Tumblr Users Point Out That 8-Hour Workday Concept Isn’t Working Anymore And Scientists Agree
The transition to new manufacturing processes in Europe and the U.S. from the late 1760’s to 1840’s – the industrial revolution – brought many changes to the lives of the working class. Prior to the revolution, the majority of the workforce were in the agricultural business, but as the cities and factories grew, many of them left for urban areas. The factories had to produce their products 24/7, therefore it was expected that the employees would work fourteen to sixteen hours a day. Wages were dismal, especially for women and children. Workers had only one day off a week. The workday of eight hours didn’t become common until the early 20th century, thanks to activists who introduced “Eight hours labor, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest” idea. However, should the standards of the previous century be applied to the modern working life? The 8 hour workday still raises questions for many, especially for those familiar with the research that suggests that this standard is neither efficient, nor productive.
Image credits: Jesús Corrius
One Tumblr user, who has named themselves northw0man, has started a discussion on the social platform, suggesting that we should reconsider the standard working time.
Other person jumped into the topic too, providing with a link of a recent research about the link between productivity and working time.
The research points out a significant finding: the average worker, who works 8 hours a day, is only productive for 2 hours and 53 minutes. While evaluating nearly 2,000 office employees, the study has also revealed that for most of the time they’re at work, people aren’t working. Surprising? The researchers then lay out, that more than 1 hour is spent on reading news, checking social media takes about 44 minutes and talking with co-workers about non-work-related topics, takes up about 40 minutes of time. Searching for new jobs, smoking breaks, making calls, hot drinks, texting, eating and making food also accumulates for a lot of lost time. Therefore, it may be implied that the majority of time spent in the office is unproductive. If we take away all of the unproductive time from 8 hours, only 4 are left.
The user named thesnarkbait also brought their two cents on the topic, mentioning the research done in Gothenburg, Sweden. It pointed out that the nurses that participated in a 6-hour workday for the research, showed improved productivity, indicated improved work–life balance and even their patients noticed a boost in quality of care. However, it seems as if employers are not very keen on acquiring the new, suggested standards.
What do you think? Should we strive for shorter working hours? After all, it seems as if it’d be definitely a win-win situation, both for the employer and employee.
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Share on FacebookAlso, take into account modern commuting time. I spend close to 3 hours per day commuting, and I sure as hell don't count that towards my "recreation" time. And at my job, there are days when I have 0 productive hours. Shorter days, flex time, and telecommuting would make hella sense!
I had a job where we were regular forced to do 12 hour days (often 7 days a week). Over the course of a few months we figured out that we were not getting any more work done than on the days we did 8 hours. In another instance, I had a new supervisor who would set each worker a goal and that when it was done, we could go home. Didn't matter if we took 2 hours or 12, he would consider it a full days work. I have never worked on a happier or more efficient site. Got far more done than normal. But the managers above him didn't like it and he got fired.
at the same rate i couldn't affort my rent at a 6 hours a day pay. and i wouldn't be the only one.
I think part of the point is that salaries and overall compensation should be living wages regardless. It's definitely part of the problem right now.
Load More Replies..."based on the needs of a married straight man"?.......whew! look at all those boxes checked off!! If only they added "white" we could of had the trifecta identity politics!
I've had jobs where I finished my duties quickly and had to find 'make work' just to pass the time. Honestly, this would be great.
I personally would rather have a break on wednesday. Break the week in two smaller, much more manageable parts - no time to get exhausted from the long week.
Load More Replies...I fantasize about an 8 hour work day. I work in film and my days are 12-18. It's insane.
I don't think a 4 hour work day is realistic or sufficient. But 6 hours would work very well and would improve work/life balance immensely. I also recently came across a study that concluded getting to work before 10 am is close to torture for the body and mind, so a shorter workday starting at 10am? Sounds perfect.
I was part of the same experiment (but not in Gothenburg) and we got the same salary as we did when working 8 hours shifts. Yet it didn't cost more as hardly anyone got sick (no extra cost for someone else to fill in). It truly was amazing, when going home after work, I wasn't in the least bit tired. And yet we managed to do the same amount of work in those 6 hours as we did during the 8 as everyone was well rested.
For workers whose jobs are categorized as "hourly" by the Federal Government, there would have to be major restructuring agreed upon by Congress in order for the hourly workers not to be negatively impacted monetarily. Then there is the problem of forcing companies to comply. Also, many companies define benefit rates by the number of hours a worker has in a week. Each company would be forced to redefine this which they are not going to do willingly. I am all for a 6 hour work day but realistically, there would be huge hurtles to overcome.
I wonder what it's like to only have to work 8 hours a day... must be nice.
I doubt if employers are willing or even able to pay the same wages when people work less hours. So people would get in financial troubles. It's a nice dream though.
Actually I work 8 hours a day, sleep 8 but I don't have 8 hours of recreation. 1 out of those 8 recretaional hours is the 1 hour brake I have to take in the middle of working hours (lunch break), around another hour is for getting from home to work and vice versa. Most part of the remaining 6 hours I use cleaning the house, cooking and grocery shopping. I don't consider those recreational.
And, for the record, this makes *safer* workplaces... Of course, this only works in nations where "full-time" isn't defined as "40-plus hours per week, preferably 50-plus, and no complaints, you bloody little skivers, how dare you ask for time to eat lunch!" sorta thing...
Esther Vilar has proposed the 5-hour-day for both partners already more than 40 years ago in her book "The End of the Manipulation", which unfortunately has never been translated to English. The book series is mind blowing, but she received dead threats by feminists for it.
When many middle-class women started working outside the home in the US, the ideal situation would have been that the workday went to 4 hours. The main reason why part-time work dried up is because of medical benefits. People couldn't get them when working only part-time, and employers didn't want to pay for it for people working part-time. In the US, once we get rid of the idiotic relationship of employer to healthcare, then maybe we can start making changes to workweek.
The amount of work done is inversely proportional to the time available. Parkinson's Law.
If you can cut your 8 hour day into 4 and not lose productivity then your job should be consolidated.
I work from 7.30 am to 2 pm. The thing is, I hate my job (bad people, s****y work, no posibilities of growing or learning something) just burocracy. Anyway, when i'm out at 2 pm walking, enjoying the day and thinking all day that is left, I doubt if I ever going to change my job. I reject the idea of going out at 6/7 pm when it's already dark. But it's the reality of the majority of the jobs :(
And in my workplace, they are currently changing work shifts to 12 hour days...
If a person can afford to live off of 6 hours a day, I am all for it. However, a majority of people need that money. If companies are going to pay people for 6 hours as if they had worked the 8 hours, hell ya, lets do this.
Well less meetings will shorten the workdays. I personally don't understand having 3-4 jobs. Is it two a day and how's the traveling? I feel for people the make ends meet this way in the Netherlands we are spoiled but we have horrible social-lib taxes and dreams of stalinist tirants.
I am definitely productive for about 6 hours only and notice I'm tired and ineffective after that. This is also because I also have another 3 hours in travel time each day. I would think quality and not quality would be more efficient. And as previously stated - happier and healthier workers = more profit down the track
If my hours were reduced it would mean more stress for the next day as I have that much to do reduced hours would cause me more pain than pleasure
That's not a problem, as a business owner if someone wants to work and get paid for only working 6 hours a day that'd be fine with me.
I would challenge the "productivity" part of this statement. The software I use for the work can track my progress very accurately and as my pay depends on my productivity I do check it on an hourly basis. I stay superproductive for about 10 hours. The remaining 4 hours of my daily work I go gradually down to the normal average in my industry. On a daily basis including weekends. Office+home. 3 hrs for commuting and meals. 6-hour sleep. This is crazy, but I had to work like this for the last 12 months because of the low salary for the office work.
Tbh when I see stuff about 2-3 effective hours it just makes me wonder how much people are in their place. Perhaps if they cannot focus on the task at hand for more than 2-3 hours, it's just not a place for them? Perhaps there's another job waiting for them where they'd be much happier and have an easier time focusing? My last project at work was interesting but we were understaffed so had a lot of work. But, since it was very interesting and I loved the team, I was actually perfectly focused and working for 7-9 hours a day, sometimes getting so carried away I'd skip my lunch(I know I know lol, I try not to do that) and while it was tiring, I definitely enjoyed it much more than my current in-between projects lazy random routine from home. Most importantly, I had no issues focusing, in fact I'd sometimes wish for a longer day to finish all the stuff(with interesting work, I think I'd generally prefer longer workdays and a day off in the middle of the week).
Idk I had a four hour job once and it was okay except that those four hours could be anytime so you sort of had to plan your day around work which sucked but I think if it was a four hour day with consistent hours then I would be all for it
Yes, we should be paid for the work we do, not for the amount of hours that we warm our office chairs with our behinds. If you know you're in for an eight hour day, you will prepare yourself for a marathon and try to manage your capacity for attention. If you know that you can leave after six, you might as well go all in. I always thought that it might be hard to implement in other jobs (where you actually need to cover a certain time span), but it just makes sense to shorten that period as it will allow for more robust and happy workers, as the study suggests. I personally believe that one day, we will look back at the eight hour workday and think "wow, good that it's over!" just like we did with saturday school, regular 10 hour days or smoking at the workplace.
One small study on a nursing home does not mean this notion is "backed by science."
I work 12 hours shifts in a 20 days on, 10 days off rotation, I'm used to it now so it doesn't bother me much, except that we also rotate between day and night shift...I hate day shift...
That will never be a thing here in the great United States of America. We are a backward nation.
There are experts saying the same thing. So you can choose to scoff at something you don't understand, or you can choose to be someone who's curious and willing to open their mind. You decide. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/26/rutger-bregman-utopia-for-realists-interview-universal-basic-income
Load More Replies...Also, take into account modern commuting time. I spend close to 3 hours per day commuting, and I sure as hell don't count that towards my "recreation" time. And at my job, there are days when I have 0 productive hours. Shorter days, flex time, and telecommuting would make hella sense!
I had a job where we were regular forced to do 12 hour days (often 7 days a week). Over the course of a few months we figured out that we were not getting any more work done than on the days we did 8 hours. In another instance, I had a new supervisor who would set each worker a goal and that when it was done, we could go home. Didn't matter if we took 2 hours or 12, he would consider it a full days work. I have never worked on a happier or more efficient site. Got far more done than normal. But the managers above him didn't like it and he got fired.
at the same rate i couldn't affort my rent at a 6 hours a day pay. and i wouldn't be the only one.
I think part of the point is that salaries and overall compensation should be living wages regardless. It's definitely part of the problem right now.
Load More Replies..."based on the needs of a married straight man"?.......whew! look at all those boxes checked off!! If only they added "white" we could of had the trifecta identity politics!
I've had jobs where I finished my duties quickly and had to find 'make work' just to pass the time. Honestly, this would be great.
I personally would rather have a break on wednesday. Break the week in two smaller, much more manageable parts - no time to get exhausted from the long week.
Load More Replies...I fantasize about an 8 hour work day. I work in film and my days are 12-18. It's insane.
I don't think a 4 hour work day is realistic or sufficient. But 6 hours would work very well and would improve work/life balance immensely. I also recently came across a study that concluded getting to work before 10 am is close to torture for the body and mind, so a shorter workday starting at 10am? Sounds perfect.
I was part of the same experiment (but not in Gothenburg) and we got the same salary as we did when working 8 hours shifts. Yet it didn't cost more as hardly anyone got sick (no extra cost for someone else to fill in). It truly was amazing, when going home after work, I wasn't in the least bit tired. And yet we managed to do the same amount of work in those 6 hours as we did during the 8 as everyone was well rested.
For workers whose jobs are categorized as "hourly" by the Federal Government, there would have to be major restructuring agreed upon by Congress in order for the hourly workers not to be negatively impacted monetarily. Then there is the problem of forcing companies to comply. Also, many companies define benefit rates by the number of hours a worker has in a week. Each company would be forced to redefine this which they are not going to do willingly. I am all for a 6 hour work day but realistically, there would be huge hurtles to overcome.
I wonder what it's like to only have to work 8 hours a day... must be nice.
I doubt if employers are willing or even able to pay the same wages when people work less hours. So people would get in financial troubles. It's a nice dream though.
Actually I work 8 hours a day, sleep 8 but I don't have 8 hours of recreation. 1 out of those 8 recretaional hours is the 1 hour brake I have to take in the middle of working hours (lunch break), around another hour is for getting from home to work and vice versa. Most part of the remaining 6 hours I use cleaning the house, cooking and grocery shopping. I don't consider those recreational.
And, for the record, this makes *safer* workplaces... Of course, this only works in nations where "full-time" isn't defined as "40-plus hours per week, preferably 50-plus, and no complaints, you bloody little skivers, how dare you ask for time to eat lunch!" sorta thing...
Esther Vilar has proposed the 5-hour-day for both partners already more than 40 years ago in her book "The End of the Manipulation", which unfortunately has never been translated to English. The book series is mind blowing, but she received dead threats by feminists for it.
When many middle-class women started working outside the home in the US, the ideal situation would have been that the workday went to 4 hours. The main reason why part-time work dried up is because of medical benefits. People couldn't get them when working only part-time, and employers didn't want to pay for it for people working part-time. In the US, once we get rid of the idiotic relationship of employer to healthcare, then maybe we can start making changes to workweek.
The amount of work done is inversely proportional to the time available. Parkinson's Law.
If you can cut your 8 hour day into 4 and not lose productivity then your job should be consolidated.
I work from 7.30 am to 2 pm. The thing is, I hate my job (bad people, s****y work, no posibilities of growing or learning something) just burocracy. Anyway, when i'm out at 2 pm walking, enjoying the day and thinking all day that is left, I doubt if I ever going to change my job. I reject the idea of going out at 6/7 pm when it's already dark. But it's the reality of the majority of the jobs :(
And in my workplace, they are currently changing work shifts to 12 hour days...
If a person can afford to live off of 6 hours a day, I am all for it. However, a majority of people need that money. If companies are going to pay people for 6 hours as if they had worked the 8 hours, hell ya, lets do this.
Well less meetings will shorten the workdays. I personally don't understand having 3-4 jobs. Is it two a day and how's the traveling? I feel for people the make ends meet this way in the Netherlands we are spoiled but we have horrible social-lib taxes and dreams of stalinist tirants.
I am definitely productive for about 6 hours only and notice I'm tired and ineffective after that. This is also because I also have another 3 hours in travel time each day. I would think quality and not quality would be more efficient. And as previously stated - happier and healthier workers = more profit down the track
If my hours were reduced it would mean more stress for the next day as I have that much to do reduced hours would cause me more pain than pleasure
That's not a problem, as a business owner if someone wants to work and get paid for only working 6 hours a day that'd be fine with me.
I would challenge the "productivity" part of this statement. The software I use for the work can track my progress very accurately and as my pay depends on my productivity I do check it on an hourly basis. I stay superproductive for about 10 hours. The remaining 4 hours of my daily work I go gradually down to the normal average in my industry. On a daily basis including weekends. Office+home. 3 hrs for commuting and meals. 6-hour sleep. This is crazy, but I had to work like this for the last 12 months because of the low salary for the office work.
Tbh when I see stuff about 2-3 effective hours it just makes me wonder how much people are in their place. Perhaps if they cannot focus on the task at hand for more than 2-3 hours, it's just not a place for them? Perhaps there's another job waiting for them where they'd be much happier and have an easier time focusing? My last project at work was interesting but we were understaffed so had a lot of work. But, since it was very interesting and I loved the team, I was actually perfectly focused and working for 7-9 hours a day, sometimes getting so carried away I'd skip my lunch(I know I know lol, I try not to do that) and while it was tiring, I definitely enjoyed it much more than my current in-between projects lazy random routine from home. Most importantly, I had no issues focusing, in fact I'd sometimes wish for a longer day to finish all the stuff(with interesting work, I think I'd generally prefer longer workdays and a day off in the middle of the week).
Idk I had a four hour job once and it was okay except that those four hours could be anytime so you sort of had to plan your day around work which sucked but I think if it was a four hour day with consistent hours then I would be all for it
Yes, we should be paid for the work we do, not for the amount of hours that we warm our office chairs with our behinds. If you know you're in for an eight hour day, you will prepare yourself for a marathon and try to manage your capacity for attention. If you know that you can leave after six, you might as well go all in. I always thought that it might be hard to implement in other jobs (where you actually need to cover a certain time span), but it just makes sense to shorten that period as it will allow for more robust and happy workers, as the study suggests. I personally believe that one day, we will look back at the eight hour workday and think "wow, good that it's over!" just like we did with saturday school, regular 10 hour days or smoking at the workplace.
One small study on a nursing home does not mean this notion is "backed by science."
I work 12 hours shifts in a 20 days on, 10 days off rotation, I'm used to it now so it doesn't bother me much, except that we also rotate between day and night shift...I hate day shift...
That will never be a thing here in the great United States of America. We are a backward nation.
There are experts saying the same thing. So you can choose to scoff at something you don't understand, or you can choose to be someone who's curious and willing to open their mind. You decide. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/26/rutger-bregman-utopia-for-realists-interview-universal-basic-income
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