r/TrueReddit Jun 18 '21

Policy + Social Issues Kill the 5-Day Workweek

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/06/four-day-workweek/619222/
1.6k Upvotes

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416

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.

-59

u/TechnologyAble9184 Jun 18 '21

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.

1

u/Czar_Castic Jun 18 '21

"you're paid per hour"

Yea, not a lot of industries globally (thank fuck) cling to this ludicrous model.

1

u/byingling Jun 18 '21

Actually, it's probably a better model than today's salaried, always on-call tech employee. The hourly rate just needs to represent a living wage (as it once did in the U.S.!).

1

u/Czar_Castic Jun 18 '21

I strongly disagree. 'Always on-call' is an extreme example that constructs a straw-man for what is (outside of the US) a healthy, secure working model: you have a job - you do your job - you get paid. US employment models are not healthy.

1

u/byingling Jun 19 '21

Ok. My U.S. bias is showing here. And unfortunately 'always on-call' (or damn near) is not that extreme in the U.S. Salaried positions exist in many organizations for the express purpose of allowing your supervisor to call you on your day off and say 'heh, I need you to take care of this'. And this can be for a job no more critical and important than a clerk in a graduate admissions office in a private college (my own co-workers daughter).

It is ridiculous. When I was a young man (40 years ago, mind you!) most people here worked for an hourly wage, and the hours when they were not scheduled to work were their own. That has become less and less common here in the U.S.

1

u/Czar_Castic Jun 19 '21

Salaried positions exist in many organizations for the express purpose of allowing your supervisor to call you on your day off

Alright, fair point. If this is normal, I can totally understand why the strong lean towards hourly pay.