Topic: Working hours | How many are too many? (Read 858 times)

I certainly agree, too many is when you aren't able to take care of your mental and physical health anymore. Earning is important but we might miss the more important things in our lives including our time for ourselves and our loved ones. We should still be enjoying life despite working so hard. Our health and social life should still be valued.

There is also a saying hard work is better than smart work
Sometime hour does not matter but the procedure and way to do the task matter. I would prefer smart work and save my time an energy for a better me!

the more you work and the more you earn - well be less.
In this time of struggle - the more is always very less

Now in a bear market, I try to work overtime if I have the opportunity. I decided for myself that this is a good time to earn a little more, because it will give me the opportunity to buy a little more bitcoin now, and in the future I can make additional profit from it. When the market turns bullish I will stop working overtime because it is very difficult work like this all the time.

Too many would be when you're at the point you have no balance, meaning you don't have enough time for yourself, family, or have to forgo some things you would like to do because of the job.  It's one thing if you have a temporary goal you are trying to accomplish, but it's another if this becomes routine/permanent.

I believe that once you go over 50 hours of work is way too many hours however, this may differ due to a number of things, for example having to do a lot of physical labor for more than 10 to 12 hours in one day.

Or having to stand and do the heavy lifting for long hours that by the time you leave your job you so tried that this thing can make a person reconsider their options and look for another job with less labor and more pay.

Now whereas people who don't do a lot of heavy labor and work at an office for example will deal with more mental stress than physical, this usually comes with more pay and fewer hours that make more life suitable.

Working in the office for 8 hours a week This means that you only work 1 hour less per day at the office in addition to the hours you travel from home to work. May I know what office is that? Because it is a very short time in working in an office and so far I have not found a formal office with such working hours. So this is surprising me and in terms of gardening I think it makes more sense than your hours in an office.

8 hours a week in the office? I guess that's a good setup with the number of hours you're going to the office or is it that you mistyped it and that's really 8 hours a day?

I don't have a background in gardening but seriously, you're taking that much time for doing the whole thing? How huge is your backyard or it seems that you're gardening with a truly huge field?

In my country, Indonesia, the average work system is 5 days a week (office employees), but of course it is very relative to employees in other agencies who are not office employees. If the system is 5 working days, then the working hours in a day are 9 hours which means 45 hours in a week or 180 hours a month. So far I have working hours ± 36 hours during the week, it's not a problem and I really enjoy it.

Having a 4 day work week seems difficult if you work in a government agency, but if you are the boss for your business then of course you will have lower working hours than your employees. Besides I don't know if there is any difference between 4-6 working days a week, we work to earn money not just to work. Meaning if your working hours go down, I'm sure your income will also decrease but this is about non government type of work.

Typical for almost every country with basic labor laws is 40 hours a week or 8 hours per day, 5 days per week with the weekend off as rest. The real thing, workers in the manual labor jobs are being pressured to work more than that, 40 hours plus ~10 hours more in overtime. Countries in Asia like Japan, Korea, and China have it worse. Overtime seems like a normal thing even in white collar jobs, not just manual labor jobs. I remember China has the 996 motos that every company in China applied. This means you work from 9 AM to 9 PM, 6 days a week. That's like 72 hours per week, hot damn!

In my country most works resume in the morning by 8:00am to to close by 1pm, 3pm and 5pm respectively base on the nature of the work but many starts at the opening hours of 8:00am and on an average range we could conclude on 8-4 which is approximately 8 working hours per day and we have a good 5 working days in a week which is monday to friday.


Pretty good, but know that it all depends on the nature of the work, some are shifting job, some have off days, some work on weekends and then the negotiation made on the wages paid will all be considered in this aspect.

In my country (Indonesia) working hours are regulated very flexibly based on the auspices under the legal umbrella that has been regulated by the government. The regulation of working hours has been regulated in Law No. 13 of 2003 concerning Manpower. For real working hours, normal working hours have been included in company regulations and collective labor agreements.

• 7 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week for 6 working days with 1 rest day in 1 week.
• 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week for 5 working days with 2 rest days in 1 week.

However, apart from the laws that have been set by the government regarding normal working hours, the working hours regulations are regulated according to the needs or industry of a particular company.
In other words, the rules of working hours that have been determined by the government are only a basic calculation and are not standard in nature, all return to the agreement in the work contract agreed by the employee and the company.

With fewer working days, of course, the level of thinking about work will be more focused. but if working hours are reduced, of course the problem is how the level of production effectiveness in the company decreases, if it decreases, the company's burden will be even greater. and an employee if added days off, usually they will look for additional work to earn money, the result is the same as there is no reference to their brain to prepare to go back to work

The work week will be 4 days much better than 5 days a week. Reducing the working hours imposed on a person gives a lot of positive results while carrying out the required work better. A little work gives the person comfort and makes him more energetic, energetic and motivated to work, I was a full-time employee and now I quit the job and work on my own, I realized the big difference between being an employee who is forced to work a set number of hours every day throughout the week and being free to work at times of your own choosing and not being forced.

I think that's the standard working hours, which is 8 hours, except if there are days that you need to do some overtime because you need the money or the company requires it. The only thing I don't like working 8 hours here in my country is being underpaid, and also I hate the fact that there's a salary difference each job, I mean we are all trying to put food in our tables therefore everyone should get the same exact minimum salary.

For example, if you're a construction worker here in my country, you'll get a minimum salary of $8 per day, if I'm not mistaken, and when you're working in a company like a call center, I think the bare minimum is $10-$12 per day (correct me if I'm wrong).

It's just sad that the work that requires no diploma or any educational background are being discriminated too much and underpaid too much, they also need the money so why.

If you do have loan then you wouldnt really be having no choice but to work on hours which you shouldnt really be working on the first place.There are instances or situations which you would really be

needing to work more or hard to patch up with those loans if ever you do have one.Unless if those hours are permitted or you would really be finding out another source of income or work
for resolving the current problems you do have.

Usually day jobs do have 8-10 working hours and beyond that then this is where we do have that called Overtime.

I'm one of those people who doesn't mind how many hours I have to work, the most important thing is according to the pay I get. It must
be admitted  that many companies do not pay their employees when they work overtime,  the reason the company doesn't pay employees
when they work overtime is loyalty to the company, that's a ridiculous reason to me. What's sad is that many employees are willing to work
overtime without getting paid, only because if they refuse they will be fired by the company and it will be difficult to find a replacement job.
That's why we must continue to improve our skills, so that our chances of getting a job are greater. So if we are not happy with our current job,
we can easily get a replacement job if our skills continue to improve.

I have worked in a bank for 4 years, although my salary is quite large, but because I never get paid when working overtime, that's the reason
why I resigned from the bank where I work. Now I'm happier as an entrepreneur, although the income I get is not fixed, at least I feel flexible
with my working hours. The more diligently I spend time at work, the greater the results I will get.

It depends a lot on your work and if you really enjoy it. Some jobs are so mechanical that even doing it for one hour is inhuman and only apt for those who can't choose. However, it has been known that many professionals do enjoy their jobs up to the point that they do not want to quit under any circumstance, so you can see teachers and other working hours and hours.

I see in your situation OP is a dying scheme, overused. I'd see how important to keep our body healthy as we are also productive and could think so well.
I have experience working 11-12 hours a day and only 1 rest day per week but considering the nature of my job, it never takes so long and my immune system had give up. Indeed we have to work hard but also we don't have to forget to take care of ourselves and having enough rest is very important because once our health/immune system is down, that was even worse to happen.

That's the reason it's not applicable for every sector; it could be useful in technology, IT departments, accounting, or marketing services. Certainly, it cannot be applied to every instance, but a workaround can be implemented to still keep your business open for 5 days while adopting the 4 work days a week plan by simply distributing your workers' day off. Some will work from Monday to Thursday and others from Tuesday to Friday. Honestly, while it sounds ideal, I believe that it won't be widely embraced by employers, and it's understandable for the reasons you mentioned earlier. Personally, I'd be happy if I even had weekends off while working 8 hours per day, 5 days a week, and 20 to 24 days of paid time off (PTO).


If you're an entrepreneur and it's your own business, it's understandable to work your ass off, especially at the very start of your business. No matter how much you enjoy your job, you should never neglect your personal time.

Honestly I am not like this, I do not believe in this situation. If you like your job, which I do, then you can work 24 hours straight and you would be happy about it. However if you hate it, even 1 hour is terrible. I have never been a good student, I hated school, but as soon as I started working, I took more and more whenever I can, I did the jobs and tasks that others didn't want to, I worked as many hours as I possibly can, life sometimes makes sure that you can't, but whenever I can, I tried to work as hard as possible.

This is why I believe that I have been in a good job, and if I am required to work 24 hours, sometimes I do that, and I am very happy to do it. I get paid for it anyway, not like I am tricked into working, I work hard, but I am very well rewarded for it too.

In my country, 8 hours is the standard daily working hours. But in reality, many of our companies and employers provided too much work to do that it consumes 10 to 12 hours daily. Overtime works are just fine if people are getting paid for their extra working hours. But many of our employers here are not paying for extra time spent at work. Some are paying but not the usual standard rate. And many jobs in my country wherein people need to work 6 days a week instead of just 5 days. These are just some of the reasons why many left for other countries to find better jobs.

Formally I work in the office about 8 hours a week, but the trip can reach around 3 hours so that almost 12 hours time is used for the road and work, when it is off then I garden from morning to evening or more than 10 hours, this is because more and more needs that must be fulfilled.

40-48 hours/week is common working hours in my country especially for the government sector, for the private sector it may be slightly different and it depends on the regulations in the company.
My working time is the same as most people in my country which is 40-48 hours/week.
If a 4 day work/week can be implemented that's good in my opinion because people will have more time to rest and do other things. Especially in my country, quite a lot of people live very far from they workplace so it can take up to 2 hours or maybe more to get to work, meaning that in a day they spend 4 hours on transportation and 4 working days will allow them to save on transportation costs and time, but I'm quite doubtful it will be implemented soon in my country, because as far as I remember the implementation of 5 working days in the country is carried out slower than many other Asian countries.

This is a question that can only be answered by those who correctly judge for themselves the number of hours they spend working. If you're honest with yourself, you might be surprised how much time is spent on billable hours. For example, people in Canada and Australia work less than in the US or UK. However, those who live there are more productive and make more money. In my view, All countries seem to be in the 2x-3x range. If I had to speculate, I would say that at least a third of it is not working but paying the bills or other annoyances associated with running your own business.

That depends on the nature of the Job actually, not all can be delivered from home but I think the online skills can be delivered online without any discomfort to the employer and the employee, that could save a lot of expenses.
The Idea of working for 4 days a week is actually working in some part of the Nigeria North, Kaduna Precisely where Public and Private Teachers are to work from Monday to Thursday and their weekends start from Friday and it is still working, the idea was implemented by the Governor.
I think companies that do work from Monday to Saturday and Sunday are just meant to stress the hell out of employees, they could even go overtime and the pain full thing is that you don't get paid for extra hours in all these types of companies.

There are studies out there that suggest 4 day work weeks, 40 hours/wk, increase productivity versus a 5 day work week with the same hours. Though, a 4 day work week only has limited practice in most countries so the studies are a small sample size.

I wouldn't be oppose to 4 day work weeks in the private sector for office related jobs. Seems that most of their tasks could be performed from home anyways, perhaps a 4 day work week and 1 day working from home. With energy costs rising, it might be more economical for corporations to keep operating costs down by shortening the week too.

Here in the United States 40 hours is typically a pretty standard week. I personally will spend some weeks working around 35 hours and others working around 45-50 hours, just depending on how my work week plays out. I think working anything over 50 hours would start having negative effects on your performance.

Hi to OP, neighbor from opposite side of Aegean sea. I am from Türkiye. I personally work 40 hours a week. My job is far lower than average for Türkiye. In general most people here work more than 55 hours here.
I personally like idea of working 3 or 4 days a week. In 2022 modern times I feel like we work too much than what is necessary. Most jobs are possible to be done through computers and internet anyways. I always remind my friends that working class should definitely try hard for 4 days a week job. Keynes once said we were gonna need lot less hours to work in future. Yet we still spend hours at job.

Due to the level of unemployed rate and the lack of job opportunities in my country. Any job you managed to secure, there is every inclination that you are going to work 8 hours per day for 5 days a week, depending on the type of job.
The kind of job that you will be working like an elephant and receiving minor pay. You will find a workload of two people given to one person to work, all in the name of you're working to be paid monthly

You should take care of yourself. It's the actual investment that you use and your partner to earn money so it should be the first thing to take care of. Because once you feel some unusual health conditions, it will affect your daily work or worse, you can no longer work because of it.
It really sucks that as an employee, we need to allocate overtime if they dictate to tell it when you're already set an appointment or told your family that you'll go home early. But you can contest those things if you have to and I've seen those people posting it anonymously in reddit that instead of contesting it, they're quitting when they're always treated like that.

If the salaries are not affected, then this is extremely unprofitable for employer. Paying for a 4 day work similar to 5 day work is disastrous, as you pay more for less job done.

As to my job, I remember we had a working day 8:30 to 5 with a 30min lunch break, later it has changed into 9 to 6 with 1 hour lunch break. Same 8 hour working day, but it is more profitable for employer. Previously a lot of people were late for job and 30 min lunch break last almost for an hour, as it is impossible to have a lunch in such a short time in our surrounding. Now people rarely came late for job and instead of 1 hour lunch spend around 45min.

I find 8 hour working day 5 times per week perfect timetable. If I work more, similar to you, I wont have time for a proper rest and do my own things.

In my country the usual employment contracts includes a 40 hours week, which is a rough indication because in many sectors they rely on overtime and even if you got a 30 or 35 hour contract you might have to work longer each week to finish work in time. I would say that most people work at least 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, with 1 hour lunch break. Saturday and Sundays are usually off with only people in the service industry have to work on those days. A 4 work day week sounds awesome and I would like to see my country try it out for some time. Among my friends I know that several wifes work only part time, a 20 day week which is usally 4 days with 5 hours. Like this they can be home in the afternoon and look after the children. Problem is that it results in a big paycut and with energy and rent prices increasing each year it might be necessary for both spouses to work fulltime again.

So talking about increasing the working hours and reducing days is almost impossible in those places so we have to take them out of these discussion.

Yes it is pretty bad to abuse the employees by the employers but its the job of government to ensure the safety and better policies for the workers by whatever company is operated in their region.

I actually forgot to quote the articles that covered this topic. In them, it was mentioned that salaries were not affected/reduced in those who embraced the 4 work days/week. Supposing that's true, I'll agree with you, you're way more likely to spend more money having 3 days off. Personally, I wouldn't mind, I'm currently working with no actual day off, 16 hours a day, with only a few exceptions on Sunday and Monday (12 hours and 8 hours respectively), and I'm hardly spending any money. Honestly, I regret it, I don't have time to even have a proper break to vent and relax, I'm constantly stressed and tired. It's not worth it, no matter how much money you might earn.

My free personal time is vital for my well-being and cannot be bought off with any kind of money.

While it is true that technically eight hours per day five days a week is the standard around the world, the problem is that many times people have to work way more than that and they receive no payment for it, and many people are willing to accept that kind of treatment because getting a job is difficult and if they do not accept it they may get fired and they may need months or even years before they find another job, employers know this which is why they abuse their employees and make them work for longer than what they should.

In here, they are working mostly at 9am-5pm for 6 days(Sunday off) on some industrial services, constructions, offices, factories etc. That's round up to 48 working hours/week with really low wage compared to other countries.

The thing about working on less than 6 days/week that in here it requires you to actually have good bachelor degree to even enroll in those companies. But yet, most of the people here are uneducated hence they'd prefer to work at the aforementioned jobs. They wanted to have less work hours but in reality they can't do that with the uneducated skills.

Degree isnt something that could give out guarantees on someone's success and its indeed true that no degree holders could outmatched those who does have but it wont be suggestable because
it do really require up some luck on things that you are trying out to engage on.

8 hours of work is the most common working hours and even there are people who do really pushes up theirselves for OT just for having that extra pay.Some companies do allowed
it and some arent thats why other people do find out other ways or jobs which would really make even more money since having that 8-5 job earning
wont really be sufficient most of the time.

I tried to divide 40 hrs into 6 days and I came up with 6.6 hrs as a result. I didn't include 1 day because I think it's a day off for most common jobs while for some job they have a 2 day off which are very decent. Working 6.6 hrs a day is not too much because the normal working hours is 8 hrs per day.

Many people are knowledgeable and have completed different courses in college but I believe that the majority of them are still low earners and work's in a 9 to 6 job while there are those who are less educated or less knowledgeable than them but can manage to earn twice or thrice than what they are earning and can work in a lesser number of hours.

yeah that would be better.

now many companies or factories that make daily production targets that must be achieved by their employees. so that the working hours can be longer or less depending on our skills in completing the work. I think this type of work is more effective than one that only relies on a matter of hours. because with the target that must be achieved will make the employee continue to focus on working to meet their daily targets. so if you want a shorter working time, employees must improve their skills so they can work faster and if the target has been achieved, they can go home faster.

According to the country you live in and the job you have, the situation can be very different. For example, if I were to tell you about my job and country, the working hours would be more than 40 hours per week, which is very much for a normal person who has almost no technical knowledge, whereas I work 28 hours per week and earn a lot more money than what they do in 40 hours, so if you have more knowledge, you are more likely to get a better job with fewer hours. However, regardless of that, many people will not sell their time or their everyday job and they think that having a 9-6 job is just like selling your time to someone else and that having a 9-6 job is just like selling yourself to them.

One of the most important basic principles in the field of business is to diversify the sources of income and thus work in more than one field. There is a group of businessmen specialized in creating successful projects for a certain period of time and then selling them at a profitable price before moving to another project. This method ensures that the person maintains a greater incentive to continue when he knows that he will not continue the rest of his life with the same task.
Of course, not everyone is able to do this, and entrepreneurship specialists represent a very small percentage of the active groups.

8 hours a day is the constant all across the world for common employee but the hours doesn't relatively proportional to the productivity, it solely depends on the individuals that is why new generation companies are offering convenient working hours and most of the jobs are task based not hourly based so the individual has to work until the task done no matter he is doing it in a day or a week and in my opinion this is more effective than increasing or decreasing the working hours.

90 hours in one week? so you spend as much as 13 hours a day a week working without a day off? that's pretty crazy,, because i just worked for 8 hours in front of the computer for 6 days it's already quite tiring let alone working for 13 hours,, i'm definitely going crazy

That is true. I have noticed that on a day without work I tend to spend more. Free time = more spending. Maybe this is more individual and I only spend more because I spend time with my family, try to diversify their life and routine.

I am sure that employees wont like that4 day work week either. For example, are you ready to receive 1/5 less salary, because employees wont pay same as 5 day work week. It looks like it is unprofitable for employee also. 3 days of rest is disastrous for business. A lot of business will hire extra employee for that period, and that means more taxes, more expenses.

A 4-day work week will not work for many people, because most people are neck deep into debt. A 4-day work week will reduce their income and that will sink many people financially. 

A lot of businesses are also struggling financially now, because they lost a lot of money during the lockdowns in the Covid period. They need their workers to ramp up production now... not to reduce their working hours. 

I say, make the working hours per day.. a little bit shorter and give people regular breaks during the day. (8h00 to 16h00 with 3 breaks of 20 minutes each) 

I am working at the office and the amount of working hours, that I find proper, is dependable from the amount of work I have. Sometimes 8h working day from 9 to 6 is not enough and I am forced to stay for extra hour or two. And sometimes during 8h working day I spend hour or two doing nothing. I would say, that 40 hours per week is enough, but it would be better, if I was able to leave job before official working time ends and spend time more useful. Because working extra is not rewarded, as I get monthly salary, but leaving job before 6 is not preferable.

everyone who sees other people certainly looks happy with the achievements he has, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have problems, everyone certainly has their own problems, even comedians also have stress levels at work, especially when he is sad with his problems, he is actually required to entertain others. so I think we should be able to deal with our problems wisely, so that we can manage stress levels so that it doesn't become a big problem. and don't forget to always pray and be grateful

48 is a good maximum for regular hours.   I can speak on this subject as Ive worked over 90 hours in one week.   48 shouldn't be required regularly because its nearly an extra day every week and for every week of the year that would be quite harsh, however I believe in business freedom so to have that as a maximum is quite lax and favorable to the ease of business.
    More then 48 starts to eat into the good health and wellbeing of employees.   The extreme I did of 92 hours in one week was voluntary and because of overtime was worth it to me at that time.   The job ended not that long after (temporary contract) so I recovered my lost hours of sleep but in any case I would only state the obvious that excessive hours becomes dangerous and unstable to both employees and the work place environment.

Can you name a non-stressful job? Every action we repeat periodically will become stressful over time, even if it is something we love.
Almost no job is easy and comfortable, including the most important jobs in the world. Repeating the same thing daily, weekly, or even monthly will cause a kind of boredom, because the human soul, by nature, always yearns for renewal.

40 days a week is normal in the EU with optional Saturdays where you can spend another 6-8 hours depending on the business you're in.
During the pandemic I've observed a number of my friends having to work from home and some of the companies liked it so much they allowed them to continue working in this format. The companies like it because they save up a lot of money on AC and other stuff like cleaning services. The employees like it because they don't have to drive to work so they save up money as well and they can work naked if they want to and eat and drink whatever and whenever they want. One of my friends even manages to have a workout break and is able to do 5 min of cardio every hour or so and nobody cares if he opens a beer while working, which is something he wouldn't be able to do at the office.

It's possible to work 10 hours a day provided that nobody is breathing down your neck. 6 hours of hard office work with your boss screaming at you is much worse than 10 hours of working from home, while listening to music and drinking beer.

Here in the Philippines, the idea of considering a 4-day work was being suggested to conserve energy due to the continuous rise of fuel costs.

However, there should be an adjustment on the standard 8-hours working time. From 8 hours, the employee should now work for 10 hours and overtime pay will just start obviously after the 10-hours period. However, I don't see that it will really have a big impact to save fuel as a whole. Working for 8 hours is already stressful and imagine adding 2 hours from it, that will be worst.

That extra day off might be useful but imagine how much stress that employee will get on that whole 4-day work especially those who are experiencing daily big problems on their way home and coming home e.g heavy traffic, high fare, pollution, etc.

we can't determine a working hour except for a factory employee, while their manual labor tends not to know working hours because there is no definite standard for a job and is measured by the work until it is finished so there is no benchmark, so it's true what you said the working hours were adjusted to agreed customs, laws and regulations

It depends on the nature of the work to determine the hours it requires. In many countries, the hours worked in jobs that require physical activity are much longer than jobs that require mental effort. Determining working hours is subject to more social controls than what is legally approved.

Usually it do plays around 40-48 hours per week if we do speak on working hours but it would be depending on what type of work you do have because there are jobs which do have 7 days a week
and having no day-off or something like that.If you are on that managerial type of work then it would be usually less but if you are working on other jobs like call centers or BPO
then it would be more.Lots of jobs does have different numbers when it comes to working times but for me 8 hours maximum per day should be standard.
4 days work? It would be great but i dont think companies would really be seeing this to be efficient and effective on making up revenue.

Unfortunately, in our country, the four days of working days aren't granted yet. We can't blame those who have switched to work from a home setting because workers can save and have better rest than those who are working more than five days a week. The stress of traffic jams and restlessness is too tiring and as a result, employees couldn't give their best performance at work.
40 hours is just fine but they should also grant employees at least three days' rest every week for them to relax and have enough time for themselves. That is also necessary for them to have a better performance at work. They should value their employee's mental and physical health.

Right her in the Philippines, most of the office working hours are 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Same thing if you are work from home. But sometimes, they wanted to do overtime to at least increase their wage a bit.

I have experienced working that routine years ago but sometimes I need to overtime and double duty due to the absense of that co-managers who is suppose to work in their respective shifts.

In my opinion, working more than 40 hours a week is too much based on my previous experiences. But it really depends on the person though if he or she wants to work more and be happy, then that’s on them.

The typical working shift here is 8hrs per day/5 days a week. I am freelancing so I have no specific working hours. What I have on my work is only a deadline and it doesn't matter how or when will I finish it as long as I finish the task before the given time.

4 days work week is a lot better for me even if it's 12hrs per day. It's less stressful since your number of work and rest day is almost even so you have enough time to your family or go somewhere for mental healing.

"Way too much" is way too much. Anything too much isn't fine. Even if you love your job so much so that you feel like you aren't working anymore and so you immerse yourself in it all day long everyday, it probably isn't a healthy life. You know what's worse than working long hours on a job you don't love? It's when you really love your job that you devoted your whole life into it, and your job has become your entire life. Everything gets even worse if you put money into the equation.


I'm sorry to hear that. But I think something isn't right when you hope that things "could go back to days when all I did was just working." I mean, there must be a lot more to life than just work.

most people in my country they work 8 hours in a day. and weekends off. so about 8 hours X 6 days = 48 hours in a week. even if they are working in government then they only work 6 hours in a day. and weekends off. Likewise, the red date is a holiday. so only 36 hours in a week.

but at my job the time is very flexible. because we are not limited by time. but we have a production target that must be completed. so as long as the target can be completed then the work is done and can rest.
even sometimes i can finish my work in 6 hours. but I don't have a day off. even though it was a sunday. I still have to work. but for workers who are still learning in this field of work. so they sometimes 8 hours is still not enough to complete this job. I myself have more free time. because my speed at my job allows me to finish work early.
even if the week is not off. but actually I can take a day off anytime. For example, if you want to take a day off tomorrow. so today I have to reach the production target equivalent to 2 days. so I can take a day off tomorrow.

If we look at some of those mentioned, it is true that an average of 8 hours of work per day is something that is common nowadays and indeed this is in line because in the country I live in it is also like that but on average 6 working days and on the 6th day (Saturdays), usually this only runs 4-5 hours. Although there are indeed some companies that have enforced 5 working days by increasing their working hours to 9 hours and making 2 days off on holidays, there are still a lot of people who enforce Saturdays as half-day work.

No, it's not per country but every country has a different set of jobs and we can classify them as white or blue collar jobs as you said. Blue collar jobs are jobs that are paid per hour, that's why they can stay for longer hours in order to get the maximum pay that they want but they do have breaks too (lunch breaks and snack time).

According to my research white collar jobs includes office jobs but I think that office workers can also work 8 hours per day and it's up to them if they will do overtime to get a small increase on their salary. We may think their jobs are easy because they are indoors but actually it's also stressful. The truth is no jobs are easy.

In my country the people in white collared jobs will have an eight hour shift. In particular the IT industry people need to have 8 working hours from the time they sign-in. The Super Market, hotels and all have 12 hours of working and they weren't paid extra. They've made it in such a way. Four days of work is really good, because it gives time to have some rest and spend with our family.

Anything above 8 hours of work needs to be considered as overtime and needs to be paid double the amount for the extra hours worked. But none pay in such a way.

Honestly, even when I was working 48 hours/week, for 6 days, I always felt that I didn't have enough time to rest. I was working from 6 am to 2pm and always felt tired, one day off wasn't enough. As much as I'd like the 16 hours to be an exaggeration, it's not. I'm currently working from 18:00 to 22:00 at the hotel's restaurant, 23:00 to 07:00 at the reception and 08:00 to 12:00 at the supermarket. I only get Sundays and Mondays off from the supermarket and Monday from the restaurant. Thus, the day I have the most available time is Monday, working only from 23:00 - 7:00.

I'm only going to be doing it for a little more than a month, is it worth it? Not really, I'm not going to have any free time for over a month, since commuting to work also consumes a good hour too. Would I do it again? Certainly not, I'm not going to overwork myself for money ever again (at least I'm hoping to). My personal physical and mental health are way more important, it sucks not even having a break to relax and do something.Totally, I'm not taking care of my self nor my relationship, certainly an example to be avoided. I hate it that employers treat you like rubbish for pointing out obvious things, to be paid for any overtime you do and for willing to have a personal life.

I think this is a very personal thing as well. Some people are addicted to their work too much, they like to work for a lot of hours in a day, especially at a young age when they don't have a family to attend to. People just like you like to work multiple shifts because either they like to are maybe they are forced to work this much because they need some extra money for themselves. But yes for a normal person who is earning good and especially doing job anything above 45+ hours is really depressing as per me. 8 hour working with 5 days shift is actually the max a person should work. Obviously, the new designs like 4 days a week are also coming into the picture but I hardly know how good they will be because a gap of 3 days really gives a long break to the work as well, which is also a problem I feel.

The problem is that if you are working for someone else and you are working unwanted hours then it is a problem for sure, but if you are working for yourself and you are spending way too much, then it should be fine because the more you work the more money you could make from it.

I do not work for myself, I work for someone else as a freelancer and I can easily say that the best thing about my life is my boss and my work, I love working in this job and that is why I can say that even if I ever work 15 hours a day I would be happy, however life is not like that, for the past 1 year I had probably one of the worst years of my life and it doesn't look like it will get any better, and that's why I couldn't work too much unfortunately, I am hoping that I could go back to days when all I did was just working.

Many companies are trying very much to reduce the circumstances that will bring people to work physically. The effects of Covid-19 pendamic has thought the world some lessons. There is this comfort that comes when you work from home. The risk of accidents while going to or coming from work will not be there anymore. The transportation allowance and feeding allowance would be cancelled and converted to data bundles allowance. Time will come when the only people to go work are people whonare required to work with their hands physically.

A 4 day work a week is great, I am currently on a 4 day a week work and honestly I like the 1 day off thing, although the mgt in my organisation are thinking of stopping it, it was introduced during the coronavirus period and was kept going even after coronavirus, am so used to it I don't want it to be called off. Currently working 40 hours a week which I believe is enough imo.

Take care of your health. I used to work more than 100 hours per week because I was younger and I can handle stress and haven't felt any fatigue in my body. Soon, you'll realize that you need to minimize the working hours you do per week because your health should be prioritize.

Nothing has changed, 8-9 hours per day so around 40-48+ hours and you're likely not a good employee if you don't allocate a few free overtime. Yeah, these companies sucks and that's why I quit too early.

4 day work week sounds good for me. This will really give employees more family time and in return, they'll do better in productivity.

Aren't we already too far away from discussing working hours? We should rather discuss them based on your skills.
A surgeon might only work for 4 hours a day because his job is extended extensive, whereas when we talk about labour market, these people will work 24*7 to make some money as well, at the end of the day, I do think that, it is very important to understand what you have to do at your job and at the end ofcourse for normal jobs having a 4 day working week would be amazing, if we are able to alternate holidays+working days, I think it can even be more productive as well.
This would not only enhance people's abilities but it would also give them the much needed rest so that they can start afresh every single day.

Op you have posted so much that it made it look tiring to continue reading, you would have made it shorter and straight to the point to ask how many hours that countries work per week. Anyway, like you said the general days that most countries work is 5 days and usually from Monday to Friday just like my own country also and the government work hours is 8-5 and teachers are based on closing hours like 8-2pm. I like the working days of UK as you said as 4 days. Truely this is nice because when workers have rest enough then they will be able to give there best and be energized to work all the time that they will be on duty. This will bring better results and the UK economy is very much better for it with great stability and purposeful direction.

If you're working under someone company, 7-8 hours per day and 5 days work per week are normal. But many countries already start implemented to work for 10-12 hours and 6 days work per week, they're only free for one day each week, I think it's too many and should be reduced.

If you're working in your own company, I think you're working for the whole day since you're need to think the next innovation or your next goal to achieve better result. Even you're not working at your desk, but you're working on wherever you're.

For those who are married or have a family that must be turned on as their responsibilities, it is always better to work in a place that is not too demanding. Because if the work is very demanding and must be far from very family, then the pressure felt by that person will obviously be greater and will not have maximum focus on his work.
But for those who are still living single or do not have any responsibilities now, then working wherever I think will not be a problem because in life that person is still very free to be wherever he wants.

Sometimes when I look at this hours spent on work and the pay. I just wish one could work from home. Some people usually get separated from there families or loved ones for close to six months or more just for work. But just like u said one should have is other means that can sustain him so that he might reject works that they feel is too demanding

It's so sad to hear this. But this has indeed grown common among the working class. As a matter of fact, there are those who are working hard labor 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. Some are even working physically tiring jobs day and night just to make ends meet. So your 100-hour weekly work setup is probably more tolerable if it isn't too demanding and you could even manage to create good posts in the middle of it.

The usual number of working hours per week here in my country is 48. But that's as far as the contract is concerned. In reality, it could easily extend to 60 without getting overtime pay. But that's in the private sector. In the government, it is usually just 40 hours per week. And in reality, it could easily be just 10. The rest of the hours, government employees are just normally sharing gossips, scrolling posts on social media, watching videos, running personal or family errands, attending to their kids, browsing Tupperware or Avon brochures, and so on and so forth.

Here in the country, the standard working regular hours are 8 hours (usually for day jobs, 8am-5pm or 8:30am-5:30pm). That was stressful as heavy traffic always occurs at that time (which is called the rush hour period). And what's worst, the minimum wage here in the capital is not enough to sustain the daily cost of living as price increases are everywhere, especially oil, sugar, salt, and other basic needs.

No choice but to accept that daily burden. Others are forced to do overtime just to have additional pay on that day. This is the problem that most average employees here deal with every day. How about in your country guys?

In my country "Nigeria", the average working hours per week is 35hrs to 40hrs, which could be divided into 7 to 8hrs daily 5days a week, most especially for people working in the government sectors (i.e schools, govt offices, ministries e.t.c) but it varies when it comes to different private sectors most especially hotels, supermarkets and gas stations who normally run shifts for workers, but I'm definitely sure it should be around 30hrs weekly with a day off duty

In a 3rd world country for a minimum wage earner, that sounds hell for us. 4 day work per week means less money to be earned in a weekly basis and the minimum wage could barely get you enough supply till the next payroll.
Majority of the minimum wage earner in my country works 8hrs a day and 6 days a week. Pay structure is per day. That's why I said, working 4 day a week in here is hell. Though working 6 days a week is worst, but people have no choice.

It feels like 40 hours is enough quite frankly, although being able to work overtime when you feel like it is a very nice perk - especially if it pays a higher rate. Unfortunately jobs at the lowest end of the spectrum can require zero skill and only a bit of training, which makes these workers particularly replaceable. The only way to get paid a better rate per hour is if you have harder skills to acquire - whether that is an electrician, doctor or even a programmer. You do seem to be stuck in an extreme situation though, I don't know how you can tolerate working 16 hour days and get the feeling it is a bit of an exaggeration, it certainly is not healthy to be doing that for more than a few weeks. Nor should the supermarket accept it, because you a presumably a good worker and it just means you'll burn out.

I think 8-9 hrs and 5 days per week is the standard in most cases? I honestly would take those kinds of work only if the workplace is near where I stay as much as possible since commuting to work takes way too much time which basically eliminates any possibility of doing anything other than resting after work. Even having it for 4 days doesn't seem that appealing, but it is a better situation than the 5 day's work. If finding one isn't possible then I'd try to look for options where I'm my own boss, aka freelancing, which I'm mostly favorable of rather than working an 8-5 schedule but it is also hard in its own way.

Working 9-5 is a lot already as it takes a lot of time of your life so I guess we need to take action and create something useful which can generate us profit so that we can get out on office slavery. Its really hard to go on this point where the only thing we do everyday is eat,work and sleep so to get out on thus life style its best for individual to work with their skills so that we may have financial freedom and can work at our comfort on our own homes.

I have personally tried different strategies regarding the format of working hours and can say the following:
1. The format of office work from 8 am to 17 with a lunch break is quite comfortable if you are lucky with your superiors and have an interest in the subject area. And if you live within walking distance from the office, without spending a lot of time on the road.
2. The format of work from 8 to 23 you work for two days and rest for two days is tiring, the weekly life cycle gets lost and you live half your life at work, if it’s interesting, then not for long and only as an experiment.
3. The format of a flexible free schedule is the most optimal if you are a professional in your field with an expensive hourly rate and can adjust your schedule yourself in a wide range. This path places high demands on hard and soft skills, including the ability to self-organize, but this is exactly what, in my opinion, everyone should strive for in life.
4. I think that machines and mechanisms should work, the whole routine should and will be automated over time. This is not a reason to completely refuse to work right now, at present people work less than a century and a half ago - and in another century and a half, perhaps not 40, but say 16, 8 or even 4 working hours per week will become the new standard. And the rest of the time people can spend as they wish.

I guess it has a lot of something to do with the sector you are in and what kind of job you are working on. I work in a laboratory for a private firm conducting researches on a lot of things, and I usually just go home whenever I want to so long as the project or the milestone that we need to achieve is met. I was never asked to come to work early, nor asked to stay for a lot longer than necessary. But back when I was still waiting tables and work as a utility guy for a restaurant, we were always expected to come in to work 2 hours before our actual shift and spend another hour or so after shift to help with the transition. Pay is awful and the work is extremely hard but hey, it's where I learned how to be extremely patient anyways.

Typically in my country, we have 40 hours/week too, but usually that hours is just a guideline as a lot of employers here in the Philippines are extremely stingy when it comes to paying their workers right. They'd be expecting an employee to work close to 60 hours/week and that extra 20 hours will just be paid with a 'thank you' which sucks.

This is quite diverse depending on the target of a company in implementing working hours for its employees. Like textile factories and food and beverage, it will be much more time consuming. 7 to 8 hours per day if in a week they work 8 hours x 6 days. Productivity of working hours varies from country to country, but sometimes taking overtime makes employees spend more time at work in order to increase their monthly salary.

In our country, government employees tend to work at least 40 hours per week and there is no additional payment in overtime which is quite unfortunate. It's base on my experience and what I heard to my friends that are government employee as well. I've been a government employee for 8 months only (because I can't handle the stress) and I don't see myself working with a boss for a long time that's why I didn't even work there for a year.

Now with regards to 4-day work week, it has been proposed here 2 years ago at the middle of the pandemic but unfortunately only a few private companies approved it. I think we will all agree with a 4 day work week right? I mean I don't see any disadvantages to us employees but all positive. More time with the family and lesser stress and lesser stress equals to more happiness and happiness will be spread to all of the people around you.

Unfortunately, there are some people who still working more than 4 days because of the increasing prices of commodities and foods. There are some who are working at day and at the same time working at night just to have money to be used to pay expenses and foods. On the other hand, there are some people who knows how to use a computer that are just working on their home as a freelancer. They are very flexible and they will work whenever they want to.

I think it depends largely on the choice of each person, if you want to earn a lot of money then you can work overtime and no one is stopping you from doing it. I've heard a lot about adopting a 5-day/week or 4-day/week working regime, but that hasn't happened in the place where I work. I think that is not possible because the place where I work is mostly workers and they always tend to want to work overtime to have more income. Factories here also have almost no days off, Sunday workers are encouraged and receive double wages.

I am more than sure that if my country adopts a 4-day work schedule, most people will find another way to earn money. With today's prices for living, you have to work more than 10 hours a day, sometimes seven days a week. In addition, additional income is also welcome. Of course, this affects your well-being, but you have to choose whether to provide a good childhood for your children or teach them from birth to save on the most necessary products.

I worked for a private telecom company here in Nigeria for more than 3years, and we had a working schedule of 4days, 12hours per shift. I.e. 12hours for two mornings and 12hours for two nights, sums up to 4 days, then we go on 4 days off. During those off days, however, catching up on sleep and trying hands-on other passive income projects suffices. Although I felt the changes in my body system, my pain was that the same job could be done from a remote location, but management ensured we had to turn up to the office once it is ones shift turn.
Most other private sectors work 6 days and only on Sundays do they go off. I do believe the working hours depend on the kind of service an organization or company offers. If one can do the hours, then you got a job and vice versa.
Am a strong believer in one knowing what one wants before going after it because we have choices. Don't like a working schedule, or the work hours is too demanding, or maybe a company is too stiff and you don't like it, please change it. It is not always about the money most times. One has got to stay healthy to get wealthy in the long run.

In my country 8hrs per day and 48hrs per week since only Sunday is day off here for private company. Government employee has less work hours because they have 2 days day off while still have 8hrs per day of work. I think this working hours is still fair because there’s a lot of holiday here that still being paid even without work.

I’m currently employed on a company that has a flexible time. I just need to complete my 40hrs within a week to complete my working hour. In this way I can live like I have no job because I can do my work at my home while I can submit early my assignment.

In my country between 7 and 8 hours is the norm for full time jobs, the problem is that people tend to work split shifts, which is not the case in other parts of Europe and which means not having time for many other things during the working day.

An example would be to work from 9:00 to 14:00, take a break from 14:00 to 16:00 for lunch and a nap if you live nearby and return to work from 16:00 to 19:00.

The question of whether it is too many hours is very relative, because if it is a job that you like and even more so if you are passionate about it, the hours will fly by. Someone who does a physical job that they are not passionate about will always want to work less.

This is basically what happens at my country as well with the difference that even huge corporations will not pay you for overtime, personally I think this is one of those things that in theory sounds good but that are going to be almost impossible to implement correctly, after all a business is not going to want to pay the salary of more employees which are working less than in the past, so if anything this will create a black market in which people are still going to have to work for the same amount of time but they will have to keep quiet about it or they could be fired, so instead of helping them a policy like that could play against employees.

The young generation today is looking for a comfortable life even when they are just starting to work for a company. I doubt this is going to work unless the company is not located in a fast pace big city. If the company is located in a big city where people flock to look for a job, the employees who don't work well are terminated to hire the new ones.

I don't see an increase in productivity levels if they limit up to just 4 working days a week and 8 hours a day. On the business side, companies are looking for people who can work tirelessly that's why they are screening applicants they pick who are mentally stable, healthy, and motivated by the offer they give.

The portion of the number of mandatory working hours in my country is well regulated in the law, if it exceeds the maximum number then the company will be prosecuted by the authorities. In my country, industrial workers have more working hours up to 8 hours/week with the opportunity to have Sunday off. That doesn't seem to be a problem for the majority of laborers, and especially at times they may even expect to offer overtime hours at a higher rate calculated on an hourly basis.
There are more agency employees in daily hours (8.5 hours) but get 2 days off on weekends.

It's also sad that many people work more than 40 hours a week.
A 40 hour work week gives me little to no personal time because apart from work, travel takes time too, and by the time I get home, I'm too tired from the work day to do anything worthwhile in my spare time.
and I only do passive activities like watching TV until I fall asleep, I'm lucky if I have enough energy to exercise or do homework, and weekends go by too fast.
but that's all because we need work and income to survive so that we can be fulfilled, and over time everything is considered normal and can enjoy work and can manage everything well, 2 days off, 1 day of rest and 1 day can be used for holidays or visiting parents or mother-in-law and occasionally hanging out with friends.
there is no choice but to adjust and be grateful because work is a must that we must live well, unless we are the boss or have our own business that can manage working hours.

In my country it’s typically 40 hour work week. 9 to 5. Usually after 40 hours you get paid 1.5x because it’s overtime.

Depending on the job you have. If it’s white collar you don’t do 8 hours of work each day. Maybe 2. The rest is spent talking with workers, extended lunches and playing with your phone. Other jobs like blue collar are usually very long hours and no resting.

If there were a series of choices average and ordinary people could make. That would lead to a four day work week. What would those choices look like?

The majority seem content to parrot media talking points. Blindly supporting whatever random proposal is put on the table. I think for a four day work week to become reality. People would have to invest more time and energy into learning basic facts and basic science. Being more informed. And not being so enthusiastic to support random things.

The choices we make and things we support have an enormous impact upon our society and standard of living.

Most of the things people dislike about the current day world. Are things they supported.

We have the power to change things. Its only a matter of adjusting the way we think. Making better decisions and supporting better options.

Most do not want to change. They want politicians to change. The world to change. Everything to change, except for them.

But if we're being honest. The place where the biggest gains and improvements can be made. Is by people making an effort to change and better themselves on an individual level.

Above all of this, since most employees and workers have no choice in the first place, even how stressful working at the standard hours, that's the job they selected so these people will just go with the flow. During the pandemic, lots of businesses and companies were being shut down, and lucky if some of these institutions decided to just cut the number of their employees instead of totally shutting down the business to save the cost of operation. Because of that incident, most people found it a blessing if they found work these days that's why regardless of the working hours they are fine working that long.

As a quote says, "no one got rich from working 8 hours", it might make sense but it's hard for most people to solve that.

That's the reality.

In my country - Nigeria, most public sector works for 7 hours to 9 hours per day, making it 35hrs to 45hrs per week. My country public sector works for 5days in a week. From Mondays to Fridays, the idea of 4 days is not in my country. Then some private sectors work for 6days and some work on Sundays making it 7days.  Some private workers work for 10 to 12 hrs a day. While some works on shift, it depends on what you like.

But someone I worked with believes in working at your own pace. Infact he recommends we work from home and give us task to accomplish within a period of time. I advice we learn to work smart and get good skills so that we could chose or reject jobs that come our ways.

In my country, the number of working hours is relative. Although ideally it is supposed to be standard 8 hours. It is not unusual to see workers still at their work place way past the working hours most especially when the boss hasn't left the office. Sadly, unless it is big corporation and multinational companies nobody will pay the employee for over time.  On the other hands, a 4 day work week sounds great but it is a fantasy because for some persons work is all they know Work is how they survive. They even have a side-hustle that they do 247 even while they are at their offices.

Especially after the pandemic, flexible working schedules keep popping up, either through working from distance, or less hours. Only a few countries have embraced working 4 days a week, instead of 5 or 6, and case studies have shown positive results. Some of them include, the UK, which has recently begun one of the largest trials of the 4-day working week, Belgium, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Japan, Spain and the UAE. The 5-day a week is one of the most common ones, however, with the evolution of technology, longer hours don't necessarily guarantee a higher productivity, most likely the opposite.

Some of the benefits 4-day work week include:

Reduced costs on both ends, employees will have one less day to commute to work, while avoiding paying extra money for lunch, coffees etc. The employers on the other hand, will have the office closed for one more day, reducing running costs.

Happier employees and better mental health. Having more free time increase overall happiness and improves work-life balance, which can result into lower levels of stress and a generally better mental health, something which is suffering in our day and age.

And most importantly, increase in productivity levels. Overworked and stressed employees are actually less productive than those working a normal or reduced working week.

My case - Example to avoid

By law, in Greece (and most of Europe to be honest) the typical working week comprises of 40 working hours. However, this rarely happens in the private sector, where in most cases you're working up to 48 hours/week, with one day off in a week. In the tourism sector, it's actually a lot worse. Employees are working 7 days/week, up to 8-10 hours per day and not usually not being paid good enough.

Personally, in May, I started working at a known supermarket chain for 20 hours/week (part-time). I wanted to take a little time off, after working for 4 years full-time with only one day off per week. My plan backfired though, the money wasn't enough to keep up with the increasing living costs and started working at a hotel's restaurant, another 24 hours/week. Recently, I was proposed to work the night shift at the hotel's reception, because the former employee had some family business to attend to and had to leave. Me, wanting to make some extra money due to having upcoming expenses, accepted. Now, I'm working 16 hours per day, except Sunday and Monday which are my days off from the supermarket, which equal to 100 hours/week (a week is comprised of 168 hours). Of course, I will only be doing that for September, and here I am, writing this post during the graveyard shift.

How many hours/week is the typical in your country? How many hours are you actually working and how does a 4 day work week sound?