Bring the #FlexibleWork Discussion to your Thanksgiving Table!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Here is some fun history on the 40-hour work week to help fuel your holiday conversations and further the #FlexibleWork discussion:

Today’s 40-hour work week is ultimately a product of first the British (1750 onward through the 1840’s) and then American (peaking in the 1830-40’s) Industrial Revolutions, where long hours and young workers led to incredibly dangerous working conditions. Unions, workers groups and labor politicians lobbied against unsafe factory environments and hours, and the push for a 40-hour work week began.

Robert Owen was an outspoken Welsh activist who advocated in 1817 for “Eight hours labor, Eight hours recreation, Eight hours rest.” 

The next hundred years saw progress. In 1840 average workweek in manufacturing was ~68 hours, and declined a few hours each decade until averages in 1890 were ~60 hours/week. There was an unsuccessful push for the US government to officially set/restrict an hourly work week in the 1880’s, but by the early 1900’s, a 40-hour work week was common in the mining and printing industries. Henry Ford famously initiated a five-day, 40-hour workweek for Ford Motor employees in 1926, and in general hours worked each week fell to ~48 (six, eight-hour days) after WWI. At the national level, multiple labor movements finally culminated in the passing of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which in 1940 created America’s 40 hour work week (originally passed at 44 hours in 1938) mandating overtime pay for hours beyond that for covered employees.

In the past 80 years there have obviously been many changes, especially with respect to technology that have us set to re-examine the future of work again. Flexible work is coming to the forefront more and more often, and companies that are on the cutting edge of that curve are winning (and retaining!) great talent.

Other cool trends and conversation starters:

• Microsoft Japan boosted productivity by 40% by switching to a 4 day work week
• Many Swedish companies (like Toyota) have a 6 hour workday
• What would you do on your extra day or time out of the office?

What other topics are you excited to discuss with your family/friends this holiday?