Dear MEL Topic Readers,
German workers win right to 28-hour week
How long do you want to work in a week? If you work eight hours a day, you’ll be working for 40 hours a week or about 1,900 hours a year. If you work seven hours, it’ll be 35 hours a week and nearly 1,700 hours a year. You may not mind working longer hours so much when you are motivated to achieve objectives for your career or obliged to earn more money for the family.
Certain times in life, people want or need more time to care for their family, like looking after a baby or an elderly parent. Recently, a German metal union and their employers have reached a historic agreement to allow their members to choose more flexible work hours for better work-life balance. Now their workers can choose to work as few as 28 hours a week, which is 30% shorter than most common 40-hour work week in most other countries. Even for Germany, which is well known for its high productivity, it’s a 20% reduction of work time.
Will they be able to maintain the productivity and competitiveness in today’s globalized business environment especially when AI is changing how businesses are conducted? Or, will this move pave a way to work with AI?
Enjoy reading and think how long is enough for you for now and in the future.
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