Why the 8 Hour Workday Doesn’t Make Sense

Re:Why the 8 Hour Workday Doesn’t Make Sense by space-monkey on Friday November 19, 2010 @11:27AM (#1921796)

Henry Ford found that his factory workers were more productive per week at 40 hours than 48 hours. It's not a big surprise that what worked in his factory isn't ideal for every job almost a century later.

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Re:Why the 8 Hour Workday Doesn’t Make Sense by 979s on Friday November 19, 2010 @11:43AM (#1921840)

It was also so they had time to consume. http://www.worklessparty.org/timework/ford.htm

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Re:Why the 8 Hour Workday Doesn’t Make Sense by space-monkey on Friday November 19, 2010 @03:09PM (#1922600)

Additionally, his turnover went to almost zero since a 40 hour workweek was close to a vacation for a lot of people at the time.

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Re:Why the 8 Hour Workday Doesn’t Make Sense by electromagnetic on Friday November 19, 2010 @05:35PM (#1923094)

IIRC Ford essentially doubled average pay to encourage more workers to keep coming to his factory. Essentially for working 6 months, you could take 6 months off and make the same yearly as you had at another job. He then, around a decade later IIRC, dropped it to a 40-hour week, which then killed turnover. He had a near permanent staff, making great wages for reduced hours.

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