I'm a member of the much maligned boomer generation. I was a highschooler before microwaves and personal computers. We were promised those things, also personal flying cars, because technology was going to bring us so many benefits. Well we got most of the things, tho not flying cars. But to many of us, much more importantly we were led to expect a shorter work week. I never needed more things; I wanted more time to enjoy my own life. It's time and past time for the 32 hour work week.
this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
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I'm gen x, was at school when the first personal computers were becoming a thing, they started a computing class and IT stuff as I was going through secondary. Was told how technology would free up time for us once we reached the work force. Haven't seen that, what I have seen is where there used to be an office of dozens, there is now a couple of people with computers and great software, producing the same output, the company kept all the benefit.
Our standard of living is pretty sweet though. For some that was similar to now but I feel like across the bar that's been lifted somewhat?
Seems a funny point we're at, feels like it's going backwards. people aren't affording their own homes anymore, renting seems to be more of thing, or the young guys in the office are getting help with deposits from family, carrying LOADS more debt than I had to at that age. Though I say that age, a good few of them are several years older than I was for buying my first house. There's several that have either reduced their planned family size or are currently holding off having kids as they can't afford to have any/ have anymore. Leasure activities, there's certainly a lot more choice, Internet, access to sports online or on TV, quality of TV shows and def quantity... I'd guess there's studies into this that are scientific over this circumstantial example though
It sure does feel like backwards recently, just the last couple of decades...
Not sure if that's just the boomers pulling up the ladder, presumably there's a lot more to it than that
Half of the crew works Mon-thurs Other half tues to fri Pay everyone for 40 and give them a raise Let’s sneak single payer healthcare in there too
Scotland has the NHS. So no sneaking required
How do 4 day work weeks work for healthcare employees? Drop to 32 hours? Still 40+ but overtime after 32?
Healthcare and similar industries that can't really complete more work in less time are interesting when we think about 4 day work weeks.
The same as every other industry, hire more people
But, that would lower profits. Profits can never be lowered. Profits can only go up.
There’s 8 billion people and counting on the planet. Something tells me they can hire more folks to make up the difference.
The education required for those jobs are made prohibitively expensive. We get worked from every angle .
I really wanted to be crass, crude and blunt but I can't.
My country in particular is an exporter of healthcare workers, thanks to a neverending cycle of bad management and low funding from and for the Health Ministry.
University tuition is less than €2000/year for medicine, nursing and physical therapy. Other healthcare related areas are even cheaper. The notion of university loans exists but it is a rare occurrence.
Edit: I got owned by myself; the yearly tuition is €697, payable in full or in ten instalments. That's affordable!
We are undergoing a shortage of labour due to the state not wanting to pay more, which is moving workers to private healthcare where they can work less for better pay.
There is no shortage of labour, there is a shortage of money flowing to those that actually work for it.
Holy hell that's ridiculous. Here in the states I have a friend who went into nursing and didn't qualify for grants so had to take out loans. She makes a good salary but ten years later it's still being eaten up by loan payments, of which she still owes over $10k USD
We invest in our population. We have one of the most educated population in the world. Downside is that the country is stuck in the 60's for some vital parts.
Overtime after 32 would be the best feasible solution, since they already tend to get overscheduled at 40+ and this would reward them even more for their extra time spent working.
The real solution would be increasing the number of healthcare workers so they did not need to work so much overtime, and setting a shorter expectation for them to exceed might push for that outcome.
If technology has freed up so much time overall, then the people overall should not have to work so many hours. Instead, capitalism has ensured that rather than more time, we have more things to buy so we must continue to work 40 hours or more a week.
Yeah, the possibility of working and getting paid extra for the extra day really exploits the way our brain works