Do we work too much?

boobar

While I don't agree with a culture of having to work long hours, I think that for most people work is essential in order to survive, put food on the table, finance a lifestyle, so I don't think it's a futile exercise.

kowloon

grindle wrote: »

Not strictly true, rich people don't get rich by themselves, you know.

Not sure exactly what you're arguing against, but I'm not sure if I'm arguing for anything. I'd just prefer to work a job with fewer hours without being considered a 'part timer'. Very few jobs that require a lot of training offer that. Companies want to bleed as much as they can out of each individual.

The self employed can tailor their hours to suit their lifestyles.
The rest of us are at the mercy of the contract, and usually that stipulates that we adhere to certain hours. Unfortunately it is more cost effective to train one person to do a job for 40 hours a week than two for 20 hours.
When the training is cheap and the turnover is high we see companies taking on lots of part time staff.

It's just a pity you need to work the long hours to be considered a permanent employee. People with families tend to seek permanent postions for the security and entitlements that come with them. We do it to ourselves.

Ask someone with a family, on comfortable wages, all the bills covered, whether they want more money or more time off. Anyone who can get over the greed and addiction to accumulating stuff that we all have will opt for the latter.

grindle

boobar wrote: »

...so I don't think it's a futile exercise.

It's not futile, but the money is weighted toward the top end in a huge way, which keeps us working longer as we aspire.

The 1,226 billionaires of the world (according to Forbes), have enough wealth between them to keep 1,981,582 people alive on the Irish industrial average of €35486.88 for fifty years.
That's just the billionaires.

Edit: just saw your post.

kowloon wrote: »

Not sure exactly what you're arguing against, but I'm not sure if I'm arguing for anything.

Was siding with you, with a snide comment towards greed. Internet + Tone =/= Friends.

Seomra Mushie

Domo230 wrote: »

And although people think in the past we worked longer, that was only true from the industrial revolution onwards. Before that most humans worked much less hours than we currently do.

But I think keeping a house running and maintained would have been a lot more labour intensive back then so I think it would even out really, as most people would have to do this themselves. We need the 8 hour week IMO, if only to keep ourselves from having a sedentary lifestyle.

grindle

Seomra Mushie wrote: »

We need the 8 hour week IMO, if only to keep ourselves from having a sedentary lifestyle.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???

*rings boss*

Satts

Seomra Mushie wrote: »

Not really, I work in a lab and believe me, I need the full day.

Maybe your are doing the work of two people.

Seomra Mushie

grindle wrote: »

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???

*rings boss*

Oopsie! :pac:

Seomra Mushie

Satts wrote: »

Maybe your are doing the work of two people.

No, just my own project. No matter what experiment you are doing, there's a lot of setting up and preparation.

Seomra Mushie

Domo230 wrote: »

I dont think so since for western Europeans it was common to enter something close to a state of hibernation around winter. They would sleep most of the time huddled with their family for warmth, wake up for a few hours to eat and that was about all they did in the colder months.

If they spent all that time resting then I don't think the house maintenance was taking up too much of their time. How many people in the 21st century would be able to have a lifestyle where for the winter they were effectively only awake for around 4 hours a day?

Even something like washing clothes would have been far more arduous, and that's just ONE job. What you're saying kinda backs up my point. They might have slept more in the winter but the daily grind the rest of the year would have more than made up for that.

44leto

Its only really a phenomena since the industrial revolution, before work was menial and beneath you, something for peasants or slaves. Now we are defined by our jobs and we need them.

I had to take 6 months off about 3 years ago. The first month it was great, the second it was OK for the rest gawd. I realise work gives me a structure, it even gives me part of my social life. How the hell did this situation ever come about.

44leto

Domo230 wrote: »

But most people back then were serfs or slaves

No most were smallholders who lived off the land in Britain anyway But even serfs who worked the land it was seasonal and not everyday and not 8 hours long.

For slaves it was bad.

ToddyDoody

There was a fantastic cartoon in my leaving cert economics book about how jobs are created. The message was to be weary of what you call economic progress. It began with people who lived a simple life in an agricultural based society, working only so much and ended with people living demanding lives to maintain the fruits of economic progress and tending to the problems created. While it may seem obvious that the last scenario was still better than the first, it really only supplanted one set of problems for another.

A_Sober_Paddy

In the last 10 months I've been unemployed and to be honest, I've probably done more positive and enjoyable things in these 10 months, than I did in the previous 10 months I'd worked...

I have done more training(gym work), I try and get out and cycle at least 100km a week and I'm loving it, my only worry is that I can't go on a really nice holiday or buy a new bike...

But when I was in the job, I was really depressed, not doing much living and generally more unhappy...I don't think people should be getting stressed from working in a small corner store, but I was because of staff cut backs...and all that for €200 a week(on a good week)...I also filled in most of my spare time with games and drink.

So with all my extra spare time, I don't drink as much as I used to(drank twice in last 103 days) and don't play nearly as many games, as I spend my time getting exercise, cycling and being happier with life.

A few friends of mine are all about money and how great is it, in there jobs but one of these lads, used to get up, go to work(normally 10hr days), come home and go straight to bed and only realised after 4 years that it wasn't really living...

But in saying that, I'd love a job but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much demand for a 24 year old with a business degree and over 4 years retail experience as an store associate...so go figure

ArtSmart

sober, you say?

A_Sober_Paddy

ArtSmart wrote: »

sober, you say?

Well I've only drank twice in 103 days, both of which were nights I was celebrating my birthday.

I'm certainly sober by Irish standards, well by Irish standards drinking heavily twice a week is socially acceptable...

ArtSmart

yeah, was just laughing at the user name. all good, sounds like you got out of a bad number.

me? no. i dont work too hard.

francie81

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

I've been thinking about the futility of life as in the majority of people in the world spend the majority of their lives in work. Ridiculous when you consider you work the good years of your life then retire when you're good for nothing. It's not uncommon for people to go get up, go to work, come home, have dinner, do chores and go to bed, ad infinitum. Seems a waste.

I've been wondering, will our descendants in a few hundred years look back on these days and laugh at the amount of hours we work and can't believe we wasted our lives. Will the 9-5 paradigm only get worse? Will we 9-9 become regular because of corporate greed or will technology advance so that we can be just as productive in 9-1?

I would love to research this and write a book on the futility of working so many hours for basically nothing. I'd like it to shake society to the core like On the Origin of Species, constantly being quoted in hundreds of years.

Do we all need a reality check? Is so much work wasting our lives?

Great topic mate am with you on this one I think capitalism is at its highest workers these days don't get the respect they deserve and unions themselves are all part and partial of the vicious cycle.

A_Sober_Paddy

ArtSmart wrote: »

yeah, was just laughing at the user name. all good, sounds like you got out of a bad number.

me? no. i dont work too hard.

Oh right mate all good.

Sorry if my reply came across a little aggressive, I just reread it and it could be read in an aggressive tone...my bad:p

daelight

I wonder how many here have a Pager or Work mobile phone? If you have such a thing, are you compensated for the `on call' aspect it brings?

In my line of work, it is assumed we will be 'on call' yet are compensated nil. This appears to affect the battery life of the blackberry substantially.

My colleagues put in 60hrs a week minimum. I dont do the same but I'm amazed their devotion to a compay where we are just numbers - esp. as sub-sub-contractors. If you work for a family run or local business that treat you as a human... then that is the best I think.

BTW, Netflix have unlimited time-off policy....

Naomi00

The type of people described in the OP are a thing called 'boring'. A lot of people choose to work that much, no one's forced to spend extra hours in their job and ignore everything else in their life.

daelight

Naomi00 wrote: »

The type of people described in the OP are a thing called 'boring'. A lot of people choose to work that much, no one's forced to spend extra hours in their job and ignore everything else in their life.

Agreed, but when those people incluse team mates and the boss,, and even the bosses boss...

I am looking for employment elsewhere!

Jesus Wept

We're indoctrinated into this sh1t with school, few people question it, pity really.
A lot of people really can't wrap their heads around new ideas or anything that deviates from what they are used to, what they are used to is 'correct' and anything else is just witchcraft in their eyes.

ArtSmart

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

I've been thinking about the futility of life as in the majority of people in the world spend the majority of their lives in work. Ridiculous when you consider you work the good years of your life then retire when you're good for nothing. It's not uncommon for people to go get up, go to work, come home, have dinner, do chores and go to bed, ad infinitum. Seems a waste.

I've been wondering, will our descendants in a few hundred years look back on these days and laugh at the amount of hours we work and can't believe we wasted our lives. Will the 9-5 paradigm only get worse? Will we 9-9 become regular because of corporate greed or will technology advance so that we can be just as productive in 9-1?

I would love to research this and write a book on the futility of working so many hours for basically nothing. I'd like it to shake society to the core like On the Origin of Species, constantly being quoted in hundreds of years.

Do we all need a reality check? Is so much work wasting our lives?

em maybe take a detailed look at Karl Marx's books first.

and no, he's not the anti-capitalist 'kill the rich' nutter he's often portrayed as.

his objective was to examine the nature and validity of modern* day work. he asked why? why all this work? who is benefiting? why is it here? is it good?

*anything from the ind rev is generally deemed modern day, work wise.

Gibs

Interesting article on the things that people say they regret most when they are close to dying.

IamtheWalrus

ArtSmart wrote: »

em maybe take a detailed look at Karl Marx's books first.

and no, he's not the anti-capitalist 'kill the rich' nutter he's often portrayed as.

his objective was to examine the nature and validity of modern* day work. he asked why? why all this work? who is benefiting? why is it here? is it good?

*anything from the ind rev is generally deemed modern day, work wise.

What's the name of the book?

df1985

a 4 day week would be perfect, id be willing to work longer hours 4 days a week for a 3 day weekend.