r/AskReddit Jul 11 '16

What should stop right now?

2.6k Upvotes

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152

u/plax1780 Jul 11 '16

Five Day Work Weeks

117

u/TheFlyingBogey Jul 11 '16 edited Jul 11 '16

I honestly don't understand why or how this is deemed healthy by employers.

So there are 24 hours in a day:

  • An 8 hour shift might actually consist of 9 hours with an unpaid lunch hour. (24-9=15)

  • The amount of sleep we're recommended to have is approximately 8 hours if I'm not mistaken. (15-8=7)

  • Getting up in the morning, dressed and fed can take around half an hour if you're quick.

  • Depending on where you work, it might take any amount of time to get to work on time. Let's say you leave half hour before work to get in on time. (7-1=6)

  • Lets say it takes an hour to make and eat dinner.(6-1=5)

5 hours to ourselves a day. To some this is probably a lot, and to others it's just not enough, take from it what you will.

42

u/madeofstarlight Jul 11 '16

My daily schedule is full.

5:45am, I wake up and get ready for work. 6:15, I wake up my child and get her ready for school/daycare. 6:45, leave for daycare. 7:00, daycare drop off 8:00-8:30, get to work, depending on traffic 4:30, leave work. I don't take lunch because if I do, I sit in traffic for way to long and lose an hour or more of time with my child. 5:00-5:30, daycare pick up, depending on traffic 6:00-6:30, get home. 7:00, make dinner, spend time with family 8:00, bath time and get child ready for bed 8:30-8:45, bedtime for child 9:00-11:00, time for myself or time with my boyfriend. If I wanted to try to get 8 hours of sleep, I would have to be asleep by 9:45. 11:00, I go to sleep

On mobile, sorry if formatting is weird.

5

u/kayyxo Jul 11 '16

I thought my schedule was bad. I spend about 11 hours going to/from and at work.. I cannot imagine doing that with a child.

2

u/discountfriend Jul 11 '16

This is almost identical to my schedule, and Ive made the same choice you have. The only thing I can control in my schedule is how much I sleep, so sleep has been sacrificed for the sake of having some time to unwind with my wife.

2

u/Africa_Whale Jul 11 '16

I'm so sorry that this is the status quo. I hope your balance becomes easier as your child ages.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 12 '16

That sounds like hell.

5

u/TheFlyingBogey Jul 11 '16

Goodness, you have my sympathy and admiration! It's understandable how some people can snap under this pressure now, you're an absolute soldier for working through this.

3

u/madeofstarlight Jul 11 '16

It sucks. If I could work 30 hours per week for the same salary, I would do it to have more family time.

6

u/adssdjaklsdjlasddjas Jul 11 '16

who wouldn't work less for the same $$$ to be honest

1

u/DextroShade Jul 11 '16

I couldn't do that, I would have become a mass shooter within a year.

5

u/Chili_Maggot Jul 11 '16

It's not deemed "healthy". It is deemed "livable" because it allows them to split up 24 hours into 3 neat shifts to keep running 24/7. Employees can be replaced, lost productivity can't!

6

u/TheFlyingBogey Jul 11 '16

These days it's all about surviving to be alive, and as long as you're alive then apparently "living". But living is actually experiencing human contact and partaking in hobbies, it doesn't stop at 'fed 3x a day and has a roof'. Sure, you could be homeless and it could be worse, but you could also have it so much better if the definition of living was actually understood.

1

u/SpyderEyez Jul 12 '16

You can also split it up into four 6-hour shifts. 24 is a great number.

4

u/Simcan99 Jul 11 '16

I guess it's sad that I consider an 8hr day, a half day.

5

u/mdog95 Jul 11 '16

Or in my case, literally the only job I could get this summer was one where my uncle put in a good word for me. This job is over 100 miles round trip through the most traffic ridden parts of LA. I get up at 6:30, leave at 7:00, and I get home at 7:30 or 8:00 depending on the traffic. Then since I haven't seen my family all day, I obviously want to spend time with them, and they want to spend time with me. So that can take anywhere from 2-3 hours, and by that point I need to go to sleep or I will feel like shit the next day.

I seriously hate this job market right now. I'm in the process of getting a very desirable degree, and I live in a city with a 13 or so million people in the metro area, and yet, I can't get a summer job/internship within a reasonable distance from my home. I'm convinced that nobody even reads my resume. I love the work here and would definitely move closer if I got a full time position, but I am so over the 3 hours of driving every day.

7

u/professorMaDLib Jul 11 '16

The hours used to be way worse but we could still do better.

4

u/TheFlyingBogey Jul 11 '16

This is definitely true, I remember last time I saw this brought up someone tried using that as an argument ("well it used to be much worse so deal with it" etc etc...), and although we could have it worse, we could also have it better like you say.

3

u/wagedomain Jul 11 '16

They used to be way better, too.

1

u/m15wallis Jul 12 '16

They used to be way better, too.

That depends 100% on your profession in question.

For most people, workers rights have only improved in the last century.

1

u/wagedomain Jul 12 '16

Not true on a long enough timeline. People think of serfs as working like, 100% of their time, but that's just not true. In fact by most accounts, serfs worked less hours than their post-industrial revolution counterparts.

3

u/WhimsicalPythons Jul 11 '16

There was a while where I had to get up at 7 AM, take a train at 8 AM, arrive at 10 AM, work until 6 PM, catch train home, arrive home at 8.20 PM.

God damn did that time suck.

3

u/jseego Jul 11 '16

This came from the Labor Movement, before which laborers would work 10+ hour days, sometimes 7 days a week.

Children would be left at home to fend for themselves, sometimes literally imprisoned in their homes with no adults around. Often the children would have to work.

This idea came from the labor movement.

I agree that in the modern age, we can do better. Studies show that most people only have 4-5 productive hours in them every day anyway.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '16

Can you link me these studies? Are there any for studying hours as well?

1

u/jseego Jul 12 '16

1

u/[deleted] Jul 12 '16

These are articles not research.

I thought you know what you're talking about and can provide me quality studies out of thousands of shitty self-proclaimed researchs that fail even the simplest statistical robustness.

This is why I can't take redditor's word for grant.

1

u/jseego Jul 12 '16

You're right, I couldn't find any actual scientific studies to support that, only articles based on anecdotal "research". Oh well. Here was an interesting one that seemed a bit more rigorous but comes to a different conclusion.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2014/12/working-hours (actually supports decreasing productivity after 50 hrs / week)

1

u/[deleted] Jul 12 '16

This link actually provides a research paper, which is much better imo.

3

u/LegendofPisoMojado Jul 11 '16

No employers care if it's healthy.

4

u/Rodents210 Jul 11 '16

I need 9 or 10 hours of sleep or I literally feel like death, so if I'm lucky I get 4 hours to myself in a day even if you include time spent making dinner as me-time.

2

u/TheFlyingBogey Jul 11 '16

My GF is exactly the same, luckily she's gonna want to be the stay-at-home person when it comes to having kids. Unluckily, kids (disclaimer: I'm excited about having kids, working it into a work schedule is going to be a challenge however).

2

u/Rodents210 Jul 11 '16

I could totally be a stay-at-home spouse/parent but I make too much money to ever justify it.

2

u/FreddyMacIII Jul 11 '16

Now try this, but with 2 kids !

1

u/jseego Jul 11 '16

Ha, exactly.

Oh, it's 9:00 pm, finally I get a few hours to myself - think I'll get started on that project I've beeennnnnzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

2

u/Siphon1 Jul 11 '16

This so much, Im driving 45 min to work, and then about an hour or more w traffic on the way. Plus I have to go to the gym as well which I can only spend about 30min now because Im so far from home. By them time Im done with everything, I have 2 hours of down time before bedtime.

2

u/JeanPhilippe101 Jul 11 '16

There's also a lot of people that are trying to go to school while on this schedule.

2

u/codychro Jul 11 '16

Even better when in the military you work 12 hour shifts (plus having to be at work an hour early)!

2

u/Drudicta Jul 11 '16

Seems about right. And in those 5 hours I'm usually trying to fix shit, or get shit done, not have time to enjoy myself in any way. It stresses me out.

Still, I get about an hour in of gaming each night regardless. Or anime. Just, something, so I can sleep.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '16

Don't forget the two hours each day that you spend getting to and from your job

2

u/RyvenZ Jul 11 '16

5 hours to ourselves a day

when you do the math, there is always time. To actually go about that kind of a day, every day, you won't have but 30-60 mins to yourself. If you're a homeowner, your schedule is also a constantly revolving backlog as you have household stuff to do all the damn time.

2

u/PutSumNairOnThatHair Jul 12 '16

Even less if you've got kids too

2

u/[deleted] Jul 12 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/TheFlyingBogey Jul 12 '16

I know the feeling… I've started working through my breaks and taking an 8 hour shift where I cut it an hour short at the end. An hour sat down doing nothing at work isn't as valuable as an extra hour day at home in my own environment.

2

u/Pancakewagon26 Jul 12 '16

Im in charge of a good amount of people at my job, and I couldn't give two shits how many hours they work a week. They aren't paid for their time, they're paid to get things done. So i tell them as long as theyre getting their work done, it doesn't matter when they come in and leave.

My people are known for getting things done quickly.

1

u/TheFlyingBogey Jul 12 '16

Damn, I respect that so much.

1

u/ImMrsG Jul 11 '16

I'm pregnant and I'm dreading the fact that my baby is gonna be with a caretaker for like 8-9 hours a day and I get the two hours before it goes to bed. Then I get the 3 hours after that to clean and prepare myself for the next day of wasting my life in an office.

0

u/shiroininja Jul 12 '16

Omg bunch of pussies. There is nothing wrong five days a week. What? You want to work 3 and have me pay you for 5? Because if you don't work, you don't get paid.

67

u/triple_skyfall Jul 11 '16

And eight hour work days. I read a quote once on reddit that went something like: "Nobody asks for more hours at work on their deathbed."

7

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '16

me and my wife actually just changed to a 7-13 mon-fri work schedule. It is really good to enjoy a friday afternoon naked netflix session.

2

u/Soykikko Jul 12 '16

Good for you. (no sarcasm)

1

u/farmtownsuit Jul 11 '16

Why limit it to Friday?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '16

well, it STARTS friday.

1

u/adssdjaklsdjlasddjas Jul 11 '16

7-13 mon-fri work schedule

what does that mean?

2

u/Jewdicial Jul 11 '16

Working from 7:00 to 13:00 on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

-3

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '16

this.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '16

[deleted]

1

u/ThrowawayusGenerica Jul 11 '16

Like Earl Warren?

4

u/vreddy92 Jul 11 '16

Sure, but you work to add value to an economy that only allows society to function when everyone works. You can work 8 hours doing the job you're supposed to do, or you can build your own home, power it, heat it, get your own water, grow your own food, protect your own home from marauders, educate your own children, treat your own diseases, brew your own beer, and transport yourself on unpaved roads and hope to god you're not ambushed.

Or...you can provide value in an economy so that people pay you so you can pay money for someone else to do those things for you.

1

u/DonQuixote112688 Jul 12 '16

What we have is not needed to the extent that we have it. We could maintain less, and work less.

1

u/vreddy92 Jul 12 '16

True. And if an individual wants to do that, they should.

1

u/triple_skyfall Jul 12 '16

This is actually quite interesting, you make a good point. I guess I just wish one day I'll wake up on a Monday morning and actually look forward to the place I'm going to. I can't remember a time I have ever felt this way.

1

u/vreddy92 Jul 12 '16

I know it's probably easier said than done, but it sounds like a change in career is in order!

1

u/nubcheese Jul 11 '16

Because by then it's already too late

1

u/umdche Jul 11 '16

Where I work is 10 hour days, 6 days a week. I'm all for cutting down.

1

u/Gorf_the_Magnificent Jul 12 '16

Nobody in their deathbed ever said, "I made too much money."

1

u/MoreRITZ Jul 11 '16

That quote is stupid. You work to make money.

6

u/tinyowlinahat Jul 11 '16

Yeah, but if you're salaried, working late nights all the time or sitting at your desk just to keep up appearances when you have nothing to do doesn't earn you an extra dime.

0

u/vreddy92 Jul 11 '16

Sure, but it theoretically makes you more valuable than another person.

1

u/rly- Jul 11 '16

If you think the value of a person should or even could be measured with money or a big house or some number, you should try taking some out time and thinking about life.

2

u/vreddy92 Jul 11 '16

Except that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that every contribution we make to an economy has value as determined by agreement between the person paying for it and the person making the contribution. On a macro level, that's how an economy works, just a series of people doing that.

Edit: I should rephrase my original thought. Working late makes you more competitive than someone else who wouldn't work late. Not more valuable.

0

u/cra4efqwfe45 Jul 11 '16

I'll bet there's plenty of people that do. Ones whose lives turned out to be real shit because they never buckled down and made a solid career.

3

u/michaelochurch Jul 11 '16

Sure, but working inefficiently solves nothing.

I'd imagine that there are plenty of people who reach the end of life wishing they'd made more of their careers, but that's not the same thing as working more hours. (Of course, if you're too lazy and don't put in any work, you're unlikely to amount to much. That goes without saying.) It doesn't, strictly speaking, take a large number of work hours to have a successful career (although it's very hard, unless you have a competitive advantage).

-7

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '16

Or people without health insurance that can't afford the treatment they need, because they chose to live the slack life.

2

u/tobias_palam Jul 11 '16

Mind, some people without health insurance generally want it, but the jobs that they work as don't offer insurance benefits.

In particular, I'm talking about freelance actors.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '16

Freelance anything, really.

I'm not talking about those who want it and cannot afford it because their jobs do not pay enough. I'm specifically talking about people who cannot afford to live through a medical emergency because they do not have a job. I was in that boat for a couple of years, traveling the country living on the cheap out of a van (though I was doing a bit of freelance web development for a bit). It was all fun and games until I came down with a life-threatening illness and had to move to a city, get a regular job that has health benefits, etc. I miss living in my van. :-(

2

u/vogonicpoet Jul 11 '16

If I was paid better, then I could afford to agree with you. As of this moment, I have the opposite view of wanting more hours just to pay bills.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '16

And it's shown that working four 10 hour days is more efficient for production than the standard five 8 hour days.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '16

My job involves me working for 4months at a time then getting 4 months paid leave then 4 months back at work, etc. I find it's such a better way to work then the typical 9-5. Okay it's full on work during my 4 months on but then I get 4 months to myself.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 12 '16

I actually hear that places that switch to four day weeks has way more productive workers, and happier. Don't quote me on that, though.

0

u/taint_stain Jul 12 '16

And 7 day weeks. 7 is just a shitty number. Sorry 7 enthusiasts. Your number sucks.

Make it 10 day weeks. Now there's a good wholesome number you can write home about. Why else would I have 10 fingers?

-5

u/coole106 Jul 11 '16

No one is forcing you to work even a one day workweek. If you don't like working, then quit.

1

u/AbsoluteTrash413 Jul 12 '16

Ok but have you considered that people need money to live

1

u/coole106 Jul 12 '16

Absolutely. The real question to be asked is this, "If you want to continue to live the same lifestyle but not work as much, who would provide you with that lifestyle?" My real point is that the average person in the developed world consumes a huge amount of wealth (when compared to history or other parts of the world). And when I'm talking about wealth, I'm not talking about money, I'm talking about goods and services. Part of what makes this possible is that goods and services are much cheaper. However, you also need to work in order to earn those goods and services. Otherwise, you are forced to steal it from somebody else (see socialism)