We should be following Swedish 6 hour working day, rather than the Chinese / US working model

[eedon]

Yet again more backwards encouragement in living standards. In Sweden they are now beginning to embrace the 6 hour working day as it is better for employees and employees with productivity. Yet our government are trying to push the Chinese as something we should follow, when they have well known awful employment conditions. I honestly thought it was some kind of spoof joke!

[ssd]

backfired a bit, didn't it

[Junosmum]

YANBU

[megletthesecond]

Yanbu.

[Thefitfatty]

YANBU, I've thought this for awhile. I'm far more productive the less hours a day I work (as evidenced by chatting on MN at work)

[anothernumberone]

ti be honest he would have been better off harking back to the good old days of the industrial revolution when workers were workers don't forget the great times when the 6 years went out to work too thems were the days

[eedon]

Exactly fit fatty, work are desperate for me to increase my 7.5 hour days to 9, but honestly I doubt I'll get any more work done!

[IamTheWhoreofBabylon]

YANBU
Isn't it strange how our leaders look to the most unequal societies for inspiration

[Efferlunt]

Chinese productivity isn't as good as ours (ours isn't brilliant either) so not sure what massively longer working hours would achieve.

[bloodyteenagers]

Would like to know where all these jobs are coming from and how employers are going to pay for increased hours and more wages.

[LumpySpacedPrincess]

But in order for us to do that the government would have to see us as people, with lives and children who deserve happiness etc. Surely you realise by now that that is not going to happen.

[StackladysMorphicResonator]

The Swedish thing is bullshit, no-one I know living there is actually affected by it - they said it's all in the international press but not in Sweden!

[StackladysMorphicResonator]

But YANBU - I do NOT want to work 14-hour days in a filthy, overcrowded sweatshop in China.

[Trills]

The Swedish don't actually have a six hour day - a couple of companies are trying it out and it's been hyped up over here.

[buddhasbelly]

Lived the chinese working life in various regions of china (not teaching) living in 8 to a room in dormitories (many migrant workers shifting for geographical employment-is this something hunt wants?) Dorms were arranged according to your shift pattern so that most of the workers were getting up at the same time but that didn't always happen. The lack of privacy really got to me and eventually I was moved to a 2 person dorm room (given that every other westerner working there lived in luxury accommodation I didn't feel so much of a wuss but still felt that I was being a bit entitled, although I was told that managers were indeed allowed less crowded rooms).

I would often work 12-14hr days. Your body clock would adapt but I was late teens and could manage it, now with a child probably not.

[feckitall]

Also can't see an employer paying the same amount for a 6hr day as a 8-9 hour day so therefore it equates to loss of income.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

I can't see 6 hour working days being a massive hit but Scandinavia in general appears to be able bridge the work/life balance very well indeed.

It is quite astounding the the Govn are not looking to emulate these countries.

[suzannecaravaggio]

Keep us peasants busy toiling from dawn till dusk and we have no time or energy to question the rules imposed by our overlords ?

[Iggly]

Those who voted tory, please do come along and explain yourselves and your government.

[SquinkiesRule]

If I went to a 6 hour day I'd need to commute to work 6 days a week to earn what I earn now.
Or would they increase our pay so we can work same number of days for less hours?

[legalegret]

Surely there's a middle ground between China and Sweden (probably where we are at the moment!). UK is 10th largest country by exports, Sweden is something like 28th and the drop off between the two is huge (hundreds of billions). There will be a number of relevant factors to that difference, but one will be the ability of the workforce to service international customers across time zones. Less relevant if you are a public sector worker, or a Doncaster biscuit maker selling only to Tesco UK. There's probably already a two-stream economy - I work over 12 hours each weekday, plus weekend availability, but there are lots of industries and jobs that function very effectively in the UK without that.

[winchester1]

I'm in Sweden I don't know anybody on a six hr day or any other companies looking to bring it in. Most people I known work 10-12 hr shifts (nursing, driving etc) or lots of unpaid overtime (teaching, doctors etc) or just run their own business which is a mix of long hrs and unpaid/productive time on paperwork. I really don't see massive differences to the UK.

[IKnowIAmButWhatAreYou]

I'd rather work and be paid for the 7.5 a day I'm doing now thanks.

I quite like my job, and I like the money even more .

[LittleLionMansMummy]

Yabu. We should also still be sending our children up chimneys. Unproductive, truanting little shits.

[SomethingOnce]

Jeremy Hunt, great grandson of Walter Baldwyn Yates, and 4th great grandson of John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon, 29th great grandson of King Henry I, 4th cousin once removed of Elizabeth II, and 5th cousin once removed of Sir Oswald Mosley, thinks us serfs need to work harder.

[hedgehogsdontbite]

I'm in Sweden. I don't know anyone with a 6 hour working day. DH leaves at 5.45 am and gets in at 7.45 pm.