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I agree with you but some peoples identity are very much integrated with their work. Make them work less and their life becomes less meaningful.

For people like you and me, we work to live, not live to work. So we want to work less. It makes us feel happier and more free.

I think the salaries are also an issue. We can't cut salaries with 20% so this becomes an extra cost for the companies or the government, depending on who should pay for it.

Overall though, I think most people would agree that it's considered progress if humans work less so we can actually do more things than work with our lives.

This is not about making people work less, it's about giving people the option to work less without paying dearly for it. (A 20 % pay cut should be the absolute maximum cost for a 20 % shorter work week, but as it stands today it's not. In practise, people who'd get about the same amount of actual work done in less time should have no pay cut. These are the problems we need to fix.)

> Seems like a slippery slope, what's next, a 3 day week??

I think there is something worth digging in to on this point. These trials are showing that after lowering hours, productivity went up to at least match or exceed previous values.

So the question is raised, what is the optimal amount of time to produce maximum results? If -1 day was an improvement, is -2 days even more of an improvement? Is -0.5 days less of an improvement? What if we rearange this, are less week days but longer days better? Or are shorter days with more week days better?

As well as how long can this be sustained? Workers must be working more and using their time better than before. Is this entirely due to having more free time or is it partially due to the novelty of lower times which will wear off?

I'm all for investigating lower work weeks but I don't think we have really collected all of the info yet. Let the trials continue!

IMO there is an equilibrium problem.

I really have no problem working 45 hours a week.

I am not changing to 36 hours a week while a co-worker works 45 and then the co-worker is the one who ends up getting promoted.

I am not working in a coal mine or digging ditches that my body is breaking down after 35 hours. I am perfectly capable of 45 high quality hours a week of mental work a week that I enjoy doing. That is what I am looking to trade in the market place and be compensated for.

Most people I know don't do much besides play on their phone when off anyway. What you need an additional day a week to get in more social media?

Just wow...

Sounds like you need better employers and more interesting friends. And perhaps some realization that not everyone has the same demands on their time.

I'm truly sorry that your reality has imposed that view on you.

In my reality, someone who works less is able to relax more, leading to potentially better throught out work (be it code, design, writing, teaching etc).

In the end, the individual with the higher quality work will receive extra benefits. Not the one who produces the most.

Yeah, this is an infuriating bit of human nature that I notice quite often. People would rather destroy the New Good Thing than take advantage of it.

> It's so weird to me to see people argue against a shorter work week.

No one is arguing against a shorter work week, that's just misrepresenting the position. Furthermore, you've been able to offer 4 day work weeks to your employees since forever, no one is stopping you. In fact you can offer them 3 days work week right now since you are so benevolent. Why don't you offer them 1 day work weeks while you are at it? You should make a list for that.

The pushback is against the idea of government decreeing the number of days you are allowed to work.

You can turn the same argument around. If 4 day work week is standard, you can work 5 days if you want. You can even work 6 days or 7 days right now, nobody is stopping you.

No you cannot. Government is stopping you by preventing companies from hiring workers for more than they allow. That is the reason people get two or even three jobs.