Pretty interesting comparison of work hours

[Seth]

Not quite sure what the point is, as societies advance I would hope people would work less and have more leisure time. If that isn't true that what is the point of progress at all

Life should be about maximising benefit while minimising the effort to get it (screw the protestant work ethic that's just for masochists).

In UK and most 1st world countries people work 8 hours out of 24, 5 days out of 7 , 45 weeks out of 52 and lets face it , its way too much

If you look into it carefully you'll find out that people LIKE to work, and in fact psychologically NEED to work, otherwise they tend to become dissatisfied, depressed and antisocial.

[cronus]

Not quite sure what the point is, as societies advance I would hope people would work less and have more leisure time. If that isn't true that what is the point of progress at all

Life should be about maximising benefit while minimising the effort to get it (screw the protestant work ethic that's just for masochists).

In UK and most 1st world countries people work 8 hours out of 24, 5 days out of 7 , 45 weeks out of 52 and lets face it , its way too much

If you look into it carefully you'll find out that people LIKE to work, and in fact psychologically NEED to work, otherwise they tend to become dissatisfied, depressed and antisocial.

Speak for yourself there Seth. I like to doze and eat and drink, maybe watch a bit of telly. Mostly doze though.

[MrJonno]

If you look into it carefully you'll find out that people LIKE to work, and in fact psychologically NEED to work, otherwise they tend to become dissatisfied, depressed and antisocial.

People like to have something useful to do but that's not the same as wanting to work long hours. If you told people they could work 20 hours a week tomorrow with 20 weeks paid holiday and get the same pay how many people would seriously say no 1 in 1000 , 1 in 10000?.

I know when I look for a job paid holidays, working hours (ie the lower the better), commuting time are every bit as important as salary. Interesting my manager refuses to employ anyone who said in an interview that their career/job was the most important thing in their life (even if single) as its just a way of saying you are either a liar or nightmare to work with

[Seth]

If you look into it carefully you'll find out that people LIKE to work, and in fact psychologically NEED to work, otherwise they tend to become dissatisfied, depressed and antisocial.

People like to have something useful to do but that's not the same as wanting to work long hours.

Strawman. I said people like to work, I didn't say anything about "long hours." My reply was against the silly notion that people prefer zero work to work.

If you told people they could work 20 hours a week tomorrow with 20 weeks paid holiday and get the same pay how many people would seriously say no 1 in 1000 , 1 in 10000?.

Dunno. But statistics tell us that the average worker who retires in his sixties lives only 7 years. On the other hand many people working into their 70s and 80 do so because they choose to do so.

For the corrosive effects of unemployment one need only look to Detroit. "Idle hands are the devil's playthings."

I know when I look for a job paid holidays, working hours (ie the lower the better), commuting time are every bit as important as salary. Interesting my manager refuses to employ anyone who said in an interview that their career/job was the most important thing in their life (even if single) as its just a way of saying you are either a liar or nightmare to work with

Of course they are, but you are posing a false dilemma. The comment I was responding to proposed a society in which nobody had to work because robots would do everything. My response is that people won't allow robots to do everything because they like to work, which is true.

If you want to discuss the balance between working and leisure hours, that's a different conversation entirely.

[MrJonno]

Not about people wanting to work there simply isnt going to be enough.

We already have the situation where the vast majority of jobs involve either a keyboard or a telephone jobs which simply arent suitable for people who don't have some sort of academic education. No job in any real numbers really uses any other manual skills. We don't need carpenters, house builders, factory workers and generally 'working class' jobs in enough numbers anymore. A service industry job requires you to be able to manage a few sentences without swearing that counts out a signficant % of the population on its own.

My local restuarant won't even consider anyone for a job as a waiter who doesn't either have a degree or was studying for one as to do the job you need to be numerate, literate and a reasonable grasp of technology (ie an EPOS till)

[Svartalf]

Only fools and horses....it ain't the hours you put in. If it was hours alone the Greeks would be wealthier than the Germans.

Which is why the French are more productive when it's Americans who tend to be workaholics?

Work hard, and party or practice farniente harder.

[Svartalf]

Does this analysis delve into quality of work done while "at work"?

In my experience, where the working culture drives people to start earlier and earlier, and finish later and later, the quality of work produce drops significantly, along with any corps d'esprit - which degrades the quality of cooperation and coordination in the workplace.

That's true for most people. Morale drops and people begin to hate their job and especially their bosses. Personally, I just liked all the money I was making and I was very good at my job. I had a contempt for my bosses because I thought they were incompetent, but that's about it.

Of course, many (most) jobs don't offer overtime for work outside core hours...

Try that here, and if you don't get a rebellion, you'll get what is paid for that overtime... as overall quality of the job provided by the employee.