The working day should be 9-3, standard.

[Indecisivelurcher]

The working day should be 9-3. No need for wraparound childcare, which costs £'s and tires children out. More mothers can work. We will have time to look after our elderly, which is so important with aging global populations. With a shorter working day, we have time to pursue our own interests, hobbies and clubs. Time to exercise. Time to cook from scratch. We can keep fit and look after our wellbeing, reducing costs on the NHS. To get a good uptake, clubs should be heavily subsidised, but people will have time to volunteer too, to run the local clubs, to look after green spaces. Because we'll be spending more time outdoors, we'll value our green spaces more and want to look after them. We'll spend time in town centres and hang out in cafe's, instead of just grabbing a takeaway coffee. We will spend our money on local shops instead of online. We will be a community. Time is the key, not money.

You know what? Thinking further down the line, automation of jobs will come to fore and many roles filled currently by humans will become redundant.

I think eventually we will end up working less as a result and have to have universal basic income.

Technology advances all the time. You would still need human input but for many jobs, automation will become the norm.

So basically you want to shorten the standard office day by two hours? Just put in a flexible working request to reduce your hours and crack on with enjoying life. I guess that is impossible or would lose you too much money.

But I agree with the sentiment. Really what this year has shown is that nothing has to be the way it has always been, provided everyone is prepared to be flexible and work hard to make it happen. We can and will manage. Rather than rushing back to 'normality' we as individuals together with businesses and the government should be using the opportunity to reassess what could change to make life better, happier and more productive for all

Flexibility is key, starting with business attitudes to flexible working and childcare provision. Time to change the 9-5 mon-fri mindset

It’s been popular to trial this in Sweden the past decade or so mostly in homes for the elderly etc www.google.se/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-38843341 but in the end they close all projects, mostly because of a fear of committing to actually spending money on this area. People who care for the old or infirm have to be cheap of course. (This lack of investment in elderly care has imo led to Sweden’s high death rate in Covid. It’s mostly old people.)

The workers are always happy though. Here is a NZ example www.google.se/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/asia/four-day-workweek-new-zealand.amp.html

Ah but @HogDogKetchupg Morrisons have approved less hours, gone from 40 to 37.5 houre, plus commute time saved on the 5th day, plus more working from home so you would have a nice few hours saved a week on the same pay.

I'm sure if we were all used to working 8-6 six days a week we'd be up in arms at the prospect of 9-5 for five days, doesn't mean it's not possible. Maybe not to extremes but some improvements are and can be beneficial.

Personally during covid I've been WFH full time, the hour a day I've saved commuting has been spent walking the dog each morning with DH. Good for our physical health, mental health surrounded by nature rather than starting each day in traffic, our relationship benefits from having more time to talk, Fido is happy, win win win

What about teachers? If everyone else is working 9-3 we'd need kids to be in 10-2 so we have time to get additional duties done.

To be honest I prefered starting at 6 rather than 9. Although I didn't have my child when I was working so no school run to worry about. If I do my 6 hours OP can I start at 6 please. I would be finished by lunch. Fantastic.

@x2boys

Yes I think every area should have at least one night nursery, for hospital staff if not anyone else! My Mum had to take school hour jobs for years, now she can work shifts she earns 4-5x as much per year. That's a madness, that all the years she had kids at home she was struggling to make ends meet, and now we are grown she is reaching her earning potential. Like wise I have friends who have to take part time jobs because their childcare doesn't open early/late enough. I would love to work weekends but as a lone parent I can't do that. Or evenings. It's very limiting. Even when I tried to go for a job at Aldi it said I had to be flexible to work hours that I don't know any childminder etc. That works. If I had space for a nanny or au pair, then I would be in an income bracket that would mean I didn't need to work antisocial hours necessarily. It's like a vicious circle

You know what? Thinking further down the line, automation of jobs will come to fore and many roles filled currently by humans will become redundant.

Yrs, we've never had to think about this before; it's only been happening for about 250 years, since Richard Arkwright invented the spinning jenny and the Industrial Revolution kicked off.

I think 9 - 3 is pretty awkward timings, but a shorter standard working week - luke 4 days or more companies having an early shift and a late shift might work better.less hpurs might mean less pay for a specific individual, but more pay for another if the work is shared out a bit more. Lots of people hit bottle necks in their career when the positiob above is filled by skmeone working 80 hours a week and not training their replacement.

My great grandmother had to work school hours throughout her kids childhood, my grandmother had to work school hours when she had young kids, my mum had to work school hours when she had young kids, now I have young kids and am having to work just in school hours. I come from a long line of hard working mothers (and feminists!) and yet not that much has changed in 100 years. It's crazy. I used to work 9am-6pm and that was only possible (even with full time nursery provision) because my ex did the drop offs and pick ups. Now as a lone parent, I can't do that. And I can't afford full time fees for all my kids without pulling a very good wage. I used to think that women saying they had to just claim benefits or work part time and claim benefits because they couldn't afford to work were pulling a fasts one. But I've crunched the numbers, and find myself in that situation. It's frustrating. We have a very high prevalence of divorce and single parents in this country, but a system that does not work for most of them

9am is too early, 10-4 and I agree! Even better, 11-5!

I wouldn't be able to pay my basic bills on a 9-3 salary, so how on earth am I going to be able to afford to spend more in local shops, or hang out in cafes? (which I did do with a full time job incidentally - it's called a lunch hour!).

@MissSarahThane

You know what? Thinking further down the line, automation of jobs will come to fore and many roles filled currently by humans will become redundant.

Yrs, we've never had to think about this before; it's only been happening for about 250 years, since Richard Arkwright invented the spinning jenny and the Industrial Revolution kicked off.

The past is a foreign land. The industrial revolution opened up the economy for many. Robotics may have the opposite effect. Many jobs will surely be automated. We already have less manufacturing than we used to after the industrial revolution. Can't see the cotton mills near my house opening up as factories any time soon.

@Eagle hopefully other things would change too that would bring bills down. To list just a couple that might, home energy efficiency improvements will have to be rolled out on a massive scale if the government is going to hit its targets around net zero carbon emissions by 2050 (nevermind 2030), and locally generated community owned renewable energy could reduce bills, wind power is already cheaper than fossil fuels, and they need to be taxes more. Your childcare if you have any could reduce. Food bills will really change in the future due to leaving the EU and the introduction of the new agri-environment schemes that change the onus away from over production. Lots going on already...

Hard to say where all those changes will get us, I'm trying to be optimistic here.

Ps this is still a theoretical discussion, but I do realise there would be real world consequences. Luckily I am not PM... Just think it needs taking about.

Fabulous.

My employer is open 24/7 though so it wouldn't work. Not everyone works in an office.

Drop off is 8.50, pick up is 3.20

Not if the working day is 9-3 - that will presumably include teachers in the OP's utopia, so drop off is at 9am and pick up is at 3pm as that's when the school opens and closes!

Still with an hour for lunch? If 9 to 3, pay should be reduced to reflect the reduced time working.

PhilCornwall1 I'm not in the UK any more so can't remember whether it's different, but there's usually no break on a 6 hour shift. Going over 6 hours triggers a minimum half hour break, over 9 hours total break must be at least 45 minutes.

I think that's the EU working time directive which is what most UK companies should still be working by at the moment.

A 9-3 day in my industry is considered pre-lunch.

I’d prefer a long school day. 8 til 4 with optional (very cheap) before and after sessions 7-8 and 4-6.
My children went to a school with this structure and it was brilliant.

Anything over six hours means you're legally entitled to a twenty minute break.

Really a 7am to 1pm shift and a 1pm to 7pm shift sounds sensible - parents can work opposite shifts school day 10am - 4pm. Teachers job share and do the same shifts, with all marking, planning and paperwork done in the 3 hours before/ after shift.

Sorry, before/ after children arrive/ leave