Sweden moves to a 6-hour work day because it's better for everybody

[Bubzer]

This would be better for America as well. There would be more vacations taken, more time spent with family and more personal time. Corporations, however, would hate it. It would create significant demand for skilled workers, thereby driving up wages, and diminishing Morbidly Obese Profit Margins™

Filimundus, an app developer based in the capital Stockholm, introduced the six-hour day last year.
“The eight-hour work day is not as effective as one would think," Linus Feldt, the company’s CEO told Fast Company.

"To stay focused on a specific work task for eight hours is a huge challenge. In order to cope, we mix in things and pauses to make the work day more endurable. At the same time, we are having it hard to manage our private life outside of work."
There have been other on-going experiments in Sweden with the 6-hour working day. From nurses working in retirement homes to Toyota plants in Sweden, the less time, more efficiency model has shown real promise.

Toyota centres in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city, made the switch 13 years ago, with the company reporting happier staff, a lower turnover rate, and an increase in profits in that time.
The point in the end is that most people working an 8-hour day are not working for 8 hours. They're just getting the stress of having to be at work for 8 hours.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/12/1431208/-Sweden-moves-to-a-6-hour-work-day-because-it-s-better-for-everybody?detail=facebook

[CTyankee]

1. buncha socialists! It's un Amurican! How dare they have happier workers!

workers have to be enslaved and beaten!

[ProfessorGAC]

23. Socialists With Higher Profit

Hmmm! Maybe they're not socialists after all. I do find it intriguing that their profits improved when they did this. You would think that would get some major attention in business circles. But, since too many firms consider people a cost and not an asset, they would see any headcount increase as an expense and might not believe the improved profitability.

[darkangel218]

2. Thats awesome.

Good for them. Here are some interesting facts US vs Sweden

http://country-facts.findthedata.com/compare/1-178/United-States-vs-Sweden

[bkkyosemite]

3. That sounds great!

[smirkymonkey]

4. Hear, hear!

The Scandinavians really have it so together.

[geek tragedy]

5. They don't have hourly employees there? nt

[Skittles]

6. that would be less than half a day of work for me

[cui bono]

7. Me too.

But I work job to job so if I want I can take time off between. Luckily that doesn't happen unintentionally.

[airplaneman]

14. Me three

For most of my work career. Only working 8 hours a day would be a treat.
-Airplane

[OnionPatch]

8. I worked six hour days for a few years.

It was great. There was enough time after work to actually do some things for myself, like cook a fresh meal, work out, play with my daughter, develop hobbies, volunteer, relax, read a book....you know, live a balanced life. I miss it. 8+ hours a day can suck the life out you.

[Bubzer]

19. +1

[Spitfire of ATJ]

9. I see their version worked out well....

[Nye Bevan]

10. So if Walmart (for example) announced they were cutting all their employee's hours to 6 per day,

everyone here would be applauding them?

[LanternWaste]

31. If wages were going down, no applause; thankfully, that's not the case in this particular.

If wages were going down, no applause; thankfully, that's not the case in this particular.

[hughee99]

11. Just curious, is it 25% less work for 25% less pay,

Or are they working 6 hours but getting the same as when they worked 8?

[Bubzer]

20. Well, the average wage is 3362.5/mo, so I'd say they probably get paid more.

http://www.reinisfischer.com/average-salary-european-union-2014

[hughee99]

21. Not really what I'm asking...

If you are a worker used to taking home $4000 a month, for example, will you still be taking home 4000 a month, or will you now be taking home $3000 a month?

If your personal budget is for $4k, and you're now making less, the 2 hours a day just give you more time to try to figure out how you can live on 25% less. On the other hand, if you make the same and just work fewer hours, then it works out great since you've basically been given a significant raise and now have more time to enjoy it.

[lostnfound]

27. Same monthly income in spite of fewer working hours

At the retirement home at least, it was the same wages per day, in spite of shorter hours.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/17/efficiency-up-turnover-down-sweden-experiments-with-six-hour-working-day

[Bubzer]

29. +1

[hughee99]

33. That's a great deal for the workers, then.

Basically, it's a per-hour pay increase.

In the US, when you hear these stories about hours being reduced, it's because they want to pay them less, and now someone who was just making ends meet has more time to get another job to make the same amount of money.

[niyad]

12. oh my word, imagine thinking of the workers as actual people rather than interchangeable

economic units.

[oberliner]

13. Not better for people who get paid hourly

And would like to get as many hours as they can.

[Cheese Sandwich]

15. It's without pay reduction though

[oberliner]

17. OK - but I don't necessarily support the premise

I'm sure there are folks who would rather work the 8 hours and mix in the breaks and pauses that are maligned in the article rather than work for a more intense 6 hours without such interruptions.

For many there is a sense of camaraderie at work that is often a nice complement to one's home life.

[LanternWaste]

32. What is the ratio between those affected who disagree

"I'm sure there are folks who would rather work the 8 hours..."

A large segment of the workforce, or merely statistical outliers?

Additionally, what is the ratio between those affected who disagree and those affected who agree with the policy?

[oberliner]

35. Good question

I can only speak anecdotally - I don't know if any surveys have been done on this topic.

I would point out that the title of the OP says that this is "better for everybody" which seems a bit of an overstatement.

[LittleBlue]

16. I miss the 8 hour workday

[D Gary Grady]

18. Kellogg's did this decades ago with huge success

As I recall the story, during the Great Depression Kellogg's, the breakfast cereal company, was in serious financial trouble because of plummeting sales and needed to cut labor costs by 25 percent, so management asked employees to vote to choose between a 25 percent cut in the number of workers, or a 25 percent reduction in hours and pay for each worker. The employees overwhelmingly chose the second option.

But Kellogg's discovered something remarkable: Workers were as productive in 6 hours as they had been in 8. So as the economy and demand for its products recovered, the company kept the 6-hour workday while increasing output and giving across the board pay raises. This gave the company a workforce that was tremendously happy and extraordinarily loyal, and the whole community benefitted. Workers' health improved. Parents had more time and energy to spend with their children, who did better in school.

Finally the old management at Kellogg's retired and the MBAs who took over were appalled by the lax attitude they discovered, so hours were increased back to 8 a day, just like they were told was right in business school. Nitwits.

(I'm vaguely reminded of "Fordism," Henry Ford's philosophy of paying his employees what were at the time astronomical wages in order to attract and keep the very best workers but also to force other businesses to pay their employees more as well, so there would be more customers able to buy his cars. It worked. Ford was an odd duck, an idealist with progressive ideas while also a crank with Nazi sympathies, but he was right about paying workers making himself better off.)

[Fumesucker]

22. Personally I'd rather do four 8-hour days and have three days off

Most of my career involved a long commute, getting to skip that another day every week would be heaven mentally and save significant money as well. Often I found the commute to be more stressful than work, long periods of boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror.

I wonder what the average commute time is in Sweden?

[HughBeaumont]

24. I'd be happy with 4 10s.

Not that this isn't a good idea. I'd also be happy with a six hour work week.

Problem is, that's Sweden and not America. What Swedish companies do compared to what America's bean counters think is correct are two different universes entirely.

What I would like is at least one day off a week. Or at the very least, a day where I can work but don't have to be physically present at the workplace. GOD I would get so much done.

[kentuck]

25. It's the reality of of the new work environment, due to technology and other factors.

Workers must guard against companies taking even more of the profits made, with the excuse that workers deserve less because they are working less hours, disregarding the new production standards of workers.

[Omaha Steve]

26. K&R!

[lumberjack_jeff]

28. 4 day workweeks would be better.

After subtracting commuting costs, the income differential would be mostly a wash.

[Eric J in MN]

30. At my last job

...I originally had to work 7 hours a day, not including my lunch break.

Then they changed that to 8 hours a day, not including my lunch break.

The extra hour-per-day didn't increase my weekly productivity. It just made my life worse.

[AZ Progressive]

34. American culture is work work work. Culture is one of the hardest things to change in society

And America's work work work culture stems from both Calvinism and racism ("we are the hard working white christians and you are the lazy shiftless catholics / blacks / irish!&quot

[Blue_Tires]

36. They're way ahead of us

although I'd still argue that four 8-hour days are better than five 6-hour days