[throw0101d]

> My understanding is that the 40 hour work week (and similar) was talked about for […]

See perhaps:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day_movement

Generally it only really started being talked about when "workers" became a thing, specifically with the Industrial Revolution. Before that a good portion of work was either agricultural or domestic, so talk of 'shifts' didn't really make much sense.

[_heimdall]

Oh sure, a standard shift doesn't make much sense unless you're an employee. My point was specifically about the 40 hour standard we use now though. We didn't get a 40-hour week because workers demanded it, we got it because wartime governments decided that was the "right" balance of labor and output.