Full-time professionals in the U.S. work at least 40 hours a day, five days a week. A five-day work week (Monday-Friday) consists of 120 hours, meaning that we spend at least 33% of our time in the office. To put it another way, on average, we work 22 out of 30 days each month. And that doesn't even include the time we spend driving to and from work.
Needless to say, when you consider how many of our waking hours are spent at work compared to the time we have off on the weekends, it's easy to see that we give away a hefty chunk of our lives to our employers.
Save for the few vacations, if any, we take each year, weekends are usually our only time to:
Needless to say, when you consider how many of our waking hours are spent at work compared to the time we have off on the weekends, it's easy to see that we give away a hefty chunk of our lives to our employers.
Save for the few vacations, if any, we take each year, weekends are usually our only time to:
- Relax
- Get more sleep
- Run errands we don't have time to do in the week
- Enjoy dining and entertainment with our partners, friends or families
- Do groceries
- Pay bills
- Mow the lawn and handle other home maintenance
- And more
Let's face it: We don't have time to do all of the above every weekend. Just like with work, we also have to prioritize things we do in our spare time. That's precisely why we can go weeks if not months without seeing friends, watching movies, or hitting up our favorite restaurants. All the more reason for us to have 3-day weekends!
Can you imagine how much more you'd get done if you worked only 4 days as opposed to five? You'd have more time available to spend with your kids, go on vacations, read, write, or do whatever else tickles your fancy.
Employers should give employees the opportunity to work four days a week. Yes, that would mean working 10-hour days, but how great would it be to know you're weekend starts on Thursday night at 7 pm?
If anything, they should grant employees the flexibility to work from home if they so desire.
Life is getting busier by the minute. It's time that companies started giving their employees more options as far as how they want to allocate their time.
Thoughts?
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For earlier entries, please click here: How to Understand People
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