[IGotThroughIt]

I'm possibly going to go against the grain here but I'll speak my truth...6 hours honestly feels like too little time and isn't necessarily something to celebrate.

If I only worked for 6 hours and 4 days I'd lose my mind. I've tried it and I didn't like it one bit. May be that's just me but I enjoy my work so much I wish there were 25 hours.

[choward]

You seriously enjoy your work so much that you don't have anything you would rather be doing? Not even a side project? You must be working on the coolest thing ever.

[IGotThroughIt]

I work for myself as a mobile and wed dev so I have my clients who pay my bills and several apps I'm working on in parallel.

[Chinjut]

The number of hours you volunteer to put into working for yourself is, frankly, completely irrelevant to the issue of hours demanded by a boss from their employees, who surely have things in their life they'd rather be doing with their time. Using the former as a way to argue that the latter should be kept high is an uncharitable mentality.

[bborud]

If you are a programmer and your boss demands hours from you rather than results, your boss has no idea what she/he is doing.

[IGotThroughIt]

If you've run a business you'd know that the hours demanded by a boss are far less than those required to be successful as an enterprise owner. I've been in both worlds and it isn't easier because you own the business.

It's all work at the end of the day and it is not easy. It's hard but we get to choose the direction our life takes while weighing the costs, benefits and risks involved.

[Jedd]

> It's hard but we get to choose ...

This is the crux of a state mandated shorter work week.

In Australia, the default is between 35 and 40 hours, 5 days a week.

Some people work more hours, some fewer. A proposal to change the standard wouldn't affect that arrangement.

People who enjoy working longer hours, say for a pursuit they enjoy or endorse, or like you to build up their own wealth at a much faster rate, likely wouldn't be affected by such a policy change.

I do hope you're not suggesting that your personal preferences should inform proposed policy changes like this?

[dragonwriter]

> I work for myself as a mobile and wed dev

This issues is about proletarian labor (rented by a capitalist in an employment relation) not petit bourgeois labor (applied to one’s own capital in an independent business.)

Servile and self-directed labor aren't the same thing.

[GordonS]

Couldn't you work 6 hours "for the man", and then work on a project of your own choosing, for whatever reason you wanted? (a side project, the next unicorn, some spare cash, something OSS, something for charity, or just because)

[IGotThroughIt]

It's exactly what I do, but I suspect that the spirit of this 6 hour initiative isn't necessarily in line with what you're alluding to but rather the idea that working less hours is better for all of us. Correct me if I'm wrong about this.

[GordonS]

I think perhaps you're reading too much into what was a non-sarcastic comment? I genuinely mean I haven't come across a widespread (or existent) official 6-hour working day in Scandinavia.

In Norway at least, it's true that lots of people finish work relatively early - but only because they start work really early (6-7am)!

[GordonS]

Gah, sorry, I replied to the wrong comment, and can't delete it now!

[IGotThroughIt]

Gotcha!

I had searched for the sarcasm in previous comments in our thread to no avail!