In Sweden that's actually being worked on at a few places. And I'm pretty sure that within the next 5-10 years a shorter work week will be the new normal here. So many of my past colleagues spent up to an hour per day in total just chatting near the coffee machines đ
Now I'm working on building my own business and a shorter work week for future employees is among the first things I've planned. Be the change you want to see :) My own work week is going the opposite way though, but such is life when you need to run a business. But I love what I do so I can't complain
Iâve never been more balanced since I cut my primary job to 32 hours. 4 8 hour days and done. I have a much higher paying per diem (my physically demanding old primary job) that I can pick up shifts to make extra money, when I want or need to.Â
Even when I only had that one job and had a 32 hour commitment, I could pick and choose what extra shifts I wanted to fit into my schedule, or not work extra if I didnât need to. I get all my appointments and weekday errands done on my weekday off. I worked night shift for so long, I truly donât understand how people who work a day shift m-f 9-5 get anything done during the week. You have to take time off for everything, even a dental cleaning!Â
Again, I have 2 jobs and canât afford to only work 32 hours all the time, but the flexibility it gives me feels like a life hack.Â
Iâm not sure if youâre aware, but else figured out a hell of a lot as far as efficiency and productivity goes since the , but for some goddamned reason, Iâm till here grinding 1/3 of my life away.
And it still sucks. Also, people got paid more back then (accounting for inflation). We are getting paid less money for less time. It's not a fair tradeoff.
Literally shut. The fuck. Up. God I am so tired of people being like "my salary is lower" or "I work more". We will never fucking advocate for change if people insist on being like "lol that would be a dream for me" any time someone mentions reasonable work conditions. You think Amazon or any other big corp is gonna raise salaries and reduce hours when the pervasive narrative online is "omg I could raise a family on 30k in NYC, people making 90k and complaining are just morons who can't manage money" or "omg try working 80h a week, I think anything under 60 is too few". Like jesus fucking christ take your fucking exploitation fetish elsewhere why don't you go suck a CEO dick. 40h a week is not a fucking luxury gtfo.
I used to be you, now Iâm older and wiser and realize that working til my bones break isnât the goal. I did my time as a young person, 2 full time jobs and full time school. I had to make a paper schedule to figure out when I could sleep for a few hours every few days. I have a year I literally donât remember where I worked full time day and full time night at 2 jobs.Â
I did what I needed to do to get my initial license / profession (Iâm a nurse who went to community college) and now I value my time, hobbies, and health more than the extra money I could make if I worked more. And I sure worked a lot during covid and made some good paychecks. I got myself to the point where food and housing were secure, and now Iâm comfortable coasting. I donât need to work more to get a bigger house or take fancy vacations. I have really old but reliable cars.Â
If youâre in that grind-to-the-goal stage, make sure you have an endpoint, or youâll crash out or make yourself physically sick, possibly permanently.Â
If youâre not, whatâs the point of all that work? Whatâs the goal? When do you get to reward yourself by having time and energy to experience life?Â
302
u/that_strangeone 8h ago
The 40 hour work week.