Saturday, January 8, 2011

Eliminating the "9 to 5"

by Editing Working Girl


I am not a morning person, so the first trip I make in the morning is to the coffeemaker. When 4 p.m. comes around, I start to get tired and by time dinner is over I am ready for bed.

What I hate the most about this schedule is that I constantly feel like 'real life' passes me by - I get off work and am a zombie until bed and then wake up to work all over again, the weekends are spent catching up on sleep and I can be grumpy sometimes because of this feeling (I'll admit it).

In the Netherlands, they have implemented a successful part-time work schedule that started with women, and is now transferring over to men also (See the article from Jezebel here). Not only do people have time for things such as exercise, they can spend time with their families and traffic is even lessened, as some people can work from home in the mornings, which is high traffic time here in the U.S.

The thought of only working part-time is exhilarating - now if only it was financially feasible. Besides the financial aspect, though, I believe the United States could easily benefit from this transition. Families would get to spend time with one another, lessening the amount of time children spend in childcare. As stated, traffic could possibly be lessened and people may even be more productive if they know they have less time to get things done in the office. It is possible job opportunities would open up - especially if more employees could be brought on and shifts were implemented.

But is this something the U.S. will do? Probably not. Our economy is still in recovery mode enough to be enforcing drastic changes on the workforce of America, some who are struggling to support themselves and their families on their current salary, let alone cutting their hours.
What do you think about this article? Is a part-time work schedule feasible in the US (and is money really the only thing that could hold it back?

4 comments:

MonsteRawr said...

Cherish those 8 hour days. Many of my days start at 2pm and end at midnight, which means that those lovely, peaceful evenings with dinner and tv on the couch? I would kill for those evenings. You can have your mornings, I'd kill to get to go home at 5!

Lisa said...

I used to have a 10/10:30-6/6:30 schedule and I'm trying to transition to an 8:15-5 schedule. It's so much better. I get a lot done at work in the mornings, plus I have the evenings to myself. I'm not a morning person either, but I'm forcing myself to be one for the sake of time management.

Sex Toy Ken said...

I use to work a 9 to 5 job for 19 years but now I work from home. I love working on computers and web sites and spending more time with my family. No more 9 to 5!

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