The full working week should be cut to 21 hours

badrobot76

:(i'm saddened tripe like this actually makes the news, very lazy and sensationlist,why i'm i even typing to respond...ahh:eek:

fc123

wymondham wrote: »

If people could afford it then they would already be doing it - nobody works more hours than they have to do they?

I wouldn't have thought so.

I feel fairly fortunate as my job is currently 70% fun and chewy but I am aiming for 85%........have to juggle a few things that stress me out to get there though. My home work space is driving me nuts but looking for commercial space is such a headache...all the agents keep telling me how booming the area is...yet loads of empty stuff.

That particular morning fell into the 'bad' 30%.

I am trying to remember if I ever had a job that I hate or did my head in.....maybe bar staff @ Butlins summer 1984...a great experience

I would love to get my job done in 21 hours...it may be possible one day but not anytime soon....plus there is always something else to do or add on....it's a a kind of never ending job being S/Employed.

Right now I am 'working'. Cat on lap, nipped over here but opening a zillion CV's for a job I posted a couple of hours back. It doesn't feel like work reading and sifting through CV's but I guess it is.


If I had a zillion pounds I would still work I think but just the fun bit and some charity/teaching stuff.....maybe 30 hours per week?

hullight

Do they think people would be any happier taking a 30% paycut while having the same if not higher fixed costs?

Sir_Humphrey

An employer ought to be interested in productive hours. In both the public and private sectors in the UK a lot of the long hours simply has the outcome of low productivity and pointless make-work tasks.

On the other hand, France has far shorter working hours but much higher productivity because when they do actually work they do not prat around. Work practises are far more formal in France.

If you measure work value by productivity, it is probably the case that paying people the same for doing fewer hours (but with productive work in all those hours) would have the same outcome in terms of output. Keeping wages the same would also maintain aggregate demand.

Having more time at home also leaves more time for parenting - this would save on childcare costs and allow better behaved children. It is noticeable to me that French kids tend to be better behaved than British kids.

All a bit utopian of course, but food for thought surely?

ninky_2

wymondham wrote: »

If people could afford it then they would already be doing it - nobody works more hours than they have to do they?

yes they do. plenty of people earn more in a day than many people earn in a week and could easily live on this. but somehow they get sucked into the rat race. you get the occassional person who retires early, downsizes or works part time but the majority can't seem to get off the capitalist wheel of wanting more and knowing when enough is enough.

i think a shorter working week is a great idea. the whole 9-5 thing with an hour off for lunch and half hour tea breaks is long gone. add to that increasing commute times and wall to wall work becomes the waking norm for the majority with little time for friends and family. we all become 'time poor' as a result. no matter how much money you have you can't buy your life back.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

I think this is a good idea, it would cut unemployment and share out the work. I am one of those people who actually spend 100% + of my working life working hard (I am a staff nurse on a hospital ward) and purposely work part time because I am too old and knackered to do full time at this pace! I have worked in industry and it was a joke! I got paid loadsa money for doing nowt and therefore was able to put the hours in, pay of the mortgage and cut my and DH hours down.

Unfortunately in the real world people have bills to pay and are struggling to make ends meet, what we need is a radical rethink of where western society is going, social inequalities need to be tackled long term for society to grow into a quality framework for living in.

LydiaJ

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's really hard finding a part-time job in what is traditionally a full-time role. The difference with the 21 hour week would be that'd be the norm... as it is, if you try to work part-time you're seen as the part-timer by the others. This'd mean we could all work part-time on equal footing.

There are some sectors where part-time work is quite common. I have part-time jobs in two of them. I love the variety of having two totally different things to do, besides parenting, which is a third. I wouldn't work full-time while my kids are this young if I could possibly help it. (I'm widowed so I'm the only parent my kids have got.) I do 45% of full-time in one job and 20% in the other. I perceive it as a trade-off between the money to support my family, and the time to spend with them.

However, I'm aware that being part-time keeps me at a low-to-middle level on the promotion ladder. Most of the time I don't mind - I don't want to climb that ladder very much. But last year there was an extra responsibility post going at my 45% job - the sort of thing that you get a little extra money for and a little time knocked off your usual work. It was for something that really interests me, but I was told it wasn't open to part-timers. :mad:

treliac

LydiaJ wrote: »

However, I'm aware that being part-time keeps me at a low-to-middle level on the promotion ladder.

Sadly, it's the sacrifice those of us who want to be real parents to our children have to make. On the other hand, we're lucky if we have the choice to juggle both responsibilities... provided we don't knacker ourselves in the process!!

I'm sure that, in the long run, it's worth it.

fc123

treliac wrote: »

Sadly, it's the sacrifice those of us who want to be real parents to our children have to make. On the other hand, we're lucky if we have the choice to juggle both responsibilities... provided we don't knacker ourselves in the process!!

I'm sure that, in the long run, it's worth it.

So true......I am wondering why the past year has been so good workwise for me.....Dah Dah (trumpet sounds) it could be because last DD has hit 15 and nearly 16. I have all this head time and non skivvying time that I am putting to good use now...

I promised myself in 1987, when son was born, that all the spare time that I never knew I had, which then just vanished, would be used wisely and profitably when it came back.......I only had to wait 22 years :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

treliac

fc123 wrote: »

I promised myself in 1987, when son was born, that all the spare time that I never knew I had, which then just vanished, would be used wisely and profitably when it came back.......I only had to wait 22 years :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Mmmm, I empathise with you.