being a Christian I'm of course opposed to the move to Sunday opening. And having family members employed in the libraries, I wonder if I dare say that I like the idea of the staying open 'til 8.

lyniezian, I dont think removal of services was the OPs thoughts...most companies can arrange cover by colleagues, so there is not a 'only open for four days' scenario.

Sunday openining...where are you living m8. Virtually everything is open Sunday in the UK. Currently people have 2 days off work a week (generalisation)...and for a lot of them that means Saturday and Sunday. So when to do the nessecities{spelling!} (shopping, finance, entertainment etc)?

Sunday is a must have, unless you want a god-squad shut down.

Oh, or do you mean that every thing must be closed but you want to eat, grab an icecream, have a drink, put juice in the car, go to the cinema et all. In other words, 'poor' non believing peeps work Sundays in order for believers to have a day of rest? Or perhaps you are really off the rails and believe that society en masse should spend the day augmenting their bible knowledge?

And as for working till 8pm...are you with us on this planet? What about all the services that run through the evening and night? Libraries - jee. Our Uni Library is open 'till 10pm and even later as deadlines for dissertations approach. Our edit suites and studios close normally at 9pm but run 24/7 as deadlines approach. Sorry lyniezian but you need to get out more. Enough. I could rant on.

maudibe wrote:Sunday openining...where are you living m8. Virtually everything is open Sunday in the UK.

Hmmm...in my nearest town, Louth, almost all the shops are shut on Sundays. There's a couple of multiples, Wilkinsons, Yorkshire Trading, Morrisons and the Coop and the newsagents and the out of town garden centre, that open. So are the pubs and, I presume but wouldn't know from first hand experience, the churches. Sunday is a very different day, and I quite like that.

I voted YES.

I work in the last vestiges of UK Manufacturing Industry and the plant operates 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 360 days a year. I know it's unfashionable to say so Lyniezian, but somebody has to create the wealth to pay for all those books in the public library.....

Our guys work 12 hour shifts, but get 5 blocks of 17 days off per year. In total they work approximately the same hours per year as our office workers but are on-site far fewer days. They seem to like the situation as their logic is that if you have to come to work for 8 hours, you might as well come for 12 hours as the day is ruined anyway. Plus they get a very attractive shift allowance and lots of days in which to do their business/chores etc. I guess the downside is that they need to work an equal number of nights as days and it also means they miss the odd Sunday Service......

I recently changed to a 4 day week, after hassling my boss for it for ages, and I'd never work more than that now. Actually its a 30 hour week and I've started squeezing the 30 hours into 3 long days instead of 4 standard 7.5 hour days.. now the three day week is where its at!! even if it is three long days

their logic is that if you have to come to work for 8 hours, you might as well come for 12 hours as the day is ruined anyway

Thats my sentiments exactly.. which is why I'm doing three long days

But undoubtably working for yourself is better than selling any fixed number of hours to someone else. Part of my reasoning for going "Part Time" (I hate that phrase - it sums up everything which is wrong about the expectation to work 37.5 hours a week!) was originally to ease myself into self employment.

Thats why I like the idea of a 3 day week.. 3 days working for someone else, 3 days working for yourself (getting your business up and running) and one day of rest (yes lynesian that would be sunday!)

Though I could be tempted to work Sundays and abolish Wednesdays.. sorry Biff but Tuesday is not a horrible enough day to abolish it is WEDNESDAY when things really start to unravel. Oh and I completetly agree with you that we should just be able to work as many hours as we like.. I wanted to go down to 22.5 (3 normal days) but the evil pig f*ck*rs said no