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Hi John, As with everything on the internet, this article and action that's making waves around the internet is an oversimplification on what is a really complex problem with a lot of factors and variables. Your example with a factory worker is great example for that specific type of work, an assembly line, but much like the mentality of "lets work 6 hours instead of 8" craze that's going on it would only apply and benefit a specific type of employee - the average uninterested employee. This is guy/gal is a programmer, accountant, secretary, QA tester whatever that is good enough at what he does to get by and even promote very slowly, has mild interest in what he does for work but not enough to call it passion and does the work mostly for the money. That is actually the majority of intellectual employees, that need a job to live but can't find the dream role that's perfect for them to pump them full of life and excitement every day. You see Sir, you are privileged enough to have a passion and set of skills that you've worked to develop over the years that actually enable you to go out and do whatever it is that you do best and have fun with it, while still bringing you quite enough money to live off. You wouldn't be able to say that about the guitarists, painters, artists, etc out there who are in very low demand and extremely high supply. Yes the elite of these people will do well, but only the elite. You are an elite in your field John, a well known and recognised symbol of the IT and Gaming industry. Most people are not and cannot afford to live off their dreams. Thus while this new 6 hour system would not apply to you, because you are passionate about what you do and can invest non-stop effort in what you're doing (don't get me wrong, I'm the same just not as good or popular, Yet :D, but I am fortunate enough to live off of what I like doing best) for everyone else, this system would bring benefit for average employees that are willing to keep their Facebook time for home and work while at work. They will have a few more hours for themselves, their kids, their wives, and potentially even allow them the two extra hours a day they need to transform their hobbies into actual financial successes. \ In my opinion, the solution to this whole conundrum is to stop treating all businesses as they are assembly lines and analyse them on a case by case basis. For example in a micro games studio where you only have 10 valuable employees, a task based system might be a much better approach. "We need the sprites done by date x, the core mechanics by date y, and the sound by date z. I don't care if you work 9 to 5, 6 to 24 or 20 minutes a day, as long as they are complete in time we're golden. Then we can have meetings with the whole team to analyse the quality of your work and based on everyone's input we can determine a set of bonuses for different traits of your work (quality, speed, efficiency, reusability, etc).". This is of course an off the top of my head idea but it would work well in a very small studio where everyone has their meetings at the local Pub. Unfortunately doing such an analysis and discovery on a large business would be extremely costly, so what's the next best thing? Follow the already well established trend, and copy whatever solution works for a different company (and copy it poorly without understanding why it works for that company). There is a reason why google employees in the US live on the Google campus, but nobody bothers to find out why thus what we get is silly generalisations like the 6 hour work day. Blimey I went on quite a ramble didn't I? Oh well... apologies for the wall of text for all those that'll end up reading it. And do have a lovely day! :) |
The fact is, most of the jobs people don't like doing are going to be automated in the not-so-distant future, which brings up the question of what we humans will be doing when there are less work hours needed to move our society forward. Many people who are working today will NOT be willing or able to train up to meet the higher skills needed for our new world. So what will they be doing as their jobs go away? Don't get me wrong, I do not believe in keeping old jobs around just to keep people employed, but I still don't see this question being answered. I have a lot of friends who are in their 30's and 40's who have 20-25 years of employment ahead of them, but probably cannot rely on their jobs existing that long.
Another question is why are we working so hard on technology to automate and make our lives easier if all we are going to do with that supposedly easier life is work as much or more? Or rather, how long will people have to work jobs they hate, just to keep from living in a box under a bridge?
I'm running my own IT consulting business, which pays the bills, and also frees up more time for me to tend to my son, and to work on learning new skills to break into VR development. I can work basically part time and charge a high enough hourly rate to afford this lifestyle, but I am the exception, not the rule. I actually feel sorry for my family and friends when I see how unhappy they are working 40+ hours, barely seeing their kids before bedtime all week long, and just not being able to chase something that will really make them happy. When will humanity start coming before corporate productivity?