http://neweconomics.org/publications/21-hours

Interesting idea. Back in the day they said we would have so much free time we wouldn't know what to do with it. What happened?

"The economist John Maynard Keynes imagined a 15-hour week by the beginning of the 21st century, because he thought we'd no longer have to work long hours to meet our material needs. But our ideas about what we "need" have greatly expanded. And the working week has got longer, not shorter."

Great idea!

I'm in 🙂

Bugger that. I'm not working that long.

I only have 21.5 contact hours each week. Shame I have to prepare and mark stuff really.

some of the grad schemes i've looked at are for 4 day weeks. lose a bit of money for it, but i reckon the increase in quality of life would be well worth it.

i'm in…

here here

This outdated notion of a 'weekend' is what gets me, 4 days on, 4 days off, that'd suit me just fine.

Sounds great to me 😆

It's interesting that you have just posted this. I have just finished a 3 week module on my MSc called "The Economics of Happiness" and was taught by Andrew Sims and Nic Marks, both from the new Economics Foundation.

I used to work anywhere from 60-100+ hour weeks.

I now spend a maximum of 40 hours a week at work (but don't do that much, TBH).

If I could cut it down and retain a sensible income, I'd be quite happy.

I only have 21.5 contact hours each week. Shame I have to prepare and mark stuff really.

With a bit of short term pain, could you not arrange it so that your contact time is students in the classtoom doing work without you providing input, and then you could complete your planning and marking at the same time? 😀

Some chap at work said that when computers came in to general office use it was widely beleived that the same amount of work would be done but in less time, giving everybody more spare time.

Seems a little naive now, but seems like a viable option to me. ❗

(grabs coat to go home for the rest of the day)

I have to say, I'd love to work 20 ish hours a week, and am in the position that I could probably afford to take the cut in wages.
I even suggested it to my boss who said no*.
Its interesting that there's no real choice in employment. Employers either want you to sell your soul working 45- 50 hours or more or they dont want you at all.
* The only contract I have signed actually says I should work 27 hrs, but by agreeing to work over those hours in the past, it means that I have consented to be flexible.

I saw this and obviously think it's a great idea .It's surprising when you don't chase needless consumer goods what you can get by on .I stopped working full time last July ,fortunately i'm of an age where our mortgage has been paid .I came out of Royal Mail with a lump sum for volunteering to go and a lump sum from my pension as i was over 50 .I am currently working 13 hours a week on just over the minimum wage and so far we haven't had to touch any of the lump sum money .
So tell me why i feel guilty and lazy ?I've somehow got in my head that i should be working at least 20 hours a week .I keep getting told by my wife and kids that 26 years working around 50 hours plus a week it's my time now .Obviously not been out of there long enough to come to a firm conclusion .When i come back from Canada in October may need to look at the finances again .But here's the important thing .We have always lived within our means , not bought anything we couldn't afford ,not lived the high life but not gone completely the other way neither .MTBing being my only extravagance bit without that i reckon i would just be a very overweight miserable couch potato hooked on Jeremy Kyle !My tightness with money achieved legendary status over the years so maybe now it's paying off !

5 days on, 4 off here. 🙂

I working 24 hours this week, did Monday and not back to Sunday. Mind you I did an extra shift last week to make this work out.

I miss wednesday afternoons off as a student, split the week up with a nice half day with an afternoons bikeing and everything else seems great. No SAD either as you get an extra 4 hours of daylight in winter, and being a half day you'r more inclined to sieze it.

In September my youngest kids goes to school and my wife is going to look for a 'proper' job (though still part time). I'm very tempted to go part-time then; that would probably give me Wednesday off each week.

I would imagine the reason (or one of the reasons) that hours have not decreased is the rise in admin/bureaucracy/health and safety etc – there seem to be new roles in these areas appearing all the time, at the expense of people doing the 'real work' whatever that is… and those people in non-admin jobs are being given more and more admin to do. We are very busy keeping ourselves very busy.

I'd be happy with 21 hours a week though!

think youll find 90% of office workers attend for 40 hours a week, but probably work for no more than 21 each week…

My problem is that I am most productive in non-office hours. But the rest of the world doesn't join me in that.

Good point tracknicko, you just need to take the average office worker / middle class IT Geek, subtract the hours they spend posting here and I'd be surprised if many do TEN hours 🙂

Right now, I'd be happy if I was doing less than 21 hours every couple of days, nevermind in a whole week!

I'm struggling to manage on the money I earn from the hours I work now. If I did 21 hours a week we'd be ****. Can we just get paid the same and work the 21 hours, if so iamin!

As we all compete for the same set of limited resources, we'll never reduce the work load because another country just ups the ante by becoming more productive.

I'm struggling to manage on the money I earn from the hours I work now.

We're just managing at the moment. My theory is that as my wife's income rises, I can reduce mine by an equal amount 🙂

Well if we got paid the same I'm happy with 21hrs a week.

How about scrap money and currency and give everyone the same stanadard of life.

Oops sorry ben watching too much star trek… 😉