Sanders and Fain Advocate for a Shorter Workweek, Highlight Long Hours Compared to Global Peers

US Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a bill to shorten the US workweek to 32 hours without a decrease in pay. The bill, called the Thirty-Two-Hour Workweek Act, was introduced in the Senate, and companion legislation was introduced in the House. The proposed legislation would gradually shorten working hours over three years.

Bernie Sanders and Shawn Fain penned a Washington Post Opinion article offering this data to support the bill.

• American workers are more than 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s
• In 2022, U.S. workers logged 204 more hours a year than employees in Japan, 279 more hours than those in the United Kingdom, and 470 more hours than those in Germany.
• Seventy-one percent of workers in companies that have moved to a four-day workweek report feeling less burnout, 39 percent reported feeling less stress, and 46 percent reported feeling less fatigued.

According to a recent report, 31% of U.S. tech workers work less than 40 hours per week, with younger generations taking advantage of workplace flexibility. The report also highlights that tech companies are hiring and looking to attract top talent by offering work-life balance and better benefits. Job seekers prioritize work-life balance, less stress, and improved benefits when considering new roles.

I’m going to quote the opinion piece.  “Although it is rarely discussed in the media, the Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation to establish a 30-hour workweek in 1933. While that legislation ultimately failed because of intense opposition from corporate America, a few years later President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act into law and a 40-hour workweek was established in 1940.”

I bring this up because 40 hours is arbitrary.     There’s no magic to 40 hours.    

I’m skeptical that this bill has legs for many reasons, but that’s not the focus.  The insight is that there’s room to be competitively different in adjusting your work culture and helping customers do that, too.     Arbitrary limits are the perfect place to be disruptive.