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Live-to-work America at its finest. I work 40+ hours not because I'm a busy bee but because the payrate won't let me keep up with the water line at 20hrs/wk. The problem is that most americans define their self-worth by the work they perform, and have little to nothing to show for outside work pursuits. If the point of toiling until you're physically broken is to that you can afford to do that which actually self-actualizes you and I was given the chance to self-actualize in lieu of being at work attempting to afford the money to buy the time to self-actualize, then I would gladly do the former.
The problem is that in america part-time work is automatically destitution. Jobs that give the employee the option of hours pay squat even at 40hrs/wk. On the other hand, above median wage jobs require 40hr/wk participation as a condition of employment. I would LOVE to have the freedom to pursue work where I could define what's important to me (TIME) and trade it without punitive consequences. That end is really what the OP was aiming at, and what will never happen in America. As to the 40hr/wk cheerleaders, I wouldn't find comfort in that number, 60 hour workweek is tomorrow's "40 hour worweek". Compliments of at-will employment and the service and consumer economy. If I could work 20 hours a week for an above median wage I'd give myself that paycut in a heartbeat!
Are people not allowed to show optimism in the doom and gloom forum?
You bet your butt it is easier! Work rolling in, stress level and blood pressure at all time lows, and hours more time with my family each day. Yeah.... it's an easier life... so far. Will it last forever? Who knows, but every entrepreneur starts somewhere.
I am with you Sporin!
I left the world of IBM as a fairly well paid IT guy, and it only took me a few weeks to realize it was the best change I have ever made. I am 8 years removed from the rat race, own a small business that keeps me and mine sheltered and fed, and control my own day. Best of luck with your venture and welcome to true liberation!
No Kencrawford I'm getting out of the punch clock rat race.We all cant be buisness owners and we all cant have our dream job.Unless working in a cubical, cleaning up crap and serving fast food are dream jobs for most of americans.And no most people do NOT like there work.I think its like 80+% dont enjoy ther job.Like I said before there are just not enough dream careers out there to satisfy 100+ million american workers.
Amen hindsight2000, thats exactly how I feel too.Its that puratin live to work mentality that I hate in this country.Bring on the Star Trek furture.No money and matter replicators.
No Kencrawford I'm getting out of the punch clock rat race.We all cant be buisness owners and we all cant have our dream job.Unless working in a cubical, cleaning up crap and serving fast food are dream jobs for most of americans.And no most people do NOT like there work.I think its like 80+% dont enjoy ther job.Like I said before there are just not enough dream careers out there to satisfy 100+ million american workers.
Again, the attitude of "we can't all be business owners" and "we can't all have our dream jobs" is the reason you're unhappy. If you think you're going to be a failure at anything you try, you will. If you think you'll be unhappy because you have to work, you will.
I've got absolutely NO sympathy for people that are held back by their own attitude.
A "dream job" doesn't mean you have to be a professional athlete or rock star. There are people that LOVE writing for the paper. There are people that LOVE selling cars. There are people that LOVE cooking. They've found ways to LOVE what they do.
If you can't, that's your problem. Lots of people really enjoy what they do. The "80% hate their job" garbage you posted is just something to try and make yourself feel better.
No sympathy, because your attitude is what's making you miserable. Not your job.
I think this would be a great way to increase productivity, decrease stress, improve quality of life, among many other things. We would have more time for family and to do chores, cook healthy meals, and just enjoy life more. I think this would be a much better idea than to let people retire at age 40, which there was a thread about not too long ago. HOWEVER, 21 hours just doesn't seem like enough to keep somebody busy, in my opinion we should start by going to 30 hours and then see how that works out. What do you guys think??
I think it sounds like a good idea for the working masses. Thus, the corporations will oppose it with all their might and it'll never happen.
I bet the people from 200 years ago that had to do everything for themselves and by hand would not complain in the slightest having to work only 40 hours a week. We are getting soft. Just sayin...
What if we tried to get jobs that we actually enjoy doing? I love my job and often find myself doing extra work in the same field on nights/weekends in addition to the 45 hrs/week I work in the office.
The idea of only working 21 hours/week sounds like torture. We are amusing ourselves to death in America...I don't know why people have this notion that work has to be a miserable thing.
I bet the people from 200 years ago that had to do everything for themselves and by hand would not complain in the slightest having to work only 40 hours a week. We are getting soft. Just sayin...
We've also grown a lot as a society since then. Now we have mass production, mass transit, a massive world population, and minorities and women now have access to jobs that would have been denied to them 200 years ago. We simply do not NEED to work 40 hours a week anymore. Most people just slack off when they're at work anyway. If we watched our employees more closely and rewarded/punished behaviors when appropriate, and reduced the work week, the theory is that the workforce would be more productive, people would take less sick days, etc. Also, improving our quality of life will create a smarter, healthier workforce. There are countless benefits to this!
IMO we need to start replacing unskilled labor jobs with robots/computers and move humans into offices, with shorter work weeks.
This idiot doesn't propose how to meet our bills on less money, talk about stress. If this moronic idea ever came about I'm sure employers everywhere would figure out how to cram even more work into less hours via that wonderful crock of zhit called "multi tasking". I'm sure that was brainstorm of the left wing brainiacs. These idiots must sit around and think of ways to screw peoples lives up even more. Don't they have anything better to do???
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