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When looking specifically at the tech and startup sector, there's a couple things worth pointing out: * Though the 40 week is still standard, more and more tech people are making their living as independent consultants/contractors, working part-time, advising, retiring early, etc. When you look at the amount of wealth created by tech and software, but also the flexibility and ability to do things like remote work, we actually have made a ton of progress here * In the US at least, as long as health care is tied to full-time employment which is quantified by some arbitrary # of hours, it will be the predominant way to work * Working hours are ultimately set by founders/owners, not by the employees (unless you're in a union like situation). Many software businesses have enough leverage that they can be run fully on fewer than 40 hours/wk, but generally investor interests, greed, desire to grow quickly, wanting to optimize profits, etc etc. Ultimately, culture and precedent is a really strong thing. I'll hypothesize though that after the grind that was COVID, a refocusing on profits vs growth, we're going to see many more balanced businesses taking a far more progressive approach to working hours and reduced time roles. The 4-day work week is just one movement in this direction, and we're going to see a lot more tech companies that offer 20/hr week positions and more. |
For me it looks like the opposite: today companies want full time employees (with a good LinkedIn profile). Unlike the 90'ies they no longer want independent consultants solving individual projects.
And all companies absolutely wants full time no matter the efficiency. Partial time gray beards not wanted.