I keep thinking this.
Full time in my organisation is 37 hours (public sector) but like many places the pay hasnt kept up with inflation. They cant afford to pay more, I get that. But people arent happy and if they cant afford to increase salaries, why not just reduce the number of hours equivilent to a full time salary?
That way our hourly pay would go up without increasing the wage bill.
Obviously output would then be lower, but I feel like in a lot of areas this could we where we could start to lean into AI to cover the shortfall, or just accept that service levels will drop and prioritise.
If people had the same salaries but more time (say 30 hours working week instead of 37), they could use the extra time to do a whole load of other things that would benefit society as a whole or save the individual money:
- Use public transport to commute
- Not have to reply on wraparound care
- Proper homecooked meals instead of quick dinners out of exhaustion
- Excercise or other hobbies good for mental health
- A side hustle if they want/need more money.
Am I batshit to think this could work in some organisations and make people much happier??