Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Economy
In reply to the discussion: STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 28 March 2012 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)3. Why We Have to Go Back to a 40-Hour Work Week to Keep Our Sanity
http://www.alternet.org/story/154518/why_we_have_to_go_back_to_a_40-hour_work_week_to_keep_our_sanity?page=entire
40 HOURS WOULD BE A VACATION, FOR ME
One hundred fifty years of research proves that shorter work hours actually raise productivity and profits -- and overtime destroys them. So why do we still do this?
BECAUSE STUPID GREEDY BOSSES ARE GETTING SOMETHING FOR NOTHING, ESPECIALLY SALARIED SLAVES WHO AREN'T COVERED BY COLLECTIVE BARGAINING....
If youre lucky enough to have a job right now, youre probably doing everything possible to hold onto it. If the boss asks you to work 50 hours, you work 55. If she asks for 60, you give up weeknights and Saturdays, and work 65.
Odds are that youve been doing this for months, if not years, probably at the expense of your family life, your exercise routine, your diet, your stress levels, and your sanity. Youre burned out, tired, achy, and utterly forgotten by your spouse, kids and dog. But you push on anyway, because everybody knows that working crazy hours is what it takes to prove that youre passionate and productive and a team player the kind of person who might just have a chance to survive the next round of layoffs.
This is what work looks like now. Its been this way for so long that most American workers dont realize that for most of the 20th century, the broad consensus among American business leaders was that working people more than 40 hours a week was stupid, wasteful, dangerous, and expensive and the most telling sign of dangerously incompetent management to boot.
Its a heresy now (good luck convincing your boss of what Im about to say), but every hour you work over 40 hours a week is making you less effective and productive over both the short and the long haul. And it may sound weird, but its true: the single easiest, fastest thing your company can do to boost its output and profits -- starting right now, today -- is to get everybody off the 55-hour-a-week treadmill, and back onto a 40-hour footing.
SHE'S PREACHING TO THE CHOIR
40 HOURS WOULD BE A VACATION, FOR ME
One hundred fifty years of research proves that shorter work hours actually raise productivity and profits -- and overtime destroys them. So why do we still do this?
BECAUSE STUPID GREEDY BOSSES ARE GETTING SOMETHING FOR NOTHING, ESPECIALLY SALARIED SLAVES WHO AREN'T COVERED BY COLLECTIVE BARGAINING....
If youre lucky enough to have a job right now, youre probably doing everything possible to hold onto it. If the boss asks you to work 50 hours, you work 55. If she asks for 60, you give up weeknights and Saturdays, and work 65.
Odds are that youve been doing this for months, if not years, probably at the expense of your family life, your exercise routine, your diet, your stress levels, and your sanity. Youre burned out, tired, achy, and utterly forgotten by your spouse, kids and dog. But you push on anyway, because everybody knows that working crazy hours is what it takes to prove that youre passionate and productive and a team player the kind of person who might just have a chance to survive the next round of layoffs.
This is what work looks like now. Its been this way for so long that most American workers dont realize that for most of the 20th century, the broad consensus among American business leaders was that working people more than 40 hours a week was stupid, wasteful, dangerous, and expensive and the most telling sign of dangerously incompetent management to boot.
Its a heresy now (good luck convincing your boss of what Im about to say), but every hour you work over 40 hours a week is making you less effective and productive over both the short and the long haul. And it may sound weird, but its true: the single easiest, fastest thing your company can do to boost its output and profits -- starting right now, today -- is to get everybody off the 55-hour-a-week treadmill, and back onto a 40-hour footing.
SHE'S PREACHING TO THE CHOIR
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
72 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
The Farmers Are Beating The Hunters In The Stock Market {i don't know what this is}
xchrom
Mar 2012
#29
Dear Mr. Douthat: Forcing people into the clutches of vampire insurance is not "liberalism"
bread_and_roses
Mar 2012
#36
WaPo Annual Report Reveals Widespread Accreditation and Legal Problems at Kaplan University
Demeter
Mar 2012
#42
Based on his track record in "Partners in Health" and at WHO, he's an "enlightened world citizen"
FarCenter
Mar 2012
#56
Counted votes today on our Senior Council election today for our Low Income building.
kickysnana
Mar 2012
#70