Why 3-day weekends would make life better

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:

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?

As always, please share this post with your friends. Thanks!

For earlier entries, please click here: How to Understand People

Comments

This will spell the end of your relationship

When asked to think about the most common culprits for a relationship's going south, most people will point to cheating, complacency, and taking one's partner for granted. While these are all valid -- and documented in various posts on this blog -- there are certain habits on the part of partners that may not kill the relationship right away, but cause it to erode more gradually. Among the most egregious of these is expecting your significant other to be perfect. They pick at your follies any chance they get. Nothing you do is ever good enough. In fact, you will never measure up to an ex, neighbor, or accomplished co-worker. Perhaps this all sounds a bit familiar. When you feel as though you're constantly being put under the microscope, it can inflict lasting damage on the relationship and your self-esteem. You're walking on eggshells all the time, praying you don't say or do something that's going to trigger your partner. This is no way to live, let alone ca

No response from someone IS a response

Make no mistake about it: When you don't get a response from someone -- whether they fail to answer your texts or return your phone calls -- it is still a response, and a powerful one at that. When a person fails to respond, it's a direct reflection of their interest -- or lack thereof -- in the relationship. Few things are more aggravating than having to hound a partner, friend, or relative for some sort of reply after we've reached out to them. Yes, we get busy from time to time, but that doesn't give anyone the right to leave the other person hanging. A terse text with something like "Been busy, will reach out soon" doesn't say much, but at least it shows some effort to bring the other person up to speed on why they've fallen off the radar. Failing to provide a response for weeks -- if not months -- communicates that you are just not a priority, and that you'll have to wait your turn to get this individual's attention. This is n

Misconceptions about quiet people

Earlier today, I came across a Facebook page that features motivational quotes intended to improve people's moods and enhance their overall self-esteem. Interestingly, I noticed two quotes that focus specifically on quiet people: "Be afraid of quiet people; they're the ones who actually think." "The quietest people have the loudest minds." I've observed that most people's views of quiet individuals can fall under one of two categories: 1. The ones who say quiet people are antisocial, suspicious, snobbish, and/or full of themselves. 2. The people who say their introspective nature and propensity to be deep in thought makes them smarter than their more garrulous peers. The quotes above speak to this mindset. As an introvert known to be quiet at work and at social functions where I might not know anyone, I feel I'm well positioned to dispel any inaccuracies surrounding quiet folks. First of all, the above statements misguidedly put

Understand People

Search This Blog