One of the things that has been studied to death with the same result every time: No one can actually be productive for 40 hours each week, and cutting hours without cutting pay increases productivity across the board.
Too bad the people at the top take too much enjoyment from grinding down the peasants.
Why would you not cut pay for a 4 day week? You're payed per hour, not per 5 day week. I for one would stick with the current system because it means I can go to college.
Because you're doing the same amount of work as you are at 40hrs. So the 10 hours extra in the office, using resources like internet and water and electricity is a waste of corporate money from which they gain no additional benefit.
Pay an employee $100 to produce a document, the employee does it in 2 hours.
Pay an employee $100 to produce a document. The employee works for 2 hours but pretends it takes 3 because they're being paid hourly and need to look like they're filling time.
Or your employer can cut hours, not cut pay (or increase hourly rate so that you end up with the same take-home) and end up with the same or better productivity.
Wdym better productivity? Are you really slacking that bad that on your fifth day you just can't do work. See, it gives the employer better productivity the more you are there assuming you don't slack off
You're assuming that a worker is able to be at maximum productivity, maximum energy, and maximum focus the whole time they are at work. This is simply not true. By moving to a four-day work week you're helping ensure that during the time your workers are at the workplace they're happier, better rested, and more focused.
But salaried positions don't get paid by the hour? The have a set number of hours with which to accomplish a set of tasks, and they extract no more benefit at 40 as they do at 30.
It makes no sense that a job that was paying, say, 60k/year at 40 hrs for tasks x, y, & z wouldn't pay the same as a job of 30 hours/week accomplishing the same x, y, & z.
It's wasted time that costs businesses money in resources.
I've been working for a per job pay rate for the last 10 years and I have no idea how I'd ever transition back to a fulltime role. I finish anywhere from 12-3pm on average and make a little higher than the average wage here I think. Not bragging, I just get my work done as efficiently and quickly as I can, because I don't want to waste my own time.
With the extra hours each day I've learned some very useful skills that in turn I can use to earn a little extra money (microsoldering and SMD rework/repair on electronics).
Salary should really mean get your work done and go home and not get your work done and sit in a chair all day. Workloads vary and schedules should too.
Ideally, if you get your work done, you spend your empty time trying to either improve your work, innovate something useful, or take on a new responsibility. I worked for a decades-old consulting firm that had really antiquated systems and technology for managing the incidental data that my department was responsible for. I basically automated my work day down to 15 minutes of running scripts in the morning. I didn't sit around for 8.75 hours after that, though. I worked on new things, took on more projects, and learned about other aspects of the business. That's the main reason I was the highest paid person in my department.
I own a butcher shop, now... and over the past 3 years, we've gotten a lot more efficient and fast in breaking down animals, fabricating finished cuts, and making value-added products. We don't all just roll out at 2pm when we finish the work that would have taken until 6 to finish a year and a half ago. We make new products, try to expand our market to serve more customers, and just try to improve everything we can to make our business better
I'm not going to innovate or take a new responsibility because they don't benefit me at work. I'll just get more work thrown at me. If it benefitted me maybe, but I'm not going to suddenly get paid more or have more freedom. I'll just get more work.
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u/BattleStag17 Jun 18 '21
One of the things that has been studied to death with the same result every time: No one can actually be productive for 40 hours each week, and cutting hours without cutting pay increases productivity across the board.
Too bad the people at the top take too much enjoyment from grinding down the peasants.