New book argues that a shorter working week would make us greener, freer and more equal.
Have you ever wondered why you are so busy? Would you like more time to spend with friends and family?
A new book, Time on our Side, looks at the way we use our time and the value we put on it and makes the case for a shorter working week.
Time on our Side is a collection of essays from leading academics, put together by Anna Coote and Jane Franklin of the New Economics Foundation.
The authors argue that working fewer hours can help us achieve a greater sense of wellbeing, reduce our carbon footprint and even tackle gender inequality.
They argue that the modern world marks time in hours, seconds and minutes - universal values that can be measured in terms of money - but such an approach affords us little control over our time.
Most people work a ‘standard eight-hour day’ and if we choose to work less, we risk our future career prospects, because if we are not working for money we are perceived to be ‘doing nothing’.
Technology is pushing information at us at an ever faster rate and life is becoming a series of ‘fleeting episodic moments’. We are more easily bored, find it harder to concentrate and think deeply.
But rather than thinking that ‘time is money’ and ‘speed matters’ we should see time as a gift and recognise that many things, such as thinking, caring for loved ones, nurturing and educating children cannot be rushed.
Time on our Side argues that wages have not kept pace with higher productivity, so we still have to work as long, if not longer than our parents, despite producing more.
Add to this a culture of rampant consumerism; this causes us to amass debts, which we then have to work longer to pay off.
Shorter hours would help society to share work out more equally, reducing unemployment. This could also lead to greater gender equality and break down stereotypes as, if men worked less, they would be able to devote more time to childcare or caring for older relatives – tasks normally associated with women.
In Time on our Side, we are encouraged to think about what it really means to live ‘a good life’. If we worked less and had more time to enjoy what really matters, we might consume less, which would be good for the planet.
The authors call for curbs on advertising and higher taxes on luxury goods to encourage this.
Tine on our Side also offers some practical suggestions.
Workers, especially high earners, should negotiate for shorter working hours rather than higher pay.
The book suggests we could achieve a shorter working week over time if young people entering the workforce worked four days a week, and workers over 55 were encouraged to reduce their working time by an hour each year.
The book also introduces the concept of ‘National Gardening Leave’ – a shorter working week, coupled with an expansion of green spaces in urban areas for food cultivation.
And Time on our Side challenges us to think about the way we use our leisure time however we spend it.
The authors urge us to take up low carbon activities like meeting friends or playing games, activities which involve being, doing and interacting, and to cut down on pursuits like travel which tend to be more resource intensive.
But while working less would free us all up to do more of what we want, people with lots of responsibilities such as those with young children, or those with fewer resources, such as low paid workers would benefit less or even lose out. So any move towards a shorter working week would have to go hand-in-hand with a higher minimum wage and affordable childcare.
But we may have to go a lot further to make shorter hours work for the poorest households. The cost of essentials like housing, food and transport would also have to come down.
A study by housing charity Shelter in 2012, found that 16.5 per cent of UK households spend more than 40 per cent of their income on housing. The study was based on figures from the EU which also revealed that Britons faced the third highest housing costs in Europe.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that households still spend significant amounts on food and transport.
Nevertheless the recent economic crisis has forced many of us to think about how we work, the way we spend our time and what really matters to us.
Having less money has forced us to think more carefully about what we need, rather than what we want, to rediscover long-forgotten crafts and to delight in simplicity.
As the economy picks up there is a danger that we will slip back into the old ways – but all that consumption will ultimately lead to environmental destruction.
As Anna Coote points out in the introduction, “the crisis provides a strong incentive to think afresh and seek out alternatives.”
Story published on Women's Views on News, November 4, 2013
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