What do you think the odds are that the 32 hour work week bill will get passed?

[CaoilinnsMom]

I was going to say - I work in a school. A 4 day week can’t happen.

There are many school district that already do this in the U.S. It saves money on operational costs.

 

[DVC92]

If people don't don't want to work a 40 hour week, let them find a job that requires less hours or is part time. Why is it that people don't want to work but still get paid more for doing nothing? This country is going down the tubes.

 

[JimMIA]

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/06/1013348626/iceland-finds-major-success-moving-to-shorter-work-week
I think it can be done.

It can be done, but you have to be careful what you wish for -- especially when a politician or news media source cherry-picks which facts they mention.

For example, Iceland is the country featured in that NPR story. Iceland has a 32 hour work week, and they also have the highest per capita income in Europe at +$66K US. How cool is that?!?

Ooops -- they also have a 46% income tax, so now that $66K is reduced to only $35K.

In addition to the income tax, they also have a 24% value-added tax on most items (vs 6% sales tax on most things in Florida). But they only charge 11% VAT on food (0.0% in Florida and many other states).

Be careful what you wish for.

 

[tvguy]

There are many school district that already do this in the U.S. It saves money on operational costs.

I was going to say, I thought I had heard of some districts doing this.

 

[Foxhound3857]

How does this impact hourly wages? Is everyone taking a pay cut because they're working less hours? Or are they supposed to increase hourly rates? As appealing as this sounds, I'm not sure how this is rolled out and implemented here. I don't see it passing when our current market seems to be trending towards consolidation and getting the most out of a lean workforce.

It doesn't necessarily mean everyone will be working a 32 hour week if it passes. What it means is that the threshold for overtime is reduced to 32 hours instead of 40, so any hours worked over 32 would be considered overtime and paid out accordingly.

 

[MamaMermaid]

You have better odds of winning the lottery.

Agreed.

 

[Jennasis]

Aren't you a business owner? Not sure how anybody can legislate any relief for you on that.

Yep. We self regulate....and don't always get paid

 

[dez1978]

despite reducing my hours/pay 25% i continued to receive full time employee benefits as far as health care, retirement contributions/matches and sick/vacation/pto accruals.

I would be ok with that. I'd gladly work part time for part time pay, if I could keep my insurance and pto.

when i worked salaried positions, both for public agencies and private businesses-i NEVER managed on a 40 hour schedule to actually only work 40 hours. maybe it was b/c all fell under labor laws that exempted them from overtime but i had my job duties and i had to complete them however long it took. when i worked hourly and having me stay over resulted in time and half pay there was more of an expectation on my part that i would only work 40 hours per week-but there was a greater expectation on my employer's part that my work duties could and would be completed in a 40 hour period of time.

Right? Almost every salaried employee I know, including the ones working for the gov work what we call "undertime". They always work well above the 40 hrs they are paid for and never get extra for that.

Aren't you a business owner? Not sure how anybody can legislate any relief for you on that.

They can't. But legislation like this would mean that business owners who are already doing everything they can and working 15 hr days will go under. staffing is already at a minimum. and businesses are already struggling.

 

[Allison]

White-collar work might be different, if everybody just skipped their water-cooler breaks and pushed their paper a little harder. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

It isn't different.

Pushing paper a little harder? You must not understand how hard a lot of white-collar people work.

 

[Foxhound3857]

I would be ok with that. I'd gladly work part time for part time pay, if I could keep my insurance and pto.


Right? Almost every salaried employee I know, including the ones working for the gov work what we call "undertime". They always work well above the 40 hrs they are paid for and never get extra for that.


They can't. But legislation like this would mean that business owners who are already doing everything they can and working 15 hr days will go under. staffing is already at a minimum. and businesses are already struggling.

Again though, it doesn't mean that everyone will automatically be reduced to a 32 hour week. It just means that the threshold for overtime will be reduced to 32 instead of 40, so any hours worked over 32 would be considered overtime. Likewise, that threshold would also define eligibility for full-time benefits and things like 401k.

 

[Orion Nebula]

One of my customers switched to a 4 day / 10 hour work schedule. From what I have heard they love it and having 3 day weekends is Amazing. But of course they are still getting 40 hours a week in pay. I would love personally to do that.

 

[Foxhound3857]

One of my customers switched to a 4 day / 10 hour work schedule. From what I have heard they love it and having 3 day weekends is Amazing. But of course they are still getting 40 hours a week in pay. I would love personally to do that.

Nordstrom is considering that by the start of 2022, 4/10 and 3/12 work weeks. Alas, right now everyone is on 6-day and they're taking volunteers for 10 hour shifts, so 6/10 might be coming very soon.

I don't think warehouses need to force this much overtime during holiday season just to keep up with demand, but what do I know?

 

[dez1978]

Again though, it doesn't mean that everyone will automatically be reduced to a 32 hour week. It just means that the threshold for overtime will be reduced to 32 instead of 40, so any hours worked over 32 would be considered overtime. Likewise, that threshold would also define eligibility for full-time benefits and things like 401k.

I know. But I was specifically replying to a comment where someone was working less than full time but still getting the benefits.

I'd be willing to bet that if 32 hrs becomes the threshold for fulltime, where benefits are required, you will just see hours cut and more part time employees. It's cheaper to pay more P/T ppl say 15/hr with no benefits than it is to pay fewer ppl benefits and overtime 8 hrs a week. Benefits are or can be very costly for employers. My pay stubs list my employer contributions for my benefits as well as my own. 2020, my employer paid 12,572 just for my health insurance. My portion of the premium was 4764. Then there is life insurance, LTD, and retirement. None of which they would pay on a p/t employee.

It's one of those things that sounds amazing to me on the surface, but it wouldn't play out the way they are selling it.

 

[DLgal]

Most of you seem to be misunderstanding this. It means that "full time" is now considered 32 hours a week, and overtime and full timer benefits would need to be paid out to people working that much or more. It just lowers the threshold for this to kick in. It means nothing for salaried employees.

 

[wfjny]

So, we already did it, it was not good.

My wife works for the public schools. Last year, they changed the school so that different students would go in Mon-Thurs, and all students would have Friday as a Virtual day. At first, each kids was assigned one day a week to be in school in-person. They they went to two days a week.

My wife, along with all school staff (not teachers), was given "Fridays off". Sounds great having a three day weekend every week.

Of curse, those days were without pay, so, she took a 20% pay cut. Even better, they were prohibited from using their "Sick Time" for those Friday's. So dispite my wife having about 27 sick days she has banked over the years, she could not use them to bring her paycheck back up to 100%.

On the flip side, I work in IT. With my commute going from one hour each way to 32 seconds, what I soon realized that I was working about 10 extra hours a week. In other words, I was now working from 7 AM until about 6 PM. And most of the time, my "Lunch Hour" comprised of a 5 minute trip downstairs to make a sandwich, and then eating back at my desk.

Somehow, with it not being uncommon for me to work 64 hours a week when we have some high priority projects.

Would I be blocked by law to stop working after 32 hours? There are weeks i would hit that Monday afternoon...

 

[dez1978]

One of my customers switched to a 4 day / 10 hour work schedule. From what I have heard they love it and having 3 day weekends is Amazing. But of course they are still getting 40 hours a week in pay. I would love personally to do that.

Where I work the security staff work 4/12s on a rotating schedule. Like 4 on/3 off, 3 on, 4 off. We get paid every 2 weeks. They really seem to love it. Especially when it comes to vacation time bc it allows longer vacations.

Nordstrom is considering that by the start of 2022, 4/10 and 3/12 work weeks. Alas, right now everyone is on 6-day and they're taking volunteers for 10 hour shifts, so 6/10 might be coming very soon.

I don't think warehouses need to force this much overtime during holiday season just to keep up with demand, but what do I know?

I don't know about in the "before times" but now I def think they do. Staffing levels are so bad everywhere, OT has to happen and they are still behind. Add in the holiday rush... I've seen several places starting holiday sales in Oct bc the shipping times are going to be so far out due to supply and staffing. From what I've heard, most warehouses and stores hire extra holiday employees normally. So it would make sense now when they are understaffed to begin with they'd need so much OT. Employees are getting burned out tho. Everywhere.

 

[easyas123]

It doesn't necessarily mean everyone will be working a 32 hour week if it passes. What it means is that the threshold for overtime is reduced to 32 hours instead of 40, so any hours worked over 32 would be considered overtime and paid out accordingly.

That would really hurt a lot of small business owners who are barely hanging on as it is...as someone who has to make payroll for 25-40 employees I've had some nail biting moments over the years. And if they go under, then those employees are no longer employed -

 

[Kennywood]

After I graduated from college, I interviewed with a company who ran a 12-hour day, 7 days a week schedule. BUT....you only worked every other week. Yes, you're going to be dog tired come that 7th work day, but you then have a whole week off. It was a interesting concept.

 

[JimMIA]

That would really hurt a lot of small business owners who are barely hanging on as it is...as someone who has to make payroll for 25-40 employees I've had some nail biting moments over the years. And if they go under, then those employees are no longer employed -

Yes, that's the trouble with these "simple" solutions. They assume that there would be no response at all from businesses, and no unintended consequences.

The reality is quite different, and WDW is a good example. Look at all the jobs they have eliminated, outsourced, or modified in recent years.

When you change the economic environment for any business, the business will adjust accordingly. They have to. If they don't, they go OUT of business and everyone involved (employees, customers, business owners, vendors, etc) suffers.

You can change statutory laws governing employment factors, but you can't repeal the laws of economics.

 

[mrodgers]

It's just games they play with us, that is all.