Why is the work week 40 hours long?

Answer 1

People in general do it because it is part of the agreement that you make when you enter into an employment agreement with an employer. The 40 hour a week schedule is actually an improvement over the 16 hour days that some people worked long ago... laws were put in place to protect people a little from things like that.

I do it because I like my job and I don't have a social life to balance it with. But I do think that everyone's lives would be better if we all had more balanced lives and got more done in less time... which I feel like more people could, if they had the motivation of a little more time to themselves. Too many corporate cultures encourage loyalty to the company above all, including physical and emotional health... so if you stay 50 or 60 hours instead of 40 then you are more valuable... when actually you are probably just more burnt out.

Answer 2

The real reason for the forty-hour workweekThe ultimate tool for corporations to sustain a culture of this sort is to develop the 40-hour workweek as the normal lifestyle. Under these working conditions people have to build a life in the evenings and on

weekends. This arrangement makes us naturally more inclined to spend

heavily on entertainment and conveniences because our free time is so

scarce.

I've only been back at work for a few days, but already I'm noticing that the more wholesome activities are quickly dropping out of my life: walking, exercising, reading, meditating, and extra writing.

The one conspicuous similarity between these activities is that they cost little or no money, but they take time.

Suddenly I have a lot more money and a lot less time, which means I have a lot more in common with the typical working North American than I did a few months ago. While I was abroad I wouldn't have thought twice

about spending the day wandering through a national park or reading my

book on the beach for a few hours. Now that kind of stuff feels like

it's out of the question. Doing either one would take most of one of my

precious weekend days!

The last thing I want to do when I get home from work is exercise. It's also the last thing I want to do after dinner or before bed or as soon as I wake, and that's really all the time I have on a weekday.

This seems like a problem with a simple answer: work less so I'd have more free time. I've already proven to myself that I can live a fulfilling lifestyle with less than I make right now. Unfortunately,

this is close to impossible in my industry, and most others. You work

40-plus hours or you work zero. My clients and contractors are all

firmly entrenched in the standard-workday culture, so it isn't practical

to ask them not to ask anything of me after 1pm, even if I could

convince my employer not to.

The eight-hour workday developed during the industrial revolution in Britain in the 19th century, as a respite for factory workers who were being exploited with 14- or 16-hour workdays.

As technologies and methods advanced, workers in all industries became able to produce much more value in a shorter amount of time. You'd think this would lead to shorter workdays.

But the 8-hour workday is too profitable for big business, not because of the amount of work people get done in eight hours (the average office worker gets less than three hours of actual work done in 8

hours) but because it makes for such a purchase-happy public. Keeping

free time scarce means people pay a lot more for convenience,

gratification, and any other relief they can buy. It keeps them watching

television, and its commercials. It keeps them unambitious outside of

work.

We've been led into a culture that has been engineered to leave us tired, hungry for indulgence, willing to pay a lot for convenience and entertainment, and most importantly, vaguely dissatisfied with our lives

so that we continue wanting things we don't have. We buy so much

because it always seems like something is still missing.

Western economies, particularly that of the United States, have been built in a very calculated manner on gratification, addiction, and unnecessary spending. We spend to cheer ourselves up, to reward

ourselves, to celebrate, to fix problems, to elevate our status, and to

alleviate boredom.

Can you imagine what would happen if all of America stopped buying so much unnecessary fluff that doesn't add a lot of lasting value to our lives?

The economy would collapse and never recover.

All of America's well-publicized problems, including obesity, depression, pollution and corruption are what it costs to create and sustain a trillion-dollar economy. For the economy to be "healthy",

America has to remain unhealthy. Healthy, happy people don't feel like

they need much they don't already have, and that means they don't buy a

lot of junk, don't need to be entertained as much, and they don't end up

watching a lot of commercials.

The culture of the eight-hour workday is big business' most powerful tool for keeping people in this same dissatisfied state where the answer to every problem is to buy something.

You may have heard of Parkinson's Law. It is often used in reference to time usage: the more time you've been given to do something, the more time it will take you to do it. It's amazing how much you can get done

in twenty minutes if twenty minutes is all you have. But if you have all

afternoon, it would probably take way longer.

Most of us treat our money this way. The more we make, the more we spend. It's not that we suddenly need to buy more just because we make more, only that we can, so we do. In fact, it's quite difficult for us to avoid increasing our standard of living (or at least our rate of spending) every time we get a

raise.

I don't think it's necessary to shun the whole ugly system and go live in the woods, pretending to be a deaf-mute, as Holden Caulfield often fantasized. But we could certainly do well to understand what big

commerce really wants us to be. They've been working for decades to

create millions of ideal consumers, and they have succeeded. Unless

you're a real anomaly, your lifestyle has already been designed.

The perfect customer is dissatisfied but hopeful, uninterested in serious personal development, highly habituated to the television, working full-time, earning a fair amount, indulging during their free

time, and somehow just getting by.

Is this you?

Two weeks ago I would have said hell no, that's not me, but if all my weeks were like this one has been, that might be wishful thinking.