“When the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was passed in 1938, it was heralded as a giant step in protecting the rights of American workers—guaranteeing financial compensation for time worked in excess of 40 hours a week. The “40-hour work week” was born, and the term “9-to-5” became synonymous with working “full time.”
Six decades later, the 40 hour work week has become a benchmark for corporations to build a platform for their work enviornment. What is the deal with working a set number of hours equating to full time work?
There is such a mentality in our culture today that anything less than 40 hours and your lazy and unproductive. Like my post yesterday, this keeps creative thinking and productivity in a box.
Living in an age where knowledge is increase faster than ever, our society still uses a platform 60 years old. How productive would you be if your time wasnt controlled? How much time is wasted with your commute and having to sit in an office just for the purpose of being seen? Unfortunately, in our culture, being seen by the boss is first and productivity is second.
What about working too much and not being compensated for it. More than likely what you lose will be alot more that what you gain. Kudos from the boss, but time missed with family and children. Is it really worth it?
Lee Ann Sandweiss from Indiana University says this, “An Expedia.com survey said that 63 percent of Americans work more than 40 hours a week, with some 40 percent exceeding the 50-hour a week mark. More than $21 billion dollars in vacation time goes unused annually (and back to employers!), as we spend 2.5 more weeks—and three months more—at work than do our Japanese and western European counterparts, respectively. “
Don’t be controlled. Be free.
Plan – Build – Live
I’ve gone from weary to angry. I feel like I’ve been duped my whole life concerning the 40 work week for the man, barely scrapin by. I remember my grandparents who had great jobs in the 50’s and 60’s. They may have worked 40 hours but they were paid very well, had tremendous benefits, huge pension, and longer vacations. This globalism thing with outsourcing, etc has really taken over in America. It’s partially my fault for not looking into this sooner but come on!
By: Angry on June 27, 2007
at 7:37 pm
The bottom line is this: If you are doing work you love, it won’t matter how much you work. You’ve blurred the lines between work and play. If you are doing work you hate, it won’t matter how much you work, you’ll still hate it. From an employers perspective, it shouldn’t freakin’ matter how much time a person sits at her desk. She can be as unproductive in a cubicle as she can be at home in front of the television. The issue is production. If you produce you should be paid more, if you don’t produce, you should be fired. The 40-hour work week is a socialist idea, started by labor unions (who are socialist organizations). What’s really funny is that the “entrepreneurs” who criticize socialism are the same ones who require 40-hour weeks, and do profit sharing through out the whole company! “We win as a team.” That’s hypocrisy at its finest.
By: CC on June 28, 2007
at 1:43 pm