The 40 hour work week...

60 Comments

1. AyianJanuary 8,2024 at 2:33PM UTC

   It's been proven that a person is as effective in a 6 hour workday than they are in 8, suggesting that 32 hours is a better work week and increases quality of life by giving time back to the employees.

   Your organization's policy is great. People tend not to blink as much when looking at screens and it can lead to headache and dry eyes.

2. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 2:33PM UTC

   I love this! I wish we had this at my company! Yes, it could be a negative if it is a super busy time of year and you really really need the full 40 hours each week to get the tasks done, but at the same time, I always feel more productive after being able to step away, even for just a few minutes. I can't even imagine how much better I would feel after being able to step away for a full hour each day to move around and get my body moving!

   If you are on the busier side, maybe there is a way you could talk to your boss that week and have some kind of exchange. "If I work partially through this break (but still use some of it), could I take a little bit longer of a lunch/leave a little bit earlier/get a little bit of a bonus for completing the task early/or even just a small little gift card (what happens at my boyfriend's job)"

3. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 2:35PM UTC

   It sounds like you are very blessed to work for an awesome organization that truly cares for the well-being of their employees. So many companies are more focused on the bottom line. Enjoy your good fortune.

4. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 2:40PM UTC

   Good, good is my thought. Right? It's not bad, that I'm confident with, so good is where I'm landing.

5. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 2:44PM UTC

   I love this! What your company is offering is exactly the balance I've been looking for years. I've had roles where they don't practice the balance they preach and instead have you confined to a desk 10hrs/day, 45+hrs a week

6. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 2:50PM UTC

   We need to normalize regular employee socialization again. Just casual how-are-you-today chats that take up a little time but establish ties between people. They also give you a better idea of what the person does in the company. Sitting and typing for 8 hours straight doesn't benefit anybody.

7. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 2:58PM UTC

   We should have 4 day work weeks. The 40 hr work week was for when the men worked and the women stayed doing everything else.

8. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 3:00PM UTC

   I think people should be paid for the hours they work. You can all it a 40 hour work week but if you're only producing 35 hours of "work", then the pay should be commensurate to that. Unless your employer want to say "we give you 5 hours of free time every week, and we will pay you on 35 hours".

9. AnonymousJanuary 16,2024 at 5:58PM UTC

   So, if people are more productive and can have their work done quicker they should be penalized by being paid less? Makes sense.

10. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 3:15PM UTC

    I think the pandemic was great for allowing space and time for people to reevaluate the way they worked and balanced their energy and time. I know my move to a permanent hybrid schedule with an eye towards calm and thoughtful schedules has completely changed my view of work -life balance and my wellbeing.

    My home is in order, my selfcare is on point and my deliverables at work are delivered on time and with thoughtful consideration.

11. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 3:24PM UTC

    GOOD! Everyone should take breaks. In web dev school, we teach our future engineers to setup a timer to step away and not look at a screen. It helps you come back with fresh eyes and perspective which means less burn out and less mistakes. Every single role could use this kind of practice.

12. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 4:21PM UTC

    Speaking of web dev - the entry level market is way oversaturated or is it just me? I took a look at the handful of entry level jobs and it seems you are competing with 200 - 1000 other candidates.

13. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 3:39PM UTC

    I think it's great, it's what France does where employees are highly protected. The way it's detailed there is 35 hours of work with 1 hour unpaid lunch break, anything beyond those hours are paid as overtime. A more balanced approach imo.

14. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 8:41PM UTC

    the country of France has some of the highest personal and corporate tax rates of all developed countries in the world. One can read the rankings. Nothing is Free. If folks are getting better benefits, etc...it's usually because there's a tax structure that's supporting all of it, including paid leave etc etc....Again, nothing is Free. Businesses must succeed and can't give away alot of unproductive time.

15. Heather HaalandJanuary 8,2024 at 4:51PM UTC

    Post WWII 9 to 5 workdays included a paid lunch break.

    I think it’s wonderful companies acknowledge that people can be more productive and have a better work life balance with shorter days.

    every company I’ve worked for has expected 45-50 hours as a salary employee

16. AnonymousJanuary 8,2024 at 8:29PM UTC

    I think in Australia we technically have an 8 hour day and 4 weeks annual leave plus public holidays, which are paid at time and a half (depending on your industry). But, apparently people are working more hours are ever, which is interesting ?

17. AnonymousJanuary 9,2024 at 1:43PM UTC

    I wish more organizations did this! It boosts productivity and employee retention/engagement. We really don't need to be working 40 hours.

    In France 35 hours is standard (and 35 is the cap) and they are about the same productivity wise.

    Companies should continue to focus on employee welfare and that's how they'll retain top talent.

18. AnonymousJanuary 9,2024 at 2:31PM UTC

    wow. I would love to work there. My 40 hour work week is more like 70.

19. JessJanuary 9,2024 at 3:03PM UTC

    That would be amazing. However, in some industries and working for some managers, it is a 50+ work week. For example, nonprofit organizations are overworking employees and not letting them take the required by law breaks. Moreover, nonprofits usually don’t have HR on staff, so toxic managers are allowed to force stuff like that and there really isn’t anything an employee can do but quit. And honestly, the job market for nonprofits is terrible right now. So you can even do that. If you quit, they can just find someone to do your job for even less money.

    It would be amazing to have an employer give breaks. Instead, I have always had micromanaging bosses that literally follow me to the bathroom and time my pees and poops.

    Your experience is not the norm unfortunately. You are experiencing an amazing this having a supportive employer.

20. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 2:11PM UTC

    Oh no. You need to say goodbye to that place. That is extremely toxic. I’m sorry you’re going through this.

21. AnonymousJanuary 9,2024 at 7:43PM UTC

    I think the law of diminishing returns applies to anything more than 40 hours per week and maybe whoever invented the concept knew what they were doing. After working eight or nine hours, most people are mentally exhausted and need an extended break. Consistently working 50 to 70 hours leads to burn out.

22. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 1:32PM UTC

    Henry Ford

23. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 12:28AM UTC

    If folks are working more than 40 hours a week, the organization is understaffed.

24. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 2:10PM UTC

    That’s my company. Ever-working on skeleton crews but paying people above market value so they’ll stay late, work harder, get the job done.

25. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 1:51AM UTC

    There are some corporate training positions, that pay well and have great benefits. Look at some of the big tech companies like Dell or Cisco: you don't have to be an expert with these products, you just have to learn how to teach whats in the book. :)

26. surfnwriteJanuary 10,2024 at 12:14PM UTC

    I think you’re lucky.
    My experience is that companies try to extract more work out of people over time.

27. cassiquJanuary 10,2024 at 1:10PM UTC

    Good! They should have a number, I think, as young workers need to expect certain hours at work, but maybe 30 hrs, with flex packages named and applied for, like 4 day work weeks, and 3 week vacations, like Europe.

28. TestE CullJanuary 10,2024 at 1:11PM UTC

    As long as it doesnt affect their pay I very much like that idea.
    I'd keep some RCs on hand and go for a rip or a crawl on those breaks. Hobby grade stuff...HPI WR8 nitro, for example, or one of my Heng Long 1/16 tanks.

29. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 1:13PM UTC

    I'm just going to say it: I am all for moving to a 32-hour work week.

    For one, early humans really didn't work this much. We did this to ourselves, and I'm not entirely sure the payoff is worth it. I'd much rather have more time in my day and fewer gadgets. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

    Furthermore, as someone with multiple chronic conditions, the 40-hour workweek exhausts me. It leaves little time or energy for anything else, and I deliberately chose not to have kids for that reason. I'm not saying I would have procreated had I had more time, but it would have made it more feasible.

    Speaking of kids, oh, my goodness, these wee ones need guidance and love from their parents so badly --- and that time just isn't there. Raising a family isn't secondary fluff to having a career. It's essential for anyone to have a career. It's how we teach new humans to fit into our society, cooperate with each other, when kids learn what their feelings are and how to manage them, so they think before acting on them, resulting in horrors like war. Many people in the generation above mine complain that kids lack skills. Guess what? It's because no one was there to teach them. They were raised by a screen.

    My primary concern is, if we haven't built this society for humans, who, exactly, did we build it for? So many of us have sacrificed much without seeing much tangible benefit in our daily lives. Reducing our working hours now that we have all this cool stuff only makes sense. If we didn't build all this so that we could spend more time raising our families and being human instead of fighting off bears, well, then, what exactly did we build it for? I don't know about you, but the charm of dressing up in a suit and reporting to an office wore off for me by age 22. That's not enough to keep me going. I need humanity.

    So yeah. I'm fully on board with reducing the average work week. I think it will have multiple benefits for humans, which is what society should truly support, not just profit.

30. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 1:27PM UTC

    Who did we build this idea of a 40-hour workweek for? Who did we build this society for? Well, certainly, it was for corporations.

    Corporations have really benefited from employees who never questioned working 40 hours per week. Of course, those employees never questioned it because the alternative was not having the money needed for basic survival. Additionally, they didn’t wanna look lazy to a company whom they thought valued them. So, employees spent decades working 40+/hr per week for corporations, and they’ve been rewarded with mass layoffs and unemployment. Hooray!

    I’m all for reducing the workweek to 32 hours per week, especially given how technology and automation have become efficient enough to help us work less. While we’re at it, let’s have a 4-day workweek and make mandatory overtime illegal, please. I once worked at a call center that cut lunch breaks in half to 30-min and added an hr of mandatory overtime, resulting in one of my coworkers no longer having the time to pick up her daughter from school. Seriously, no more mandatory overtime crap.

31. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 1:26PM UTC

    Welcome to France!

32. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 1:38PM UTC

    id like to find a position that is 35 hours where i am its 40hr more like 50 due to short staffing and giant workload . 35 hours due to walks outside?? where is this?? seems like a dream

33. Cynthia Armistead NewmanJanuary 10,2024 at 1:41PM UTC

    Your organization sounds great! I work from home, and it's difficult not to work extra hours because the computer is right here (even though I have a dedicated office at home). That's on me, though, not my employer.

34. Lorraine HerreraJanuary 10,2024 at 1:43PM UTC

    I think nobody has 100% concentration when they try to be 8 full hours hyperfocus in a screen, at some point the brain doesn’t function the same. Plus is damaging for the physical and emotional health. Having an employer that is aware we all function different, we all have different needs and works around it, is actually a blessing. That is benefit for the employee personally, for work quality and employee retention. Being human as manager and treating the employees as humans, is always a win-win situation.

35. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 7:28PM UTC

    Agreed. As managers, empathy, self awareness and "human being" traits are so important. Self care for both you and your team helps productivity in the long run, as long as the system is not abused.

36. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 2:07PM UTC

    Sure. In a utopia maybe. I’d say I typically work 8-10 hours a day with no real lunch break, maybe 65% of the time? I work fully remote.

    I even block my calendar for lunch breaks. That doesn’t stop people from chatting me, emailing me, “I need this by EOD!” Or my favorite “do you have 5 to chat through this?” Which turns into a 30 minute conversation.

    So, I hope what you’re proposing is the end goal. Not in my org. Not in the near future anyway.

37. Sylvia VerrecchiaJanuary 10,2024 at 2:28PM UTC

    We have a 35hour work week - 40hour work weeks went out decades ago. People are now wfh as well and often they are online longer as they don't need to transition between home and the workplace. So employers are getting more hours than they ask for.

38. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 2:48PM UTC

    Pfft.
    Not over here. Five days a week, I come in at 7:30, rarely take a break, eat my lunch and work through lunch at my desk, and try to leave at 4:30 - 5:00. On Fridays, I don't feel a bit guilty about leaving from 3:30 - 4:00 pm. Also read mails at all hours when not at work. My step away from the screen break is when I take 2-3 minutes to get a Keurig and go potty. We are 99% on-site with occasional work from home in special circumstances. I'd welcome a move to allow WFH a coule days a week - they'd actually get more work out of me because I would stay in my pajamas and not have to get all "dressed up for work" nor commute.

39. Shelly HughesJanuary 10,2024 at 2:50PM UTC

    Must be nice, mine is in office, 45 hours. We get overtime for anything over 45 hours (paid at straight time). It's a manufacturing plant.

40. Nancy CincottaJanuary 10,2024 at 3:08PM UTC

    My 40 hour work week is 45-50 hours/week and that includes subtracting lunchtime which may or may not be a break due to staffing decisions and workload. Salaried, so no overtime. If there is a holiday, we end up putting 40 hours in during the remaining 4 days just to stay reasonably caught up.

41. Deborah Jenkins-AllenJanuary 10,2024 at 3:36PM UTC

    It would be better for employees, kudo's to your employer for mandating the step away break. A flexible work culture needs to become more of the norm across the population.

42. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 3:48PM UTC

    That is a fabulous idea. I wfm so I try to do that myself.

43. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 4:21PM UTC

    Ha! I haven’t taken a lunch in like 5 years. I have to eat at my desk most days. I worked all of last Sunday to catch up and when I mentioned it to my boss he was like “oh that’s nice” (not “you should take a day off to compensate.”) I don’t live in the world you claim exists, though it seems my coworkers have a two hour chat period at the start of most days, so I guess it exists.

44. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 5:20PM UTC

    This is not to come off negative in any way because it's clear you enjoy some parts of your job since you've been there for 5 years but please start setting some boundaries for yourself in the workplace. Not taking lunch breaks and using your days off as 'catch up' means your employer is in need of more hires. By your boss's response it seems as though they don't care whether you worked extra or not, so stop doing it! Save yourself the stress, the work will still be there when you return. You deserve a lunch break away from your desk!!

45. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 5:48PM UTC

    Thanks, I know you are rights. It’s a problem of my profession and has been the case of any job I’ve had in my profession (I’ve been in three different jobs in the past 5 years).

46. Bradford McCormickJanuary 10,2024 at 4:48PM UTC

    Often, albeit with exceptions, the higher the educational and responsibility level of a job, the less relevant the number of hours worked. And where innovation is needed it cannot be scheduled. Give a person an hour to solve a difficult problem. Or give them a week. Well, maybe a month, which begins to move into the untimed.

    In IBM I once overheard two business planners who were not happy. Apparently a very important but also very risky (good combination, right?) project was behind schedule. Background information: "Fishkill" was IBM's mission critical chip production facility at the time. One said to the other: "Fishkill is not coming in with the inventions on schedule."

    Second story. When in the 1920s, Ford Motor Company brought in the Taylorist time-and-motion people to make everybody more productive, they were given specific instructions about one employee. They were told they would likely find him with his feet up on his desk doing nothing. They were to learve that man along because once he had either made of saved (I forge twhich) the company a million dollars (which was a lot of money back then) "With his feet in exactly that position."

    Except in unskilled manual labor which can increasingly be done by industrial robots, working smart beats working hard every time. I did once meet a man in IBM (this was very long ago) who came to work sometimes and then at odd hours, wore jeans and grew house plante in his basement. Why was he on the payroll? Because he took chip design programs that ran for days and cut them down to run in a few hours. He spent little time to save the company a lot of time from what people who had presumably worked hard but not smart had "accomplished".

    There is Fred Brooks' classic book "The mythical man month".

    I once had a 3rd line manager in a big FDICC bank who, when his team was working as hard as they could late one evenihg to give him something he wanted, actually yelled at them: "I want to see asses and elbows." He had close to a 100% annual turnover in that department.

47. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 6:07PM UTC

    I have a 100% remote job where all corporate employees are remote as well. Yes, sometimes we might take a walk around the block but by and large the remote culture where I work is more like a 50 hour week with us taking fewer breaks than if we were in the office. I needed to get a Fitbit to make sure I step away from my desk. We are constantly pulled into meetings and new requests because people expect to always reach us vs. that we might be walking down the hall to visit someone in their office.

48. S.January 10,2024 at 7:18PM UTC

    I love it!

49. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 8:16PM UTC

    I think it depends on your company. I am only supposed to work 20 hours a week from home, but I work evenings and weekends if needed. It's usually 25 to 30 hours a week. I don't mind though because working from home is great for me. My boss is also understanding if I do have an appointment or two.

50. Kimberley Ferretti HammettJanuary 10,2024 at 8:47PM UTC

    I can't find the article right now but I read research is showing that through efficiencies, information and obviously technology, the average productivity of about 2 hours of work today is equivalent to a 40 hour work week 20-30 years ago. For physical labor, that has mostly increased productivity without demanding more input from the employee (with some nuanced variances of course). For office/mental labor, though, that means most people are processing SO much more information, making more decisions and relaying more information than ever. And with the same human brains. We haven't evolved enough to keep up in just a couple decades.

    Your org has it right. Technology is supposed to make our lives easier but instead we're acting like we have to optimize ourselves like a machine. Let tech be tech, let humans be human. Please, let your people go on walks!

51. AnonymousJanuary 10,2024 at 8:55PM UTC

    I wanna work where you do because that doesn’t sound like my job

52. Roya F.January 10,2024 at 9:02PM UTC

    Just came back from a 40 minute lunchtime walk.

53. Farah BajwaJanuary 11,2024 at 12:04AM UTC

    With computers and screens everywhere, there are more eyesight problems, vitamin d deficiencies and overweight people. It is in the company's interest to keep employees healthy because it keeps their insurance and medical expenses down.

    Also the work day construct is shifting because the old one is now archaic. it relied on couples - one bringing in the money and the other at home running the domestic stuff. life isn't that way anymore - there are more single people who have to play both roles. there is more technology that can allow for more efficiency - I had a job that I did you 40 hrs of work and went home. my manager pulled me in and asked why I wasn't putting in 45 hours minimum like the rest of my team. I asked him, and he confirmed that I was taking on the appropriate amount of work,. So then I asked him why should i be scrutinized for doing my work more efficiently than my peers. He said because upper management would look at it as me not having enough work to do. I found it very unreasonable that my choices where that I had to slow down my efficiency or take on more work.

54. AnonymousJanuary 11,2024 at 12:45PM UTC

    At one point in my career, I worked for an organization where I had to account for every 15 minutes of my time at work. It was so unreal. Along with the crazy 15 minute reports, I was required to put them on my LinkedIn profile, and during meetings I was required to have my camera on.

    Because of my career choice, I don't add my current employer to LinkedIn--it's a security issue. And, I don't want to welcome my team to my home environment, it violates my privacy.

    While this was a contracting gig, it was too stressful. After leaving this position, for one that better suited me, I found out my boss was let go for how he treated some of his employees.

55. AnonymousJanuary 13,2024 at 9:59PM UTC

    Having your camera on isn’t a violation of privacy. Blur your background or use a wallpaper.

56. AnonymousJanuary 11,2024 at 12:54PM UTC

    Sent in error

57. Jami RossJanuary 11,2024 at 1:39PM UTC

    I wish I had this !

58. AnonymousJanuary 12,2024 at 1:35PM UTC

    I'm curious for those who are doing this 35 hr thing now. Are you still getting all of your work done or did some of your job get pushed to someone else? If work got pushed, did your company hire more people or did your work/life balance just throw someone else under the bus?

    Also, how's this work for those who are hourly? or is it only salary people who get to game the system for their own benefit?

59. AnonymousJanuary 13,2024 at 12:09AM UTC

    No way in hell they are public accountants. We'd be lucky if we only did 40 hours a week. There are not enough hours in a day to complete the workload they give us.

60. AnonymousJanuary 15,2024 at 4:11PM UTC

    I like the idea of a shorter week and even looked into some job models of the 4 day work week. Of course, I believe these kinds of jobs are industry specific but I do think they could work well for many industries. My current job I'm not working for 8 hours straight, I have plenty of rest breaks that are great for my mental health and my coworkers feel the same, as they are more relaxed at work with frequent breaks. Of course some people do take advantage of the breaks but it reflects on their own productivity and not on others.