Are 8+ hour workdays unreasonable?

[Paddy O Fernature]

Id personally love it if they cut the working days in half. Adults need a life too. I don't want to waste every single day of my whole life behind a desk.....Half a day of work sound reasonable. That's not even coming from the super communist revolutionary deep within me, it just doesn't seem like half a day is asking too much. Plus that would also open a new shift, instead of just day shift and night shift. For instance businesses could also implement mid day shift from like 12 pm to 5pm.

Morning, Mid, and Night shifts already exist in the real world.

[Uinted Communist of Africa]

Id personally love it if they cut the working days in half. Adults need a life too. I don't want to waste every single day of my whole life behind a desk.....Half a day of work sound reasonable. That's not even coming from the super communist revolutionary deep within me, it just doesn't seem like half a day is asking too much. Plus that would also open a new shift, instead of just day shift and night shift. For instance businesses could also implement mid day shift from like 12 pm to 5pm.

Morning, Mid, and Night shifts already exist in the real world.

Boom. there you go already existed

[Paddy O Fernature]

Morning, Mid, and Night shifts already exist in the real world.

Boom. there you go already existed

Yup.

Going to go on a limb here and say that you are likely still in school and have never had a real job, no?

[Uinted Communist of Africa]

Boom. there you go already existed

Yup.

Going to go on a limb here and say that you are likely still in school and have never had a real job, no?

College but yeah

[Paddy O Fernature]

Yup.

Going to go on a limb here and say that you are likely still in school and have never had a real job, no?

College but yeah

Hope that works out for you.

[Uinted Communist of Africa]

College but yeah

Hope that works out for you.

So far so good. Thanks

[Esternial]

Id personally love it if they cut the working days in half. Adults need a life too. I don't want to waste every single day of my whole life behind a desk.....Half a day of work sound reasonable. That's not even coming from the super communist revolutionary deep within me, it just doesn't seem like half a day is asking too much. Plus that would also open a new shift, instead of just day shift and night shift. For instance businesses could also implement mid day shift from like 12 pm to 5pm.

That simply won't work in some industries.

If I worked from 12 to 5 I would get almost no work done, since I'd have to spend at least an hour of it in meetings, probably spread out since people have different schedules, overlapping meetings, etc.

I think this puts it well:

[Lanoraie II]

Id personally love it if they cut the working days in half. Adults need a life too. I don't want to waste every single day of my whole life behind a desk.....Half a day of work sound reasonable. That's not even coming from the super communist revolutionary deep within me, it just doesn't seem like half a day is asking too much. Plus that would also open a new shift, instead of just day shift and night shift. For instance businesses could also implement mid day shift from like 12 pm to 5pm.

That simply won't work in some industries.

If I worked from 12 to 5 I would get almost no work done, since I'd have to spend at least an hour of it in meetings, probably spread out since people have different schedules, overlapping meetings, etc.

I think this puts it well:

It might work if you rethink and change your idea of how work is supposed to be. Schedules can be changed. Certain aspects of your brain can be rewired. Longer work days are not inherently efficient, and often are the exact opposite, thanks to the parts of our brains we cannot rewire.

[Lanoraie II]

Id personally love it if they cut the working days in half. Adults need a life too. I don't want to waste every single day of my whole life behind a desk.....Half a day of work sound reasonable. That's not even coming from the super communist revolutionary deep within me, it just doesn't seem like half a day is asking too much. Plus that would also open a new shift, instead of just day shift and night shift. For instance businesses could also implement mid day shift from like 12 pm to 5pm.

Morning, Mid, and Night shifts already exist in the real world.

They rarely do where I live. Wider availability of either customizable shifts or a wider variety of shifts should be implemented. Around here pretty much the only night jobs you can get are at gas stations and 24 hour grocery stores. There's never any 20-24 hour dental clinics, urgent care, restaurants, etc. and it sucks. People who prefer working at night exist. I exist. And I'd like to have more options than my local gas station and shitty fast food available for 3am grub. I'm sure there's dentists who'd love to do late night shifts but can't because tradition or some bullshit like that.

[Esternial]

That simply won't work in some industries.

If I worked from 12 to 5 I would get almost no work done, since I'd have to spend at least an hour of it in meetings, probably spread out since people have different schedules, overlapping meetings, etc.

I think this puts it well:

It might work if you rethink and change your idea of how work is supposed to be. Schedules can be changed. Certain aspects of your brain can be rewired. Longer work days are not inherently efficient, and often are the exact opposite, thanks to the parts of our brains we cannot rewire.

I'm not saying it's the pinnacle of efficiency to have longer work days, but I'd prefer spending a bit longer at work so I can work and faff about with my colleagues a little bit rather than work 4 and be forced to focus 100% during those 4 hours.

People consider their free time so valuable but once they have it, so many just waste it watching a whole season of Masterchef.

[Cameroi]

as long as there's mandatory time and a half overtime for anything over 8 hours.
and a reliable and constant two consecutive days off every week,
then and only then is it ok.

depending on the nature of the work, there my be safety considerations.
driving or operating heavy equipment overtime should start at six hours.
(and serious jail time for any executive who orders more)

nothing wrong with working 12 hours or more, provided you get paid double time.
and some jobs, where there has to be someone there on duty at all times,
if a holiday falls during their normal work week should receive double time and a half.

this is why there are unions, but it should simply be the national law.

[Lanoraie II]

It might work if you rethink and change your idea of how work is supposed to be. Schedules can be changed. Certain aspects of your brain can be rewired. Longer work days are not inherently efficient, and often are the exact opposite, thanks to the parts of our brains we cannot rewire.

I'm not saying it's the pinnacle of efficiency to have longer work days, but I'd prefer spending a bit longer at work so I can work and faff about with my colleagues a little bit rather than work 4 and be forced to focus 100% during those 4 hours.

People consider their free time so valuable but once they have it, so many just waste it watching a whole season of Masterchef.

It's not wasting it if that's how they choose to spend it that way. It's their life.

I'm not saying it should be illegal to work more than 8 hours, but shifts and proper pay for people who don't want to or can't work that long should be widespread. Because it's not just a matter of I don't want to, I also physically cannot. I have autism and get extremely stressed out if I have to focus on something for more than 3 hours (sometimes, even just one hour without a 15-20 minute break, depending what it is). I put a lot of energy into whatever I'm doing, but that energy depletes quickly, and I can't half ass something unless I'm running out of energy. Burnout comes very quickly for me and it makes me depressed, agitated, and sometimes even suicidal if it's really bad.

[Nova Troia]

I think that we should return to how humans behaved during the middle ages up until electricity became widely used. Sleep at 4 hour intervals. that would create three 4 hour working periods through the day! After a few years people would re-adapt to this sleep cycle and we would become more productive a we'd never be tired from lack of sleep and we wouldn't complain about it getting dark out!

[Vetalia]

I sometimes find it amazing that despite the unbelievable increases in productivity as a result of technological advancement human beings work as much or more than ever...of course, I bet if we really drilled down we would see a lot of our time spent "working" today isn't really working in a lot of fields. I know for me there's a not-insignificant amount of time spent talking to coworkers, browsing online, etc.

Maybe the issue is that we focus on the hours worked rather than the output; if someone can get the expected work done in less time than expected, they should be rewarded for their efficiency by having to work fewer hours. The entire hourly wage concept is really in many ways a relic of the Industrial Revolution when piecework and repetitive factory labor were commonplace and the hours worked really did translate into total output. It's similar to the billable hour concept in my field; almost all of our work is fixed-fee, so the hours billed and the rate per hour are virtually meaningless except as a measure of efficiency and workload. If someone gets a job done in less time than is budgeted, we actually make more money than if someone took the entire budgeted amount of time to complete the task.

During busy season I'll work around 60 hours a week including Saturdays, so my average day is around 10-11 hours (excluding commute time) plus a half day on Saturday. On the upside, I get paid very well with a lot of vacation and the rest of the year is much more relaxed.

[Australian rePublic]

Flight attendants, by their nature, must work 8 hours +

[Telconi]

Flight attendants, by their nature, must work 8 hours +

Not really, there's no reason you can't have rotation of flight attendants, they so it with pilots.

[Australian rePublic]

Flight attendants, by their nature, must work 8 hours +

Not really, there's no reason you can't have rotation of flight attendants, they so it with pilots.

You're still in the sky, mate, and I bet you're not relaxing during rotation. I'm pretty they do rotate FAs during long flights, but they're still in the sky

[Senkaku]

Flight attendants, by their nature, must work 8 hours +

Not really, there's no reason you can't have rotation of flight attendants, they so it with pilots.

They do that on long haul flights w FAs too I believe (at least some airlines or routes), but it's silly from the perspective of the FA to be in the sky traveling for work and not getting paid for part of that time, and for the airline to be burning fuel to haul around deadweight that isn't helping out

[Telconi]

Not really, there's no reason you can't have rotation of flight attendants, they so it with pilots.

They do that on long haul flights w FAs too I believe (at least some airlines or routes), but it's silly from the perspective of the FA to be in the sky traveling for work and not getting paid for part of that time, and for the airline to be burning fuel to haul around deadweight that isn't helping out

IIRC flight crew is paid for the time spent on a flight without working. And no, it makes perfect sense to carry that "dead weight" because overworked and fatigued flight crews cause accidents, and accidents are a lot more expensive than an extra few hundred pounds of payload weight.

[Telconi]

Not really, there's no reason you can't have rotation of flight attendants, they so it with pilots.

You're still in the sky, mate, and I bet you're not relaxing during rotation. I'm pretty they do rotate FAs during long flights, but they're still in the sky

Well, sure, but they don't have work duties when rotated out.

[Trollgaard]

I'm not saying it's the pinnacle of efficiency to have longer work days, but I'd prefer spending a bit longer at work so I can work and faff about with my colleagues a little bit rather than work 4 and be forced to focus 100% during those 4 hours.

People consider their free time so valuable but once they have it, so many just waste it watching a whole season of Masterchef.

It's not wasting it if that's how they choose to spend it that way. It's their life.

I'm not saying it should be illegal to work more than 8 hours, but shifts and proper pay for people who don't want to or can't work that long should be widespread. Because it's not just a matter of I don't want to, I also physically cannot. I have autism and get extremely stressed out if I have to focus on something for more than 3 hours (sometimes, even just one hour without a 15-20 minute break, depending what it is). I put a lot of energy into whatever I'm doing, but that energy depletes quickly, and I can't half ass something unless I'm running out of energy. Burnout comes very quickly for me and it makes me depressed, agitated, and sometimes even suicidal if it's really bad.

Why should you be compensated the same, or more, than someone who can work a normal shift and be more productive throughout the day? Unless you are super productive and efficient in your 3-4 hours of work it seems ridiculous to expect the same compensation as someone else.

[Ethel mermania]

Morning, Mid, and Night shifts already exist in the real world.

They rarely do where I live. Wider availability of either customizable shifts or a wider variety of shifts should be implemented. Around here pretty much the only night jobs you can get are at gas stations and 24 hour grocery stores. There's never any 20-24 hour dental clinics, urgent care, restaurants, etc. and it sucks. People who prefer working at night exist. I exist. And I'd like to have more options than my local gas station and shitty fast food available for 3am grub. I'm sure there's dentists who'd love to do late night shifts but can't because tradition or some bullshit like that.

Move to a city that has 7/24 services. Plenty of night jobs

[Ifreann]

Not really, there's no reason you can't have rotation of flight attendants, they so it with pilots.

You're still in the sky, mate, and I bet you're not relaxing during rotation. I'm pretty they do rotate FAs during long flights, but they're still in the sky

There are flights that last less than 8 hours.

[Esternial]

I'm not saying it's the pinnacle of efficiency to have longer work days, but I'd prefer spending a bit longer at work so I can work and faff about with my colleagues a little bit rather than work 4 and be forced to focus 100% during those 4 hours.

People consider their free time so valuable but once they have it, so many just waste it watching a whole season of Masterchef.

It's not wasting it if that's how they choose to spend it that way. It's their life.

I'm not saying it should be illegal to work more than 8 hours, but shifts and proper pay for people who don't want to or can't work that long should be widespread. Because it's not just a matter of I don't want to, I also physically cannot. I have autism and get extremely stressed out if I have to focus on something for more than 3 hours (sometimes, even just one hour without a 15-20 minute break, depending what it is). I put a lot of energy into whatever I'm doing, but that energy depletes quickly, and I can't half ass something unless I'm running out of energy. Burnout comes very quickly for me and it makes me depressed, agitated, and sometimes even suicidal if it's really bad.

There's a difference between asking to be accommodated and just asking the world to fit itself to you. You're squarely in the latter with this statement.

No, it shouldn't be widespread. I'm positive there are companies that already accommodate for people with autism. Anyone here is free to correct me if I'm wrong, but plenty of companies don't time your breaks and plenty of companies provide calm environments for people with autism to focus without getting too stressed. One of my colleagues is autistic (and hypersensitive), and he is one of the best developers we have. He sits by himself on a different floor than us, sure, because it's quiet there. Nobody bothers him there. He can sit behind his desk and focus, and when he can't focus anymore, he takes a break or just does something else behind his desk.

I know not all industries *can* accommodate what I just described.

But hey, if you're saying you can do in half a day what someone else can do in a full workday, I don't see why you can't be paid equally. What you deliver is what counts, and I'm sure some industries already work like that. But, once again - not all industries can work with this kind of approach.

[New haven america]

It's not wasting it if that's how they choose to spend it that way. It's their life.

I'm not saying it should be illegal to work more than 8 hours, but shifts and proper pay for people who don't want to or can't work that long should be widespread. Because it's not just a matter of I don't want to, I also physically cannot. I have autism and get extremely stressed out if I have to focus on something for more than 3 hours (sometimes, even just one hour without a 15-20 minute break, depending what it is). I put a lot of energy into whatever I'm doing, but that energy depletes quickly, and I can't half ass something unless I'm running out of energy. Burnout comes very quickly for me and it makes me depressed, agitated, and sometimes even suicidal if it's really bad.

Why should you be compensated the same, or more, than someone who can work a normal shift and be more productive throughout the day? Unless you are super productive and efficient in your 3-4 hours of work it seems ridiculous to expect the same compensation as someone else.

And when people bring up this argument when it comes to management and CEO's, everyone screams "Communism!" and arguing about how people should totally be paid more for doing less work.

Hm...