4 Day Work Week
English 112 Monday
12/06/10
Proposal: Four Day Work Week
I propose that we implement a four day work week over the conventional five day work week. 1938 was the year that the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed. This act stated that there was a need for a standardized work week, and that the new standard work week was to be eight hour days, five days a week. There need for this act stemmed from employers taking advantage of their employees and working them to many hours a day and to many days a week. The basis for the eight hour work day was really on nothing other than an idea that a twenty four hour day divided into three assumed eight hour segments sounded logical. One eight hour segment was for sleep, the second for work, and the third for recreational time. As for the idea of working five day work weeks with a two day weekend, who knows?
There are a lot of reasons for switching to 4 day work week. All of these reasons promote the better well-being of the government and economy, the businesses involved, and the individuals themselves. There would be less traffic on the roads. You could assume that with a third day off that more people would opt to stay home that day, or that if people went out it would not be in rush hour traffic at least. With less traffic, the pollutants that cars emit into the air would be lessened, which is also good for keeping tree hugging hippies off our backs. The fewer cars driving throughout the week would also help keep down the amount of road work that would need to be done. Paying for the labor, materials, and equipment necessary to maintain roadways is very expensive, and quite a lot of money could be saved if there were fewer cars out terrorizing road surfaces. With less traffic and fewer people driving throughout the week it is predicted that the number of auto accidents would decrease. This would inevitably lower insurance rates, both auto and medical, which would be more money in your pocket. Probably
12/06/10
Proposal: Four Day Work Week
I propose that we implement a four day work week over the conventional five day work week. 1938 was the year that the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed. This act stated that there was a need for a standardized work week, and that the new standard work week was to be eight hour days, five days a week. There need for this act stemmed from employers taking advantage of their employees and working them to many hours a day and to many days a week. The basis for the eight hour work day was really on nothing other than an idea that a twenty four hour day divided into three assumed eight hour segments sounded logical. One eight hour segment was for sleep, the second for work, and the third for recreational time. As for the idea of working five day work weeks with a two day weekend, who knows?
There are a lot of reasons for switching to 4 day work week. All of these reasons promote the better well-being of the government and economy, the businesses involved, and the individuals themselves. There would be less traffic on the roads. You could assume that with a third day off that more people would opt to stay home that day, or that if people went out it would not be in rush hour traffic at least. With less traffic, the pollutants that cars emit into the air would be lessened, which is also good for keeping tree hugging hippies off our backs. The fewer cars driving throughout the week would also help keep down the amount of road work that would need to be done. Paying for the labor, materials, and equipment necessary to maintain roadways is very expensive, and quite a lot of money could be saved if there were fewer cars out terrorizing road surfaces. With less traffic and fewer people driving throughout the week it is predicted that the number of auto accidents would decrease. This would inevitably lower insurance rates, both auto and medical, which would be more money in your pocket. Probably
Cited: Byron, Christopher. “How Japan Does It.” Time Magazine. 30 Mar. 1981. Web. 2 Dec. 2010. Magas, Glenn. “Pros and cons of the four day workweek.” Helium. 2010. Web. 4 Dec. 2010. < http://www.helium.com/items/1676495-pros-and-cons-of-the-four-day-workweek> Newton, Aaron. “The 4 Day Work Week.” GroovyGreen. 20 Sep. 2007. Web. 3 Dec. 2010. <http://www.groovygreen.com/groove/?p=2223> Peterson, Janice. “Study finds four day work week optimal.” DailyHerald. 9 Jun. 2008. Web. 4 Dec. 2010. Vanden Bos, Peter. “How To Implement A Four-Day Work Week.” Inc. 7 Apr. 2010. Web. 3 Dec. 2010.