4-day workweek in the U.S.: Impossible or inevitable? | About That
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has introduced a bill that would shorten the 40-hour, five-day workweek, to 32 hours over four days, while keeping pay the same. Andrew Chang explores why it would function differently for salaried workers and hourly workers, and why Sanders argues advancements in technology make a strong case for change.
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Forget about the US, I want a 4 day work week in Canada!!
Lots of places have it. My old work we did. 4x 10hr days = 40hr a week. Was nice having more days off
Get a job at a loblaws distribution center, not a grocery store but a distribution center. Most offer 4 day weeks to the laborers
@@FarmingGoneWild You are still working 40 hours. Lots of companies let you take the time off if you worked overtime, so that they dont have to pay overtime pay.
@@FarmingGoneWild some people particularly neurodivergent and disabled workers who want to and can work can only handle 4-6 hours of work a day.
@@rockshankar Any company will let you take time off if you were willing to, but when you work salary a lot of places will force you to take the time off when it is convenient for them to not be affected in the same pay period. You are right with the 40 hours, I don't think that everybody is understanding they are talking about a 32 hour 4 day week.
In Europe, it’s standard for people to work 32-35 hours a week. They are much happier, less stressed, and spend more time enjoying life. It hasn’t stopped their productivity. Why do we believe we must work 40 hours or the world will end?
They know it's better that way. It's more humane.
The US is stubborn will never change
The 40 hour work week has only been retained because our rulers know: • it keeps people exhausted, emotionally and physically • it keeps people isolated from their friends, families, and fun activities The goal is to keep people too tired, too confused, and too disorganized from burnout and isolation to where they cannot buck the system and replace it with something better. Because the current system is REALLY benefitting the rulers/owners. Not the rest of us. Definitely not our planet. Oh, and be sure to gaslight the cogs into believing this is “just the way it has to be” and “it’s not perfect, but it’s the best system we could ever possibly have”. 🙃
The problem is that employers believe that 40 hours of work a week mean 40 hours of ACTUAL work...
But studies have shown that's simply not a reality. There's large chunks of our days where we are simply not productive to the point where having us there isn't actually getting much done. The hard part is having the people who make decisions actually listen to people who know what they're talking about instead of just kissing up to them all the time.
Lol, they'll probably just want to cut ur hours.
@@Handlebrake2 This. We already have 30 hour full time in Alberta, so they just keep you constantly at 29 hours. You only get beyond 30 if they really, really, really like you. Which is technically grounds for discrimination, since they have to have a reason to not like you instead... and... well... that's basically grounds for discrimination.
Yeah, it took me a year to get my employers to realize that I need to actually stop and think for a second now and then, grab a quick drink, maybe a smoke, possibly a leak; and then be right back onto things right away again. We have 30 hour here in Alberta for Full time, so many just keep people at or below 30 hours depending on if they like them or not, etc and so forth. If you get beyond 30 hours a week in Alberta, you either work in a skeleton staffed location, or are working in some sort of heavy labor job where they work 60's a week normally anyways. Oh, and I should note, I am not including the specialized and/or experts in their specific careers, because their hours could be all over the place, or incredibly over burdening them, like with nurses and doctors.
I imagine it depends on the industry and type of job. For instance if you work in an Amazon warehouse I doubt they allow you to just sit around chatting. So you can't really have a universal law...as was pointed out in the video.
The 5 days work week was in the old days before automation and computers and AI. Now the world is different. 4 days a week makes sense
so does taking a 25% pay cut to be able to work a days.
Yes, but our living standards are higher than the 80's before computers were widespread productivity tools. We can all work less, but it requires us to have less stuff. There's no magic wand that'll make us have the same amount of stuff for less work.
@@kalebb7170 Ah, but millennials and gen z believe that there is a magic wand. Wait till they get the bill.
I have worked a 4 day work week for 3 years and it has changed my life, I have Friday to Sunday to relax and the week doesn't seem as long when I'm working 🎉
did you take a pay cut to work less hours?
Probably 4-10s
I do 4 x 10hrs myself, working from home. I would NEVER work 5 x 8hrs. It's just a HUGE waste of my precious time on this Earth.
Where do you guys work? I would LOVE to work from home only 4 days a week
@@FromDarknessToLight1218 A tool & equipment rental company based in Canada
I work a 4 day work week and it is glorious!!! I feel very lucky and hope it becomes the standard
It would have to be paid enough to work 4 days. I personally don't want to travel 2 hours a day plus work 10 hours at 48 years old while going through pre-menopause with hormone fluctuations and just more tired. Fine for people who are younger I guess but we should have a choice in the matter. The 4 days working 10 hours means you work, go home and sleep and do nothing else in the morning.
Give yourself a pat on the back
This reminds me of my first job in fast food as a teenager where I refused to do a task my manager asked...over the next 3 months my hours gradually reduced until I came in one day only to find myself off the schedule entirely. Quiet firing LOL.
It should have been like that a long time ago as a standard. Once women started to work full time - guess that would have been in the 70's, the standard weekly hours should have been reduced in general.
@@user-wg2vw3mz1v that's your fault. If I was the manager, I would have done the same thing. You don't get to choose what you do at work (unless it's illegal). Maybe you'll share with us what is it you refused to do.
it's sad to see Canada always looking at events in the US and being its follower rather than being a leader and making its own decisions.
we do lead with some things; cannabis legalisation, carbon tax, etc
Just watch Shark Tank Then watch Dragons Den Canadian show is knot very leading edge
@@i-am-art 😢 very tragic
@@i-am-artHealthcare? 🤨
It'll happen in the US WAY before Canada. Why? Because Canada's economy is much more labour and much less skilled labour. 4 day work weeks only work for "desk jobs", not physical labour. Half the people in Canada worth their salt with high level degrees end up moving to the US because of the lack of technological innovation and investment. Fix that first, then maybe Canada will get a 4 day work week.
Workers make the world run. Workers should run the world.
Yet workers are more like slaves to corporations nowadays.
@@Eusantdac A slave can't leave their workplace at their own will. The whole "slave" comparison is ridiculous
Start a business and run the world then. Every single worker has that opportunity if they so choose
Workers in charge was tried. It failed miserably. It has a name: communism.
@@albundy9706A slave can flee. The only power an employee has in the workplace is to flee and be replaced by another pawn. If the only say a citizen has over its government is to "quit", it's called a dictatorship.
People are exhausted today and their brain doesn’t function as fast as someone who hasn’t been over worked and underpaid for years. The output would stay the same because people can quickly finish the work and go enjoy their life and have enough energy to reset and restart the next week
That's a load of horse crap. "people" these days are just lazy and don't want to work.
This workweek reduction reminds me of my first job in fast food as a teenager where I refused to do a task my manager asked...over the next 3 months my hours gradually reduced until I came in one day only to find myself off the schedule entirely. Quiet firing LOL.
@@user-wg2vw3mz1v That wasn't very smart of you.
Exactly 💯
No, people are just lazy and have no work ethic today.
Who decided that it was a good idea for healthcare workers to work such long shifts in the first place? How can anyone be expected to be on top of their game for 12 hours straight? We need to reconsider a lot of things for everyone’s sake.
Heathcare have long hours because it is takes alot of work and time to get into the field and the job is very stressful so not many people go into it but you need hospitaks and ER open 24/7 so that adds up to long hours for small amount of workers, long hours are not a choice it us a necessity
@TeaJay83 Instead of having 2, 12 hour shifts with massive burnout, have 3,8 hour shifts.
@@TeaJay83 so the issues is the job is stressful and the current solution is to make them work stresfull 12hrs shifts? Ya that doesn't make a lick of sense. Instead of 3x12 shifts go to 4x8 and catch your breath.
@grimmx did you not read what i said the medical proffession such as nurses is very understaffed this not enough people to spread out fir shorter shifts you need people to feel those extra shifts
Greetings from Germany. What is wrong with paying nurses and doctors a bonus pay for doing long days? Health insurance companies make huge profits, so shouldn't nurses and doctors get extra money? The economy benefits too from shorter working weeks. I get 6 weeks of paid leave a year. During annual leave, my friends and I go abroad or do a course or DIY Projects. We spend a lot of money during annual leave. And just because overtime is not recorded, does not mean it is not being done. It is just often accepted that to keep the client happy, a few extra hours is okay. I work with people based in the USA. It always amazes me how many people are employed in the US to do the same job that one person in my firm does. Annual leave, paid health insurance, and workers' rights make us SUPER happy and work harder than ever. However, often salaries in Europe are a lot less than salaries in the US and Canada.
more pay doesnt attract more qualified people. Used to train nurses. most burn out in 2 yrs or less because they thought it was a cushy job. heck just the teaching is a disaster. practical is pass or fail and an inch thick binder of documentation if you want to fail them. they are just $$$$$ being passed thru the system. the doctors ignore and outright blackmail the college of physicians.
China, on the other hand, is watching Andrew Chang talking about 4 days of work/week and thinking he lost his Chinese DNA.
@@ayhay4686lol really?
@@ayhay4686😂
the problem is there are not enough doctors due to feminism.
Productivity is the same with reduced working hours because people aren't burnt out, tired, dragging their feet, making mistakes, getting injured, getting sick.... All of this costs time and money. 4 x 8 is more efficient because workers are rested, alert, less stressed and less distracted. I've worked everywhere from the production floor of metal manufacturing to the engineering department and this rule applies everywhere
Why would a company pay someone to not work that is what your asking 40hr pay for only 32hrs of work, so the company is wasting money paying every employee 8hrs of no work
other countries have several weeks off for vacations not just 2-3, and hr or more for lunches...its not new. ppl are more productive didn't watch huh.@@TeaJay83
There's also the fact that if you're working 4 days instead of 5 and don't hate you're job, you're going to be working harder to finish whatever work you have for the week. If employers are smart and stager this work across 2 groups of workers, you've got people working harder all week long and have probably doubled or tripled productivity.
I want it now! An extra day off is wonderful 😊
This reminds me of my first job in fast food as a teenager where I refused to do a task my manager asked...over the next 3 months my hours gradually reduced until I came in one day only to find myself off the schedule entirely. Quiet firing LOL.
I am working 5 days a week for 40 hrs and then working on Saturday I can't even afford a New car my boss and the ones on top getting richer
How much do you make a month?
So get a better job.
For each pawn who works without getting a dollar, a boss is getting a dollar he haven't worked for "
Are you able to take your skills and start your own business? You would likely get paid a lot more. Just need to figure out how to maintain healthcare and stuff.
We did this 30 years ago in the Sheet Metal Workers union. We had a 36 hour work week so we worked 4 8’s and 1 4 hour on Fridays. In the summer we would often work 4 9 hours days. It was awesome!
We have been working more and more for less pay. Our wages don’t cover the basics costs of living so yeah 4 days makes more sense. The tax code needs to get updated as we are paying too much taxes and nothing is given in return as everything has been mismanaged.
5-day work week is a produce of Henry Ford, it didn't exist before him.
Well.. it was a demand of the labor movement
4-day work week? I used to work 7 days a week :/ Sanders is one of the few politicians For The People :)
This reduced workweek reminds me of my first job in fast food as a teenager where I refused to do a task my manager asked...over the next 3 months my hours gradually reduced until I came in one day only to find myself off the schedule entirely. Quiet firing LOL.
no he's a sell out
😂
It's about time to have it reduced as a standard. It's long overdue but they kept talking about it for years and years. I do believe that the long hours causes stress, this includes the commute.
Murica-all talk, lies and no action.
Almost 100 years since first proposed
Been on a 4-10 hour work week for just over a year now, honestly can say I will never look back!
I want 4 10s. Gives me more time at work. My favorite days are 12hr days because my last 4hr I get a full days work done because no one is xalling me for technical support, meetings, paperwork, saves time with cleanup and bringing all of my tools back in every day...
@@Bradiant I find its a good happy medium, more work can be fit into your day. With 12hr shifts you are adding an extra meal break into your shift which sure is nice, but you are losing that 30 min work time. Whatever you are unable to complete within your 10hr can always be completed during the next shift. It's important to have that work life balance - Plus the 3 day weekends are always the best!
That wouldn't be so bad if my commute didn't average 5 hours round trip each day
Currently some employeers expect 50-62 hours/week in 4 or 5 shifts while others refuse to hire FT employees or guarantee more than 20 h/week but have a wide open day so the shifts can be scheduled willy-nilly. This plan only somewhat works for salaried employees who work 9-5 and can leave the workplace office for haircuts, lunch breaks and sanity drives.
Health care workers would love to only have to work 4x8hr days/week instead of being forced to do 12 hours shift especially at night. They wouldn’t have to be paid OT past the 8 hours since a 12 hours day schedule would obviously be terminated which is a good thing.
Exactly. It is painful listening to these politicians who have never worked a night shift or 12-hour shift in their life say that reducing hours for people who give drugs and operate is a bad thing. I want a well-rested nurse and doctor. Healthcare workers have always been overworked and that needs to change.
This is a serious question. Where are the hundreds if not thousands of nurses coming from to fill the rest of the positions? Weve had a shortage for what? A decade as it is and then they fired a good number due to mandates. I hope they left the country and went somewhere that respects them. The nurses I know do OT regularly and cutting them from 12hr to 8hr will result in just that, no OT, so every week you're shorter several hundreds of dollars. The math doesn't add up.
@Bradiant there are nurses out there who aren't working as nurses, in part due to understaffing and extremely long hours. Also, nurses are treated very badly, have far too many patients, and don't get nearly enough money for the work they do. Change these things, and you won't have a problem finding nurses willing to work for you
First I think we need to address the issue of actually enforcing the 40-hour work week. Employers in our country love to take on newly immigrated citizens from countries who are used to working 60 to 100 hours a week.. working overtime, which is a maximum of I think 60 hours is just fantastic in comparison. Once we fix that problem, then I think we'll be able to move forward with things that Europe has been very successful with. We're just behind Europe in a few ways, but they're also behind in a few ways also.
It is nice to know Canadians have 40 hours of work per week also.
A 32 hour workweek goes well beyond the economics! It gives the worker more freedom to learn new skills, go to school, volunteer, visit elderly or dying friends & family, as well as have more personal time for errands, voting, taxes, car maintenance, and self-care. Employers are having a hard time keeping staff currently because the younger generations have checked-out of the economy or left the country entirely. When the internet was new, they said that we would work fewer hours due to productivity gains, but those gains ONLY benefited the companies with no reduction in time nor increase in wages. THIS NEEDS TO PASS!!!!
It's been proven over and over again that a 4 day work week results in increased productivity. It makes no sense that this hasn't caught on yet...it's like this in European countries and they aren't falling apart.
If it was actually better for businesses, it would not have to pushed onto them by government. Businesses would adopt it voluntarily. The 4 day work week would only work for government employees where low productivity will never cause their place of work to go bankrupt.
The issue with the companies that are implementing a 4 day work week here is that they are changing it 4 days 10 hour shifts, so it isn't really achieving the intent of the 4 day work week at all. But also, how can we address the paid vacation problem in Canada? Other countries in Europe getting minimum 4-6 weeks, sometimes more, and all we get is 2 weeks? It's a joke. Unfortunately, Canada won't do anything until the US does.
I wonder if it's easier to set up 4 10s and then start clawing that back to 4 8s, rather than trying to claw back 5 8s to 4 8s. You are correct in saying it's not achieving the intent, but does it get closer to it?
Need to also mandate that hourly wages rise to match the salaried gains, 25%. Change part time to be 16 hours a week or less. Thus companies can't reduce everyone to be part time without doubling their staff. Transit and health care workers deserve better compensation for these long workdays. Companies have been underpaying employees since before the Regan administration.
Productivity is important, so 4 day is superb for employees
This reminds me of my first job in fast food as a teenager where I refused to do a task my manager asked...over the next 3 months my hours gradually reduced until I came in one day only to find myself off the schedule entirely. Quiet firing LOL.
What was the task? When I worked in the FF world, one day the boss was in the back on his knees scooping grease out of the grease trap. What a disgusting job. He asked me to help. I was ok with that. While he was doing this job, I wondered why didn't he just get someone else to do it. He said that he would never ask anyone to do a job he wasn't willing to do himself. Over 40 years later I still remember that!
That's a good manager there
I can tell you I do about 20-30. Hours a week. The idea that small businesses will fail just unmasks a failing business.
Correction: Everybody wants more pay with fewer hours.
Precisely, we work to live, not live to work
Thank god Im born disabled so I dont have to work. The 5 day work week is a nightmare hell.
I really hope this happens, .... like my goodness one more addittional day just to re-center myself
1st day, maintaining, 2nd day drinking, 3rd day church. 😅
I work a 4 day work week in the gta and l do 4-10 hour shifts with Fridays off I don’t need less hours… I have a whole extra day of weekend, most of the time by Monday, I’m almost looking forward to it!
My brother has been working 32 hours for 8 years now and the company is still standing. Is not hard to have it to 32 hours a week. Also we can have different work days just like now. Jose works Monday - Thursday Carlos works Wednesday- Saturday Karla works Friday- Monday So on! Plenty of jobs work like that now and are open all week. Also for desk jobs just have it close on Fridays - Sunday. People will take less days off because they’ll have that extra day. My brother has 3 days off each week and takes smaller vacations more often.
I worked a 4 day workweek that was 10 hrs a day. It was excellent having the 3 day break.
Same. Currently though, I'm on alternating 5 then 4 day work weeks of 9.5 hour shifts. Somehow it feels so much worse for eating up my time and energy.
How about 32 hours or 40 hours, your choice? If you choose 32 hours, you get paid for 32 hours, not paid for 40 hours. And, overtime still only applies after you work 40 hours. So, you can work 32 hours without getting penalized for it (such as taking away from your vacation time).
I am seeing 4-day 32 32-hour week jobs advertised for US remote IT jobs. The job is being advertised in both the US and Canada.
That's the trick. You need to first be a *skilled* worker, not just a laborer, to even begin thinking about a 4 day work week. And then you need technological investment so there's actually companies to hire you. Canada lacks both.
I stead of nurses working 12 hour shifts and being super exhausted, why not change the work week to 4 days a week with 8 hour shifts like the proposal is indicating.
Any company running 12 hour shifts would have to hire a ton of people and then who works the nights??
This is great.
We need this change globally
Thank you.
Also why not just have full time be 32 hours period. And hire more people. In return we will see more people working and probably the economy will be better with people spending. Just have the nurse work 8 hours and not 12 hours. Then hire more. Companies that have been doing this 4 day work week are still doing fine. And have employees that want to stay working there
I already have a 40 hour - 4 day workweek. I love it
Now imagine a 32 hour- 4 day work week.
@@plow76idc what these people say, reducing hours worked would mean they have to pay me a HUGE increase to stay even. I'm looking forward to that $9 an hour raise which is the equivalent to me only working 32hr a week. We all know we are not going to get a 1/5th increase in pay to account for the decrease in hours. My company is being robbed by us as it is giving us over 60% of what they charge customers and we want another day off lol. They'll retaliate if there is reduction in production. You'll see a reduction in pay if the statistics don't pan out.
40 hours in 4 days?! That is very stressful.
@@frostflower5555 10 hour day? not really...there is a lot of doing nothing in my job. Super low stress. I'm the carpenter/maintenance guy at a ski resort. So there is lots of skiing, riding snowmobiles, driving to town. Pretty much stuff I would do if i wasn't working...so its not really work to me most of the time.
The only time I wanted to work so much, was when I landed a prestigious Project Manager job and I got to be around thoughtful and kind corporate (educated also) executives and like minded peers. I loved my job, because it didn't feel like work, the pay was better than my previous job and I was at the top so the environment was constructive if in reality they had a chance to get more from life. On the flip side, I became very demotivated, when my job status was lowered along with the money and the amount of drudge work increased. I also got into an intimate relationship which shifted my work balance, because I wanted to spend more time with that person as well as my friends and family having fun and forgetting about the tragedy of my work condition.
Dear Dr. Vittert. The rich are already getting richer, and the poor already need to take on 3 jobs to pay their bills. A 12 hour shift SHOULD be 4 hours of overtime. We do NOT want nurses working to exhaustion and making fatal mistakes. We want them to be more productive and more attentive.
One thing that I'm shocked I'm not hearing is the savings from less on the job injury. It's been a long time since I've seen charts but it's my memory of it that down productivity and on the job injury happened together or at least there's a pattern. The first 45 minutes is low productivity then on the 5th and 6th hour typically after lunch productivity goes lower than it did the first 45 minutes of the day. Injuries happen within the first 45 minutes and the last 2 hours of the shift after lunch. It makes sense if you hate your job you dread coming to work so your first 45 minutes you just adjusting and after lunch you're ready to go home and full of food sleepy exhausted and injury prone.
I'll even easily take 10 hour work day 4 days per week!
It would be great if our pay didn't decrease but l work in retail and many of retailers companies l to work for have to be open 6 or 7 days a week
they are very eloquent but when it comes to the actual actions, it gets stuck. Let them manage a wealth tax first.
exactly right, because gross inequality is only getting worse, and the greedy rich are not paying their fair share
@@techcafe0 The top 10% earners pay 80% of tax revenue. "Fair" share would be a flat tax
Sam Altman has said that we will have AGI by the end of this decade. To me, this says only three lawmakers in the US see the writing on the wall.
Don’t most workplaces in the US and Canada give too much work and employees need to work overtime to get the work done otherwise they get punished. All without overtime pay.
we, the people, want 4 day work week! You elected officials figure it out! It's not that hard, hire more people, admit more medical students, subsidize small businesses who can't afford it! The world is dynamic, if we let status quo hold us back, we wouldn't have all any improvement of our living standards!
Even if we assume there will be a decrease in productivity, so what? I'm sure the 40 hour workweek reduced productivity too, but man it made us so much happier and healthier. It's absolutely worth the tradeoff. The increase in productivity created by computers should give us more free time, but greedy companies will never give it to us unless we force them.
Construction workers in nova scotia have to work 110hrs in 2 weeks 55hrs every week before we even see any overtime
I think B.Sanders point about technological innovation benefiting only the employers is the real issue. Plus, no one can doubt that one private sector worker IS doing the job of 3 or 4 people. When someone retires, that job is *never* filled. If someone goes on sick leave, that job is never back-filled. Employers have less people on their payroll than they did in 1950 or in 1990. We all need to start voting for people (in USA and in Canada) who will make this policy a reality.
Imagine the SAVINGS from Canadians. Less gas. Less wasted food as you have more time to cook. More time to fix and care for your house and home, your clothes and car. More time spent with your family, friends, neighbours. Less people are lonely. Our hospitals and doctors offices are full of people who are LONELY.
Bernie Sanders is a true working class hero. 🫡
Uncle Bernie is delusional
completely delusional
It would be amazing if government implement that. I would be very very happy. Instead of government paying so much in Healthcare department, they should be making way easier at work place inside and out. Happy at work place, happy at home 😊😊😊😊😊
This should have been done a decade ago...
I don’t wanna work 10 hour days, they are only doing this so we spend more money on our days off
I work the typical 5 day/ 40 hour work week. It's gruelling since I don't sit on my butt all day and always feel like the recovery days I'm spending, well, recovering, leaving me too exhausted and uninspired to find another source of income. This is obviously headed towards a very grim future where retirement itself becomes an uncertainty. People in far more enviable positions than I are projecting a retirement-absent future where working just to survive is their fate.
Guys never say impossible, people thought flying was gonna be impossible. Now we have planes 🛩️.
I worked a four day work week for about a year… my goodness i loved it. That extra day was heaven. I couldn’t wait to go back to work lol it made a huge difference in my mood. I didn’t dread going to work. I went to work and was like damn only 3 more day of work after this hahah. Its amazing
In the 1930s the Senate passed a 30 hour work week bill. In the 60s the government was predicting we'd be working 16 hours a week. 😭😭😭 I'll gladly take 32 but I'd much rather work half that.
Software Engineers (and many other professionals I suspect) know that it doesn't matter how long the work week is when you're paid based on delivery of results instead of "being present"... 🤣 If something takes 100 hours to finish, and it is due next week, and you've got 2 people with the skill set to deliver, well - both are working 50 or one is working 32 and the other is working 68 ... Either way, the total effort remains (or it just isn't getting done on time)...
US or Canada is not really that progressive. Employers are un-necessarily requesting office workers to come back to the office to retain and increase oversight although workers are obviously just working "smart" spending more time on anything but actual work. So, 4 hour work weeks maybe possible if a new company and its founders are more people centric rather than greedy and only chasing capital.
40x52= 2,080hr x 20 = 41,600 32x52= 1,664 x 20 = 33,280 Difference of 8,320… to make the same employers would have to pay 25hr x 1664 = 41,600
Who cares about employers, they are more profitable then ever. People were not meant to flip burgers for 40 hours. No one looks back on their lives and says I’m glad I worked so hard and didn’t spend time with my family. Europeans have been working 32-35 hour weeks for decades and I can tell you they are way more happier and less stressed than we are.
This will be better there will be more hiring opportunities!
Coming up next! Reporter: "The people can't afford to live off of what we make working 40 hours a week!" Trudeau: "That's why we'll give them 8 hours a week off for the same pay..." Reporter: "But that doesn't do anything to help them survive?" Trudeau: "That extra 8 hours can now be used to get another 32 hour a week job..." Reporter: "Wait! What? Never mind. Will you a least stop raising taxes and creating new ones?" Trudeau: "In actuality, those are going to keep going up. In fact another one is coming for those with dual income as we see this opening up another opportunity for revenue that only myself and my close friends or colleagues will see." Reporter: "That's kind of messed up, but sadly expected. Anyways. Can you do something... anything... too relieve inflation to make it worthwhile for those working two or three jobs?" Trudeau: "I've pondered about that during my many lavish vacations, like the average everyday Canadian would do. Unfortunately I don't see the value in it." Reporter: "I'm sorry. Everyday what now?!" Trudeau: "Our government stands behind and will continue to protect the LGBTQI2S+, indigenous and immigrant communities while fighting against the war of misinformation and hatred." Reporter: "Sir, that has absolutely nothing to do with what we're discussing here." Trudeau: "I won't be entertaining any far right ideology here. Our interview is done."
We are working more for less every year and it isn't working but companies don't care because the decision makers are not affected. THEY are the ones making more money.
Never believe the company has any interest in your well being. They don't. They only care about the bottom line.
The corporate greed will never allow the working class to have any concessions other then misery and slavery!
If this was mandatory, companies would simply restructure loyal workers out the door and hire new employees at a lower salary to make up the difference in cost.
Alot of companies already do this mostly to hurt their workers. It's called avoiding paying benefits
The first place AI should be implemented is government spending. The mismanagement is so bad that taxes are 4 times higher than they need to be.
This absolutely needs to be done. As AI becomes more and more prevalent, there will be less and less hours worked, and the robots with AI will do the rest. There WILL be UBI, or millions will starve. This whole situation is a stop-gap toward what will happen anyway.
Four day work week? LOL In three to five years if you work in an office (like our reporter here) you can and will be replaced with about $5000 worth of hardware. Compare that to your salary and especially to the $250,000 barista robot.
And if you work in a factory, you're probably being replaced right now
And who pays for this? Businesses will pass the cost along to the consumer.
Wow... this sounds too good to be true !!!
We can’t even get a national disability labour law into place, and I would shudder to think how this would affect disabled Canadians that may already struggle to hold any type of job due to the strict hours. A lot needs to change to be ready for this adaptation, including better worker representation and unions.
This doesn't work for every industry I think. Provide guidelines and recommendations, but leave it up to the company to implement. And over time, people will naturally migrate
Twelve-hour shifts for nurses (especially nights) is far too long and errors can be more frequent after the 8-hour mark. There's not much time to sleep and spend with family before having to be back to work. Nothing wrong with hiring them for 8 hours on a four-day rotation.
You just know this will only take effect if the corporations are on board with it. If not, the politicians wont be either.
They are wasting resources on this non-starter bill, when they should be dealing with a real issue in the US of paid maternity leave, which is a disgrace.
When we first proposed the 40 hour work week, people fearmongered about economic downturn and lost productivity, but it was fine because we had so much automation. Now we have computers doing so much automatically, but people still think we can't go down to 32 hours.
Salaried employees in the US are force to spend working more than 40 hours a week but only get paid for 40 hours. This basically would actually bring down the time to actual 40 hours a week (still working more than most European employees).
I agree that 4 days work-week for company, it only employees could work more effective as they usually work as 5 days. But that also means retails need to balance to change their business style. Less people walking in area of business, that means more requests from residents communities.
Would only work for certain industries, and be devastating to others. Especially with severe shortage of workforce in sectors like health care, where u are struggling to even find people to work to stay open, or in rural areas that are losing people left and right. Emergency rooms are literally closing due to lack of workers there, and with shorter work days in these situations, it can only exacerbate this problem.
Why is there a shortage of workers in healthcare? Is it because it's terrible and burns people out? Is it because nobody wants to stay in the job? Is it because, at least in Alberta, we spent decades destroying the healthcare system but underfunding it and privatizing everything for a quick buck? Are ERs struggling because the Alberta government spent the entire pandemic fighting with doctors to the point where they just quit and left? There is far more going on here, and if those problems are addressed, maybe this wouldn't be such a struggle.
AMERICAN COMPANIES MORE GREEDY!!CEOs want to make MILLIONS AND BILLIONS!!!
It’s great work life balance
Video starts at 5:00. (You're welcome.) Yes, this video should have started at that point. Not sure why a generally competent national tv network can't cut the chaff and give us more substance.
We need this here now. Why does America do all these balsy changes but Canada does nothing for 40 years.
As an employer I think you need to go home, it's time to take your meds.
Some construction trades still do 4-days 9-hours mon thursday 36 a week, literally every weekends a long weekend
It really depends on the type of work. But in the end, people with time start looking after what matters. I’ll bet that bottom tier workers, eg retail or hospitality will just keep working 3 jobs, never getting ahead, etc.
I work 6 days and about 70 hours a week. I only do that for about 7.5 months of the year because i am in road construction and in Canada thats all we get here. All other construction companies work long hours to complete their contracts before seasons end. Operating heavy equipment takes experience so having 2 experienced operators to do one job wouldn't work. The other major problem is finding enough people to do this kind of work and keeping them the whole season. My company is constantly looking for people during the work season,many quit a month in. You also need a car because sometimes you move around to different jobs and bus service might not be close to the work site. Then we have the 1.2 million immigrants who don't speak english coming in every year,what do you do with them. Far more workers than there is work. So canadian workers taxes go way up,i already pay $1500.00 per paycheck in taxes. I make enough to look after myself but with reduced hours i would be homeless for sure. With the cost of living going way up i need those extra hours to survive the year. I'm 66 and likely will never retire even tho i get 2 pensions totalling a whopping $1750.00 a month and i have saved a fair amount of money which would be gone in 8 years if i had to subsidized my pensions. If you want something screwed up just get the government involved,you know the ones who likely never worked a hard demanding job and who after 8 years get a tax free pension for life. They get at least 6 times more yearly pension then most Canadians will ever get.
Stress isn't from a 5 day workweek instead of 4 days - the problem is affordability. Especially in Canada and the USA. We don't need less hours, we need more of a chance to survive and have a chance to get the life we want (afford to eat, own a home, start a family)
I have errands, doctors appointments, car inspections, home repairs, grocery, laundry, etc. I have many things every week. So, I would benefit from working less hours. Working less hours is needed.
The period of agreements has begun for the lower socioeconomic class.
Please enlighten me. Why are 12-hours shifts the norm in nursing? Why is it advantageous to have longer shifts (and very tired people by the end of it)? What would stop them from implementing a 4-day workweek with 8h shifts? I just don't get it. 😅