Billionaire Calls for Three-Day Workweek
Second-wealthiest Earthling Carlos Slim suggests we adopt a three-day workweek.
“With three work days a week,” he says, “we would have more time to relax, for quality of life.”
Alas, he also suggests we work longer shifts (grueling 11-hour days) to offset the loss of earnings and productivity, so it’s not entirely an idler-friendly idea. This being said, a 33-hour workweek is still shorter than the currently typical 40.
It’s a better-organised approach to labour. Since a worker is basically knackered and good for nothing but a quick dinner and a DVD box set after eight hours of work, she might as well go the extra mile and work into the night if it results in fewer commutes and a routine four-day weekend.
If dudes of establishment renown like Carlos Slim, Larry Page and Professor John Ashton are calling for less-orthodox work schedules, maybe employers will begin to look more favorably upon the flexier work modes more generally. Part-time work, for example, should be more readily available to everyone: something I’ve long-thought could be the solution to the “Freedom versus Security” problem for most people.
It occurs to me I’ve been sounding a bit like an organizational psychologist lately, but in a world where billionaires and top doctors are starting to sound like Escapologists, anything’s possible.
To make up for it, here’s a picture of a tortoise eating a strawberry:
Buy the new Issue Ten in print or PDF today.
Buy the complete back catalogue of New Escapologist with a 10% discount.
Or buy the complete back catalogue on PDF, with £1 off the price each issue.
About Robert Wringham
Robert Wringham is the editor of New Escapologist. He also writes books and articles. Read more at wringham.co.uk
I do just this. Except I work half-time, and I work nights, so, officially, 20 hours per week, but I fit it into one long work week ie. 7 nights, 12 hours per night. Then I have three weeks off until I work again. During the work week, I’m really strict about sleep, from 9am until 5pm, then I barely have time to get myself organised and I’m back in to work – so essentially, I have no social life that week. However, even though night duty is strenuous, if you can adapt your body-clock, there are stretches that a quiet during the night, and that’s when I get essays written, reading done, thinking too. It doesn’t suit everyone, but I love my work hours, and love the freedom attached to three weeks off.
“in a world where billionaires and top doctors are starting to sound like Escapologists, anything’s possible.”
Haha! Right on!
So you have one week intensively on, and then three weeks off? Smart. 75% freedom.
[…] Since a worker is basically knackered and good for nothing but a quick dinner and a DVD box set after eight hours of work, she might as well go the extra mile and work into the night if it results in fewer commutes and a routine four-day weekend. — Billionaire Calls for Three-Day Workweek | New Escapologist […]