We need 4 day 32 hour work weeks as the new standard, no loss in pay. Studies show 4/32 is equally productive as 5/40 with drastically lower burnout and turnover.
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I agree. We have so many tools for efficiency now where there is not need to keep Americans working so hard all the time. Also, if companies need more to cover more time and want to have more staff they could simply hire part time jobs which would allow for people to gain experience in a field while also creating more jobs.
I love the idea of a 32 hour work week.
We should not mandate that it be “four days” though --give employers and employees the flexibility to decide how to spread out the 32 hours.
As a mom, I would have loved working 6 hours a day, five days a week, and then getting early to let the babysitter go home/pick up the kids after school. An 8 hour day forces you to have a babysitter (or the grandma) do a ten hour shift, because you have to add in your travel time and lunch time.
I also do not agree to mandate “no loss in pay.”
32 hour week bills are still controversial; I have seen a federal one and a state one in CA proposed but they never made it past a committee for an actual floor vote. Many businesses oppose the idea because it increases their over-head costs, forces them to accommodate more employees and they obviously don’t want to pay 8 hours of nonwork. I would instead suggest either NOT replacing that pay, OR a small tax-funded UBI for everyone working part-time to make up for the loss of 8 hours pay. That would spread out the cost across all Americans, not just those businesses. In addition, a small UBI tied to part-time workers only would decentivize people from working a second job on top of their 32 hour weekly job.
This idea is not going to have a chance in a GOP trifecta.
I have also suggested similar ideas, coupling paid family leave with an option to request 8 hours unpaid intermittent time off weekly for certain FMLA-eligible employees only. My proposal is also likely too liberal for Trump, too, but hey just throwing this out there, because I truly believe in it:
Federal Paid Maternal Leave, Unpaid Intermittent leave & College flexibility
I am a mom of two, work full time, have a chronic illness that is exacerbated by stress, found out how bad the public schools have gotten (and I’m in a “good school district”) so I volunteered with other concerned parents to establish a microschool at my church, take care of my home, and still try to make time to be present with my kids and husband. How are the citizens of this country supposed to be involved in revitalizing America when we are all sick and overworked? I was able to get a reduced work week for about a year through FMLA and my health vastly improved, but my employer will not give me a reduced work week outside of FMLA. I’ll attach a meme about how overworked moms are but, instead of working 9-5, most of us are required to work 8-5 and tack on a daily commute.
