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   The idea of working less is feasible and the basis for a better
   other than work? ( Getty Images )
   worth reassessing the amount of time we devote to work. What if all
   of the week could be given over to activities other than work? What if
   most of our time could be devoted to non-work activities of our own
   thinking. While a fine idea in principle, working fewer hours is not
   For some advocates of the work ethic, the route to health and happiness
   lies with the perpetuation of work, not with its reduction. Work makes
   us healthier and happier. Such pro-work ideology is used to legitimate
   welfare reforms that seek to coerce the non-employed into work,
   ideological barrier to the case for spending less time at work. Working
   less is presented as a threat to our health and happiness, not a means
   Yet, the idea of working less is not only feasible, it is also the
   to accept work and its dominant influence in our lives that we do not
The costs of working more
   A growing number of studies show the human costs of longer working
   hours. These include lower physical and mental health. Working long
   By working most of the time, we also lose time with family and friends.
   the work we do that we have little time and energy to find alternative
   potential is curtailed by the work we do. Work does not set us free,
   All this speaks to the need to work less. We should challenge the work
   ethic and promote alternative ways of living that are less work
   centred. And, if this reduction of time spent at work is focused on
   eliminating drudge work then we can also better realise the internal
   benefits of work itself. Working less may be a means not only to work
Barriers to less work
   through to shorter work hours. At least in modern times, these gains
   at the cost of flatlining pay for workers.
   The lack of progress in reducing time spent at work in modern
   powerful forces in favour of longer working hours. Workers are
   constantly persuaded to buy more and in turn are drawn into working
   created an environment that has suited the extension of work time. The
   recent exposé of work practices at Amazon speaks to the power of
   capital in imposing poor working conditions, including excessive work
   hours, on workers. The effects of rising inequality has also fed a long
   work hours culture by increasing the economic necessity to work more.
   we’d all be working 15-hour weeks in the 21st century, as a result of
   Instead, we are living in a society where work gets created that is of
   of the ruling class to keep workers in work. While technology with the
   potential to reduce work time exists, the political challenge of a
   working population with time on its hands makes the ruling class
   unwilling to realise this potential. Working less, while feasible and
Working for change
   The costs of long work hours, as mentioned above, are poorer health and
   lower well-being for workers. But for employers too there are costs in
   again politics may explain why shorter work time has not been embraced
   Experiments in shorter working exist, to be sure. Uniqlo, a Japanese
   clothing retailer, is to allow its employees to work a four day week.
   This has been widely reported in a positive way. Workers will benefit
   from a better work-life balance, while the firm will reap the benefits
   has its downsides. In return for a four-day working week, workers will
   be expected to work ten-hour shifts during the days they work (a
   40-hour working week will be squeezed into four days).
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   This is not only an extension to the normal length of the working day;
   it also puts at risk the potential rewards of working four days in the
   week. Workers may be so exhausted after working a four-day work week
   case, their quality of work and life may not be enhanced at all; indeed
   it may be diminished, if they suffer the ill-effects of overwork.
   illustrate the obstacles that remain in achieving less work. Only a
   reduction in the working week to 30 hours or less can be seen as
   genuine progress in the achievement of shorter work time.
   need to reimagine society in ways that subvert the prevailing work
   ethic. We need to embrace the idea of working less as a means to a life
   well lived. We need to reject the way of living that sees work as the
   to working less.