32 Hour work week Bill reintroduced in Congress

[Johnny2X2X]

https://www.woodtv.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/32-hour-workweek-bill-reintroduced-in-congress-will-it-pass/

Long overdue, and industrial engineers already know the basis for this, that employers are already only getting 32 hours of work out of people, yet making them work 40 and paying them for it. People who work 32 hour work weeks are more profitable than people who work 40 hour work weeks over the long haul, this has been proven over and over. In most cases, 32 hour workers actually get more work done than 40 hour workers.

This obviously won't pass, but it helps move the conversation forward. These changes will come from businesses ultimately.

[bottomofthehill]

1. I fear the opposite

Employers will expect 40 hours of work and will only pay for 32.

[Johnny2X2X]

2. They're already only getting 32

That's the whole point, people don't get work done in those last 8 hours.

[uncle ray]

6. actual manufacturing engineer here, we plan for 70% operator efficiency.

[ripcord]

3. How many people could get by being paid for only 32 hours at the same pay rate?

[LT Barclay]

4. Most employers would rather pay overtime than hire more.

And they’ll reduce pay for that job, so for many workers not a lot will change until employees get their act together and unionize and until our culture values their health, families and communities more than kissing their boss’s backside.

[uncle ray]

7. they can make more because OT will kick in after 32 hours.

[ripcord]

8. Think how much people will lose if commpanies go to a straight 32 hour week

If someone making $20 an hour works a month, say exactly 4 weeks, they make $3200 a month gross. If the company switches to a 32 hour week and doesn't give overtime they will make $2560 losing $640 a month. And they can say they are doing it for the well being of their poor overworked employees.

[meadowlander]

11. They would be paid the same amount but would only work 32 hours -

the same amount that probably most people actually focus on their work at the moment.

It's funny because it's neurodiversity celebration week this week and I went to a series of workshops hosted by my employer reflecting on how to make our workplace more autism friendly. Some of the discussion was actually on this specific point.

All of the autistic people reflected on the fact that they felt guilty working at home if they weren't sat in front of their computer on task for exactly 7.5 hours a day. We identified the common experience of being a bit mystified to be considered "star employees" even when we had a few days where we found it hard to focus or had to lie down for a little to help us regulate sensory stuff. Even on days where we were only really able to put in 5 hours or so, we still seemed to be getting more done than our team leaders expected us to.

Because the reality is that most of our neurotypical colleagues spend hours a day just chatting about their pets, their kids, their last vacation, their home renovations, the weather, etc. And this gets passed off at networking when really it's just stuffing around and running down the clock for the day.

And most people think about work outside of their "working" hours. I have all of my best ideas while I'm doing the dishes or going for a walk or trying to fall asleep. But for some reason this doesn't count.

So for a lot of people, the number of hours isn't really that meaningful of a target. I wouldn't want to move to a project-based pay system because the tech industry has shown that's ripe for abuse, but I also think a 32 hour or 40 hour week is much of a muchness in terms of how much work most people are actually going to put in. It just reduces the number of hours people pointlessly sit around trying to look busy.

And people who can only focus for so many hours a day can stop feeling guilty about needing more rest time. The pace of work has intensified dramatically in the past 60 years along with huge gains in productivity but the number of hours hasn't reduced to reflect this.

[orangecrush]

5. BULLSHIT

Employers are always looking for ways to pay less for more work.

That's all this is.

Just like 12 hour staggered shifts to circumvent federal overtime laws.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. When we went from a 60 hour week to a 40 hour week

mostly in the 1930s, corporations screamed bloody murder that they'd lose productivity. To their surprise, the workers actually accomplished more in 40 hours than they had in 60. What a surprise.

The rare times I had an office job (most of my jobs were retail, with a long time as an airline ticket agent) I was astonished at how much time at the office was spent socializing, not actually working. I'd been used to working full out during my time on the job.

I read an article some years back, I think in the New York Times, about insane work hours. It pointed out several things. One was that the founders of various tech companies had zero life beyond the job, and assumed others should be the same way. The other, more revealing and depressing thing was that, when Apple was first developing the I-phone, people were working 100 hour weeks. The article said that had those workers done 40 hours a week, the phone probably would have come to market two years earlier.

While sometimes overtime is needed, and the deity knows I did more than my share at the airport, you need to rest up afterward. Getting enough rest is crucial, and I often attribute my obnoxiously good health to having mostly gotten enough sleep most of my life. Yeah, I was able to power through things like working until midnight because of delayed flights, and having to be back at work the next day at 6 am. Actually, that time I slept on a cot in our break room, and my friend Ollie who worked an overnight shift at a rental car counter woke me up with a cup of coffee, bless him.

[Yavin4]

10. As long as there are cell phones, there are no set working hours.

You had to be ready to work at a minute's notice 24/7. At least that was the case with my former profession.