Evidence shows that longer work hours make us less productive, not more. The example of the Netherlands shows how shorter work time can be achieved without a reduction in productivity and in living standards. Longer work hours are also associated with poor health and higher mortality rates – we may be risking our lives by working longer.
WK Kellog – of cereals fame – improved productivity at his plant by operating a six-hour work day. The economic benefits from shorter work time stem from workers being more refreshed and focused at work. Six productive hours can yield the same output as a full eight-hour work day.
Epicureanism is about promoting a better quality of life. This includes a higher quality of work, about giving us more time to realise our creative potential in all kinds of activities, and about achieving a life that uplifts us, rather than leaves us exhausted and frustrated. Americans have less time off work than other nations, reflecting the power of corporations, whose bosses are notoriously fixated on the short term. We are only on this planet once! We should enjoy it.
These are some of the reasons why, despite huge technological advances and there hasn’t been a corresponding increase in leisure time: people are working as hard as ever:
Employer power: The decline of unions coupled with a more flexible labour market (meaning less job security) have granted employers more power to maintain work hours that suit their own economic interests.
Consumerism: Workers are swayed by mass advertising and sophisticated marketing to demand more goods and services which in turn requires that they work more.
Inequality: Workers are more likely to enter into competitive forms of consumption and to feel more pressure to work longer where levels of inequality are high. Evidence shows that countries with higher inequality tend to have longer work hours.
Household debt: The build-up of household debt, especially in the US and the UK, has put added pressure on workers to work longer.
Technology: Gadgets such as iPhones and laptops have meant that workers can be at work even when commuting to work or at home.
Taken together, these points indicate that legislation to reduce work time is essential. Employers don’t have the imagination to voluntarily reduce work time, and workers remain unable or unwilling to opt for shorter work time themselves.
(Based upon an article by Prof David Spencer, Prof of Economics and Political Economy, University of Leeds, but edited by me)
A new law in France prevents employees being required to read work emails out of office hours (6p.m). Sweden is experimenting with a six-hour work day for some public sector workers.
The French legislation challenges the prerogative of employers to require workers to be on call when not at work – it recognises that modern technology such as iPhones has extended work time, without additional pay, and seeks to protect and promote the “free time” of workers. The Swedish experiment challenges the norm of a 9-5 work day – it recognises the potential economic and social value of a shorter work day and is consistent with a broader movement to promote leisure time as a means to a higher standard of life.
But the two proposals are also relatively limited in scope. The French law only says that workers should not have to check their work emails after 6pm. There is a concern that workers could still feel pressurised to read emails out-of-hours and there is a question mark over whether the law will be enforceable in practice. The legislation also only covers a section of white collar workers, leaving the rest of the workforce unprotected. The Swedish experiment is limited only to public sector workers. There is no requirement on the private sector to experiment with shorter work time – the quest to deliver positive returns to shareholders is likely to mean that most private firms will continue with normal patterns of work time.
Americans talk a great deal about productivity; they talk less about effectiveness. It
won’t happen of course, but Epicureans can spit into the wind and advocate less hours working, more holidays and more actual productive work done.