Less Is More

Less IS More In “The Gospel of Consumption”, Jeffrey Kaplan touched on the Kellogg controversy regarding their temporary experiment with a six-hour workday. This hot debate brought up the question: Which is better? A larger income or a chance to rest? It is without hesitation that I say we should have stuck to the six-hour workday. Although our current eight hour routines allow us the opportunity to earn more money, Kellogg’s experiment proved that those with shorter hours were happier and healthier community members. For starters, why don’t we delve deeper into Kellogg’s initiative? The company instituted a six hour workday in 1930. This program resulted in a minimal decline in individual pay and allowed for more workers to be hired at a time so many needed jobs. Factory workers were overjoyed; they
We have no need whatsoever for the constant production of goods. A 1927 interview of James J. Davis in Nation’s Business stated that it “may be that the world’s needs ultimately will be produced in three days’ work a week”. This means that we are spending far more time and energy manufacturing goods than is necessary. Not only does this mean more needless work for us, we are left with products engineered specifically to be thrown away or replaced to keep up with the changing times. Our society has become wasteful due to the supposed need for longer hours and constant work. This is one of the most devastating consequences that followed the eight-hour workday.
As you can clearly see, a six-hour workday was the favorable choice back in the 1930’s and is likely still the more rewarding option for our generation. For happier workers, healthier, community members, and more leisure time to spend with loved ones, the choice is obvious. Shorter workdays may have been a thing of the past but Kellogg had the right idea from the start, in this case, less is