6-hour workday
 

Sweden seems to have become the chosen proving ground for replacing the 40-hour week with the 6-hour workday. Reports are that employees can focus better for six hours instead of eight and so productivity compensates for the shorter day. People are supposed to avoid social media at work and the extra free time is supposed to be for spending more time with family, pursuing projects outside of work, and getting exercise:
Sweden is also pledging to go completely fossil-fuel free. Will car-free living grow in popularity with shorter working hours and less fossil-fuel use as well?

If successful will this model spread beyond Sweden? Why or why not? Will this become yet another badge of superiority reserved for elite welfare states and eschewed by others who view things like human free time as costly privileges to be reserved for social utopias and kept out of reach for everyone else?

Sweden is shifting to a 6-hour work day - ScienceAlert

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3051448/why-sweden-is-shifting-to-a-6-hour-work-day

Same pay same amount of work in fewer hours? I say go ahead and move. But before you pack your bags you might want to look at this?

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/sweden/personal-income-tax-rate

The only thing that keeps millions of Americans from packing their bags and heading for Sweden is the fact that Sweden wouldn't have them. It does take two to Tango. On the other hand, if any amount of Swedes wanted to come over here and start a new life in a tax haven, America would take them all in a New York minute. Few takers though... I wonder why.

I had the pleasure of spending a week in Gothenburg some years ago. I'd move to Sweden in a hot minute if they'd take me (and if my wife were willing to go), especially if I could live in Malmö. Six-hour workday? Sign me up!

Copenhagenize.com - Bicycle Culture by Design: Malmö Opens Fantastic Bike&Ride Parking at Central Station

Not sure the US is quite as welcoming as you suggest. I suspect there are a lot more Swedes coming to study in the US than Americans studying in Sweden.

I hardly think there are hordes of young Swedes flocking to the States to study when they can get a top-notch university education for free in their homeland. Unless they hanker for a lifetime of indebtedness or have rich parents, it would make little sense.

My employer already has shorter weeks, as do many retailers. If you work full time then they have to provide benefits. Part-time employees are cheaper. Of course they want you available 24/7, just in case they need you. ;)

Meanwhile in the US.....

The "40-Hour" Workweek Is Actually Longer -- by Seven Hours

This article is from last year but I am willing to bet the average hours worked in the US is still going up.

Add in longer commutes and the "always on call" job related email, text and calls (24-7-365 in some places) and no wonder people are so burnt out in this country. I know people who have actually received emails like the following-

"Hey Bob, I know you are on vacation this week but I need to know blah blah blah by Thursday. Hope the cruise is great. See you Monday. Dick"

Things are getting worse in this country.

I check in at 6:50am and out at 5pm. However, I am guaranteed 20 minutes for lunch, and 3 minutes every hour and a half to run for the one men's room. But on Saturdays I only put in 5-6 hours. Sunday I have free to complete the required training to keep my job.

Yep, United States (a teacher).

I think this is the real trend. Not shorter work weeks, but employers gaming the system to require that so-called part-time workers will be available on call at the whim of their employer, while not providing the benefits of full-time work.

Personally, I work 12 hour shifts, three shifts a week. This is considered full-time, but I am sometimes required to work mandatory overtime or the opposite--have shifts cancelled with only 90 minutes advance notice. It sucks, but this is pretty standard for hospitals in my area. Sweden would be a dream--high taxes, but great services, security, and protection in return.

First things first, knowing some Swedes on the internet....this isn't actually law. This is one party parading an idea it has had for decades.

Don't pack your bags.

Thing about the 40-hour weeks is that tons and tons of people were only working 39.5 hours/week for decades so their employer could dodge paying healthcare. With the ACA requiring healthcare for 30+hour/week employees, most all employers turned those jobs into 29.5 hour/week jobs.

End result being most people have not had even an 8hour/day job...and now most people don't have 6hour/day jobs either. Not because employers give two dumps about employees, but because they want to pay them even less.


Ofc, that presumes you are hourly. Salaried people tend to be paid for 40 a week and work 80.

I assume there are some that can afford it and I didn't say hordes just a higher number than coming from America.

On the original question, it's fine to work less but not an easy thing to do in a competitive world. Koreans aren't working 40 hr weeks.

Why do you feel a need to compete with Koreans?

Exactly. I don't know, because I'm no economist... or mathmatician... as a matter of fact I don't even have a college education... but... let's agree that America's tax situation is better than Sweden's. Say a whole lot better... is it that much better to have only 30% income tax on 100G/yr. with six figures of tuition debt and either no medical insurance or $200/mo premiums and a $2K deductible. Or is it better to make the same `100G pay 50% even 60% income tax but have no tuition debt and no healthcare debt. I think the MILLIONS of homeless Americans that were kicked out of good jobs at the height of their talents and/or had a trivial medical issue turn into tens of thousands of dollars of debt.... the issue for them might not be something to ponder.

You are 100% right about the ACA.

As far as salaried employees... Corporations have been exploiting salary exempt laws for many years. These same corporations constantly lobby politicians to keep the status quo. Many low and mid level salary employees do not perform enough work that meets the definition of salary exempt, yet they are not paid overtime for work past 40 hours.

Before the flames come that I am a Occupy Wall Street type.... I should tell you I am a retired HR executive from a Fortune 100 company.

I worked under a manager who whipped his department into a lean, mean fighting machine that awed the competition. Vacations were shunned, sick leave absolutely had to go through him directly, if you were authorized sick leave you were essentially on house arrest. He would call and you had better be home. I never took sick days and neither did anyone else I knew. When I left I had thousands of hours of unused sick leave and vacation. Only half the vacation time was given back. None of the sick time was. I can see you are still drinking that Kool-Aid. I hope it won't take a bad heart to open your eyes to the wisdom of a better work/life balance.

Just an example. Point being that in a competitive economy having everyone work only 6 hrs/day might be difficult. I know in the high tech businesses I've been involved in our biggest challenge is often getting resources. Cutting workdays, while attractive to the workers, could be worse for businesses.

Personally, I'd be happy to switch to 4 days/wk of work. Maybe I'll switch sometime in the next 5 yrs.

I worked hard when I was younger and was fortunate to have some success. Retired at 41, took it easy for 10 or so years while the kids were growing up and have gone back to work the past few years to keep busy.

I'm all for short work weeks now but when I was younger and more ambitious not sure it would have been as attractive. The trick is to find something to do that's interesting and challenging - then it doesn't feel like work.

Interesting discussion, but I'm having a little trouble understanding what this topic has to do with carfree living.

Shorter workdays make commuting by bicycle more practical. I've enjoyed commuting in daylight hours the past 4 or 5 months. Not looking forward to riding in the dark :(

Get outta SLC and head to the DSM.
I have friends and family who are teachers in lower elementary, high school, and college- none work this much and all are successful at what they do.

I don't accept the ultimatum of either paying high taxes and accepting socialism or having freedom along with the free time to use it. I think corporatism spread to the US from Europe with the ulterior motive of manipulating people into giving up their freedom to submit to the authoritarian life-structuring of corporate management.

If 6-hour workdays can work in Sweden, they should be able to work in the US or anywhere else. For businesses to be competitive with employees working less hours, they need to be able to take advantage of cost savings associated with people working less, such as consolidating office space. If people are getting paid to sit around in offices and use social media, there should be a way to out-compete them by avoiding social media and getting out of the office to make room for someone else to take the next 6-hour shift at your desk.

If you read the OP, the issue of 6-hour workdays is contextualized in terms of car free living and Sweden's corresponding pledge of eliminating the use of fossil-fuels completely.

Unemployment or underemployment, especially if voluntary, may make car free living more appealing. It might even provide more time for bicycling and walking and camping.

And to extend this tenuous thread even further, I'm a salaried contractor, and for me a day off is when nothing is coming in the in-box. I actually would prefer a four-day work week to a six-hour day. One day less to ride the same old routes, and one extra day to explore elsewhere, including one more day for a long ride. :D

I am fortunate that way, and I’m OK with my five plus half dayx2 work week. And I have a great commute that gives me a destination to ride on weekends. :innocent: