Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by nemomarx 497 days ago
would you be twice as productive working 80 hours a week as you are at 40?

surely there's diminishing returns, and it doesn't seem obvious that 40 is the sweet spot.
2 comments
amelius 497 days ago
You can barely even have a single income household anymore these days, thanks to the free market.

If progress exists, it's going in the wrong direction.

link
jokethrowaway 496 days ago
we don't have a free market, it's highly regulated
link
scarab92 497 days ago
Diminishing returns doesn’t invalidate their point.

Working more hours will always produce more output, even if the marginal increase in output decreases.

link
iterateoften 497 days ago
It invalidates their point because what’s stopping you from saying say “you can be outcompeted by someone willing to work 168 hours a week.”

it’s not diminishing positive returns. Eventually you work so much the returns go negative.

According to you it doesn’t matter if on the 49th consecutive hour the worker is basically dead and unable to come into work the next week. Overwork leads to loss of productivity and possible negative outcomes for the business if mistakes happen because of exhaustion.

In the real world there is probably some equilibrium for maximizing productivity vs hours work vs supply of workers capable of working those hours to that quality consistently.

link
scarab92 496 days ago
You’re being sensationalist to try to make a point that doesn’t stand on its own.

Most studies show that productivity per hour doesn’t go down until about 60 hours, or higher for low skilled work.

link
AndrewDucker 495 days ago
Actually, that isn't true. The marginal output of working more than about 40 hours per week turns negative after about 4 weeks of doing so. There's plenty of research on this.

https://ericdodds.com/research-and-the-realities-of-time-wor...

link
michaelteter 497 days ago
That doesn’t consider the greater picture and all the costs.

If the harder worker becomes dissatisfied sooner and leaves the position sooner than the worker putting in fewer hours, that increased employee turnover will result in lower company productivity and higher overhead.

The net result may be far worse.

link