Could a 21-hour week work for us?

In this economic environment where everyone feels compelled to work harder, could the real secret to our success be to work less? Michael Cebon says a move to shorter working hours could benefit employees, the economy and the environment.

Bronnie Ware spent years working as a nurse in palliative care, counselling patients in their last weeks of life.  Over a number of years of work, Bronnie chronicled the regrets of her patients as they approached the end of their lives, finding that "common themes surfaced again and again".

What emerged as one of the most common regrets for people about to die – especially men – was: "I wish I hadn't worked so hard."

"This came from every male patient that I nursed."  Bronnie writes.  "They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."

Enter the New Economics Foundation (NEF), which is suggesting a radical solution to the widespread problems caused by overwork.

The Foundation's new report is titled "21 hours: Why a shorter working week can help us all to flourish in the 21st century" and makes the case that to save the world – and to save our lives from becoming unliveable – we need to work less.  And not just a little less – no, the NEF is suggesting cutting the working week to just 21 hours.

We live in a world where many of us – even those in the most ethical jobs – work longer hours than we should, or really want to.  The latest Australian statistics show that over 40 percent of us work more than 40 hours each week.  At the same time, many people struggle with poverty and hunger through unemployment or underemployment.

Connected with this is that in rich countries, most of us consume even more than we earn – well beyond the limits of the natural environment that supports us.

The NEF argues that "A 'normal' working week of 21 hours could help to address a range of urgent, interlinked problems: overwork, unemployment, over-consumption, high carbon emissions, low well-being, entrenched inequalities, and the lack of time to live sustainably, to care for each other, and simply to enjoy life."

They're not suggesting that such a reduced week would be mandatory; obviously, in a free society people should be able to work as much as they want to. But rather, the NEF suggests that this shorter week should become the "new normal", "the standard that is generally expected by government, employers, trade unions, employees, and everyone else."

Such a change would have "triple bottom-line" benefits, for the economy, people and the environment. 

It would create jobs by spreading paid work more evenly across the population, especially more evenly across men and women, at the same time as reducing the social and economic costs of unemployment.

It would create time for parents to spend with kids and for people to participate more fully in their families and communities.

Finally, it would help break our habit of "living to work, working to earn, and earning to consume", allowing us to live more sustainably and reduce our impact on the planet.

Given that it would require a wholesale reordering of the entire economy, a 21-hour work week is not about to happen tomorrow.  But like the end of slavery, voting for women, and rights for indigenous Australians, the discussion has to start somewhere.

Back in 1930, economist John Maynard Keynes – one of the most influential people of the 20th century – imagined that by the start of the 21st century, people would only work about 15 hours per week to satisfy our needs, and instead use most of our time to focus on "how to use freedom from pressing economic cares".

How wrong economists can sometimes get it! But perhaps we can hope that Keynes error was not absolute, but rather just a matter of bad timing.

Michael Cebon is the founder and General Manager of EthicalJobs.com.au – a job search site for community and environmental jobs around Australia. EthicalJobs.com.au is Michael's latest attempt to change the world for the better. He is also the editor and publisher of the People & Planet: Social Justice & Environment Diary & Calendar, a fundraising venture for over 50 small Australian non-profit organisations. Parts of this article first appeared on the Ethical Jobs Blog.

0 Comments

1. 

   Ronald Forbes

   April 4, 2012 at 8:08 am

   21 hour week

    This is a very nice article. It’s not long since people were asking what do we do with all this time. Instead, we employed less people working longer hours. It’s a destructive pace. People have no time to think, just rush on.

   Some anthropologist stated years ago that an African tribe of ‘bush people’ averaged 3 hours of work a day. With a five-day week that’s 15 hours. I can handle 21, no worries. I agree with all the benefits you mention. You are beginning a movement, we will get there – let’s start planning how.
2. 

   Debbie Smythe

   April 6, 2012 at 4:44 am

   Could a 21-hour week work for us?

   I work a three-day, approx. 21 hour week. It is, in my opinion, the optimal number of working hours per week. It’s enough to earn a reasonable income and spend a credible amount of time in a workplace (enough that colleagues know what I do), but a small enough amount of time that I don’t get tired or feel burnt out. I don’t have children, but I find I have enough things to do on my my four at-home days, that it works out well for me.