theatlantic:Sweden: The New Laboratory for a Six-Hour Work DayCorn-flake capitalism has come to Swed
theatlantic:Sweden: The New Laboratory for a Six-Hour Work DayCorn-flake capitalism has come to Sweden.In 1930, in the throes of the Great Depression, cereal magnate W.K. Kellogg decided to conduct an experiment. He replaced the three daily eight-hour shifts at his plant in Battle Creek, Michigan with four six-hour shifts. The results? The company hired hundreds of new people, production costs plummeted, and employees operated more efficiently, learning to prioritize leisure over work. Vestiges of the system remained in place until 1985.Now the Swedish city of Gothenburg is considering a similar experiment. The governing coalition has proposed a year-long trial that would divide some municipal workers into a test and control group at the same pay rate, with the test group working six-hour days and the control group working the traditional eight. (It’s unclear how, or if, a lunch break will factor into the scheme.)“We’ll compare the two afterwards and see how they differ,” Mats Pilhem, city councilor and Left Party member, told The Local. “We hope to get the staff members taking fewer sick days and feeling better mentally and physically after they’ve worked shorter days.” He added that increased efficiency at the workplace could create more jobs in Gothenburg. The opposition Moderate Party, for its part, has accused Sweden’s crusading six-hourers of trying to drum up votes ahead of elections.Read more. [Image: Arjan Richter] -- source link
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