People that defend 40+ hours a week for operate is barely coping that they have to do it

i actually think people work best for only 4 - 5 hours a day, which works out to be around 20 - 25 hours a week.

This is so common in construction. I worked 7 10s or 6 10s so that means you need to too or your lazy. No Bill you have shoulder and knee issues since you worked yourself to exhaustion. Anything that makes the work easier or not as hard on your body is godless communism.

I assume people who defend working more than 40 hours a week hate their family and want to spend as little time home as possible. At least that's been the case with every single workaholic I've known personally.

Well there's people defending work as a concept because "what would you do otherwise" like they have no interests, hobby or even purpose without work. I dream of work as a concept being gone completely...

The brainwashed will defend their indoctrinations to death. To think a different way would break their psyche, to realize they joyfully gave away their whole entire life, just to keep a roof over their head.

Americans have been brainwashed to be workaholics.  Tell any current European white-collar employee about the work culture in America with no universal health insurance, no paid FTO and practically non-existant unions and they will look at you like you're deranged.

I once told a friend we should have a 4 day work week. He said "Oh so you work 10 hours a day for 4 days?" No. Eww.

No, someone of them actually enjoy it. They crave it. My ex is one of those. She loves to work. All her favorite people are former or current work pals, most of her stories are from work or work trips. These people live to work, not the other way around, and we’ve put them in ...

Where are all these people defending the 40 hour work week besides CEOs?

Don’t you love it when billionaires get to arbitrarily decide what a “normal” work day/week means for the rest of us? Ironically enough, 2026 marks the 100 year anniversary of Henry Ford implementing the 8 hour/5 day work week at his plants. Thanks for the Stockholm Syndro...

I had a manager who thought the idea of working 4 days a week was amazing, but always added working 10 hours a day to his vision, like he couldn't imagine a world where people worked less than 40 hours a week.

Make sure to clock out for lunch wagie!

The people I work with are probably a little insane. They agree 40 hours a week is stupid, but when I tell them I’m aiming to retire at 55 they say “what would you do instead? Wouldn’t you be bored?” (For the record I’m 40 and have never been bored a day in my life, even as a ...

Yeah if most people were offered the same pay for half the hours they’d probably take it instantly. I’ve had weeks where hitting 40 hours felt like it dragged forever, especially when the work itself wasn’t that meaningful. A lot of people defend it mostly because it’s the sys...

I’ve always said people who think working 40+ hours a week is fine are just lazy. Like you don’t want to think for yourself, that’s why you like work. You clock in and someone else tells you what to do. You don’t want to write a book or learn to paint or tend a garden, you jus...

Of course. I doubt you'd find many people who want to work 40 hours or more a week. When people talk about it in a less than negative way, I assume they just accept reality. It sucks, but it's the norm in the US and necessary in most careers if you want health insurance. Wha...

They’re also probably boring people with no hobbies

This reminds me of a recent Beavis & Butthead episode where they are both offered a job paying $18 an hour. "This job's gonna take an hour? Ugh, forget it!" They're more switched on than we give them credit for!

I have colleagues that work more because they want to. I asked why, they all pretty much said they have a wife and kids that scream at home.

They are a detrimental to humanity and should be humiliated publicly for their stupidity and for their negative impact on culture and human rights.

And even if it’s a job you are “passionate” about, you still shouldn’t have to work 40 hours a week! Genuinely exhausted by the “it is what it is mindset”

Is anyone else’s job pushing OT to meet job requirements, the minimum? Or the jargon of “this isn’t really a 9-5” but the shift in the description is? Lol. Or “maybe this isn’t for you” it isn’t for me bc I have a life and family and don’t want to work 60 hours a week? My soul...

Or they always say “but what will I do the rest of the day??” Like idk READ or play video games or something ?? Have some fun Jesus

Even with breaks, my brain and decision making slows down around the 5-6 hour mark in the workday, regardless of what shift it is. Although at my current employer, there are no defined break times, you have to take it when you can, so most don't leave their desks for more than...

Pay off house, reduce hours. At this point, just reduce hours and struggle sounds like a better option

I already feel like I have no time to do anything working 40 hours a week, and now my job is starting mandatory overtime 🙃 ive already been updating my resume, but the job market is ass right now and i cant do physical labor bc of chronic illnesses

Must be nice. I work over 60-80 hours a week. I am just a zombie employee these days trying to survive while insurance cost is high, cost of living is high, inflation is high and my mental health is shot.

Totally agree. Moreover, people that defend wage labor are also just coping. When you say that it is almost slavery people usually become angry because it’s easier for them to deny it. The most popular arguments I’ve heard are: - You are just being lazy - Labor made a human o...

If the people are hourly, maybe they’re doing it for the money. My father-in-law uses to do 7 days a week 12 hours a day at Ford and was making decent money with overtime in the late 90s, early 00s. It allowed my wife’s family to live above their means. For salaried people, ...

There are obviously people who work that amount and love it. The problem is they're so myopic they can't conceive of the fact that many people don't love their work, but simply have to do it.

I work 36 hours a week and I do 3/12s. They’re the same days of 3/12s a week every week. Although I work every weekend, still worth it because I get four days off in a row.

I feel that those kinds of people generally don’t have any real passions or hobbies outside of work. Work is to them,however mundane, their hobby.

Noone feels they are paid enough per hour so the double hit is when employers get silly about taking time off, and wont allow it because they have merged 2 jobs into 1 job meaning you cant have day off without stupidity from HR. Optimum has to be 3 days work.

I think people who don’t want reduced work hours are worried that they will also receive less pay with it.

I’m in a weird position because I work 65 hours a week. So I’ve been “brainwashed” into thinking that 40 hours a week ain’t that bad. But I feel like people should work 25 to 30 hours a week and still be able to get the same amount of money to support themselves.

We have systemic issues with work in our society and working less should be the goal of everyone. However I see alot of people flame out because they work as little as possible, build no reserves and eventually bad luck and financial emergencies put them in a hole untill they...

I think the \*passionate\* is key here. and let’s be honest. all jobs aren’t ‘jobs’. everyone isn’t out here digging ditches. im currently going into work to keep my projects going while having been laid off (thx Doge). im a scientist. any person working in this field would...

I ain't defending it but I do love the overtime money that I get at 50 hrs. 120k a year in Houston is pretty good. It doesn't hurt that the job is chill and the owners are cool.

A lot of people dislike their families and see being more time at work as a means to the end of staying less time at home. I have a coworker who is like that. His wife is, let's say, difficult, and he has 3 teenage daugthers. He is often first to come and last to leave the of...

So I’m sure some data nerd will come in and show the BLS stats that average work week is 32 hours in the US. But what they omit is that average includes part-time jobs, and a lot of companies are now defining their work week as “35 hours”, which means they do some creative mat...

Yep. I’m currently fighting to work my 37.5 from home because I’m immunocompromised and have serious spinal arthritis. Over the weekend I categorized all the hours of my calendar meetings and ran a pivot since my job *is* mostly work from home with very occasional travel and i...

There is also a name for this phenomenon. It's called "Stockholm Syndrom".

I agree. I work 40 hours a week and only do a few hours of work a week

Im passionate about my job and work for myself and I still don’t want to do it more than 40 hours a week, I love what I do and it still sucks

Tying wage to hours worked rather than work performed is probably one of the biggest parts of the problem. Yes its a 'fair' way to determine pay in some ways, but its has its problems. In my job, I'm in manufacturing, we have a target number of product to produce during a shi...

If you’re thinking hourly, you need to think bigger. The only options are more hours, or figure out how to make more money in less hours. Play to your strengths, demand what you’re worth, never stop growing.

Correct

If the 40 work week wasn't bad enough, now there are people defending the modern slavery calling it 9-9-6. How can someone surrender their live to a company working 12 hours a day 6 days of the week!? Worst part most do it for "AI companies" that will most likely fire them on...

Agree.

I didnt have to. I wanted to. The job had its moments but the time and a half over 40 hours, then double time for Sundays/holidays at $25 an hour made it worth it. Weekends and holidays were always laid back.

I work on the service side of the oilfield and quite often put in excess of 200 hours in a 15 day hitch.

I've seen economic studies looking at labor value per hour for all sorts of industries. I'm not sure if these are hard to come by, not. I don't hear much about them. They may be called something else in academic parlance. The one statistic that is lodged in my brain is that m...

I'm currently recovering from surgery and I am dreading going back to work because being home has been great. Getting a lot done!

Please let me know when you find an employer wllling to pay a 40 hour salary for 20 hours of work.

At work for 40 hours but I don't think I actually work all of those hours.

idk if defend is the right word. maybe thankful since is worse.

I work at a job where the wages directly represent the work (flat rate). We would gladly work 60 hours a week.

I am a trucker. It is kinda f’d up.

Sidebar: does 9-5 typically include a lunch break? I always thought so but my employer suddenly started saying no it doesn't, so we're effectively expected to work 9-6. Most of my coworkers seem to have just accepted this but to me they just quietly moved the goal post are get...

I just got Ada accommodations to work 30 hours a week That’s what everyone should be on

even if i was really passionate about something, doing it for 40+ hours is still a lot lol. even 40 hours. we just need time to breath and be human sometimes

When you factor in holidays, sick time, and PTO, I work an average of 35 hours/week. That said, I would gladly work and get paid my current hourly rate for 32/week (4x8) IF it still came with the PTO and benefits.

Only way I could see defending it is seasonal work. You work 3-5 months out of the year really hard, and then get the rest of the year to relax / recoup. This can be seen in Alaska with fishing. You bust ass during the season, but then can do nothing outside of it. But, if you...

Bro I work with people who work on their day off unpaid , after hours they are logging in and providing support. Like it blows my mind.

Those are the people with unlimited overtime and get paid $250 an hour.

facts, I might not clock out at 3-4pm, but my brain certainly does

I switched from an hourly job that was 42.5 per week to a salary one where I average 25 per week and the difference it makes is absolutely insane.

I work for the city and I know some lonely ppl who email at 3 in the morning

are just coping..

Burnt out at every job i worked at cos i stupidly worked the 8 hours. Was always the most productive guy. But my current job, that all changed. Managed to get myself a 4 day workweek, had to take reduced pay of course. And i barely do 4 hours of work on those days. Needless ...

I think 4 days for office work is fine, for production jobs 3.5/4 would also be fine considering that opens up a "second week" where the first guy is off and another guy could continue the job. this creates more job opportunities and it'll also allow 24/7 production so basical...

I don't defend it, but it's really not that bad.

Is it working 40hrs, or how much you’re paid for that 40hrs that’s the issue? Does someone making over $300k/yr have the same issue?

I'd be down for 10 hours for 4 days since I am young. Though, that's because I currently work 12+ for like less than $20 I think

i work 30 hours a week at a corporate job (took a pay cut) and it’s the best thing i ever did

I had a job where j was working 30 hours a week. I had a set schedule at a pizza restaurant making the pizza sauxe and making the dough before opening. My boss even let me listen to music/podcasts while working as I wasn't customer facing at all. I miss that job. At last I wa...

5 hours is my limit before I start shutting down. 4. Is ideal.

The rest of the 8 hours is usually meetings, emails and pretending to be busy.

Adult daycare to keep people in check and turning to crime or overwhelming the government

Consider lucky work 9-5. I work 8-5 with 1 hour unpaid lunch.

I wouldnt even do my most favorite thing in the world if it was for forty hours a week or more. For 40+ years also. I gotta switch and refresh. And making it mandatory also sucks all the fun out of it sometimes too. Anyone who has played gachas or mmos doing dailies or are wor...

I’m passionate about my work. I work ~52 hours a week. Plus 10-15 hours a week commuting. I’m exhausted. The thing I find most exhausting of all is that, though I spend that time doing tasks I love, I’m not doing tasks I choose. I make things. I make a lot of things for a lo...

Id work no hours for the same pay. I'm not sure what your point is

Currently reintegrating after spending a few months off sick (much better now). In slowly building up and have made it to 5x4 hours a week. I realise I am doing about 80% of the work I used to do at 40 hours a week already. Me being 100% effective at 20 hours is just as produ...

40 hours a week worked great when you only needed one income to support a family. 40 a week sucks out loud when you have two incomes in the household and are still struggling. The entire system has gone tits up and far too few people realize it.

Overtime as a benefit is actual lunacy

Of course no-one want to do it. But I feel like it's a perfectly reasonable way to support your own existence. Try being a foreger in the caveman times, or a farmer in the medieval times. Or a factory worker in the 20th century. Or a 9-5 office worker today. Each one is ...

Mostly agree but some jobs just demand more hours, like nursing, medicine, surgery, service jobs in general, etc.

If anyone thinks our ancestors worked 40 hours a day, they are crazy. If anyone thinks that they worked more than a couple hours a day they’re crazy.

I do around 25 hours a week making decent money and live pretty okay all things considered I make around 1400/mo and spend 1k on rent with budgeting I spend abt 45$ on my phone bill per month and around 150 on food leaving me around $200 where I save half

The hours of work per week is not the issue, it's the compensation for your time which determines if its worth it or not. Sadly in many cases the compensation is so low people have to work long hours to make ends meet

When working for anyone that has all the power to throw your life into chaos.....any amount of hours is too much simply because of the risk alone.

Kinda. I work less than 40, but bcs usually the projects are easy, but, last month I had to work 40 or more even bcs there was this gigantic project lol like it was impossible to finish it in 15 hs weekly like I usually do lol Basically, sometimes things can be improved, but s...

😂😂😂😂 I mean here's what we know. We're essentially in a Minecraft server and in order to keep our character alive we have to obtain food shelter and water. So yeah you got to put in the time. Do you want to go live in a forest next to a stream and just forage for your f...

Lol you pretend like you would do anything with your time other than scroll and swipe. People who work less than 40 hours a week are always lame. Literally the most boring and lazy people in the world.