https://fortune.com/2025/03/27/billionaire-bill-gates-two-day-workweek-ai-replacing-humans/?

Like how is that enough time to live and travel?My family members are from the UK and have at least 4 weeks or more off a year.

With India and Argentina pushing hard to expand the work week to 60 or 80 hours, and knowing Musk is the singular force driving Trump's business agenda, when do we expect the elimination of the 40-hour work week to start gaining traction?

My MAGA family members have always been against it, as well as the federal minimum wage. My MIL constantly belittles me for only working 8-5, M-F. She says she never worked less than 100 hours a week when she owned her business (although, according to my wife she was the worst parent she could ever imagine - physically abusive, alcoholic, neglectful, cruel, etc) and considers it a moral failing to not be constantly working, ie making profit. The fact my wife and I are both public/civil servants is even worse.

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https://fortune.com/2025/04/02/reid-hoffman-says-the-best-founders-dont-have-work-life-balance-anything-short-means-theyre-not-committed-to-winning/

Winning for who?

Think of how things were in the paleolithic era -- you'd kill a huge game animal (a zebra, buffalo, mammoth, etc) with enough calories to last your small group for several days. You would coast a few days, gorging on your supplies and earning a nice layer of fat for lean times, and then when supplies seemed to be running low, you'd begin the hunt for another large animal. You wouldn't work much once you have a sizeable calorie supply because getting up and walking around as a human with your high calorie needs is incredibly inefficient unless you're looking for another large source of calories.

The "work tempo" largely favors lulls in work, followed by brief spikes when necessity demands. If this is the case, how do you think the human subconscious perceives having to work consistently, 8 hours a day, most days of the week? One would think this would give the impression of lean times, and desperation. Perhaps this is the reason so many people have issues with this system -- their brain is stressed because it thinks they must be starving, to have to work so much, so frequently, all the time.

Yeah I heard this from my ex boss. I landed in the hospital. Never 👏 again 👏

https://fortune.com/article/what-is-work-life-balance-ceo-crunch-fitness-healthy-maintain-best-benefits/?

Not that it was ever that serious of a consideration anyway.

Hi! So I've been reading Laziness Does Not Exist by Dr Devon Price and he talks about several people working 80, even 90 hours a week. It's not completely new to me since I have seen Americans talking about having two full-time jobs (so 40x2 hours?), but I still can't wrap my head around it. That would be like 16 hours a day?! How do you even have time to commute, shower, make and eat food? I guess people just run on sleep deprivation.

Not even sure what my question is (how is it possible? Legal?) but I guess I'd welcome people's experiences and opinions. I just know I work 30 to 35 hours a week and I am still exhausted after like 5 weeks lol.

This is today. They could just idk let people work from home?

I was meant to work in the afternoon and got a call that it was slow at work so I didn’t need to come in, I said okay. Though, I was annoyed because whenever I pick up a shift at work, they conveniently find some way to cut one of my work days, and I figured this was another ploy. I go about my day when I get another call, I don’t answer, and they leave a voicemail saying that they know they said I didn’t need to come in, but two people called out and they wondering if I could still make it. lol. I didn’t call back.

For years, I believed that staying late and putting in extra hours would lead to recognition and career progress. Instead, it led to burnout and resentment. Three months ago, I made a commitment to log out exactly at 5 PM, no exceptions. Surprisingly, not only did my productivity during work hours improve but I also regained my personal life. Now, I can spend more time with family, picked up old hobbies and feel more rested/energised. Do you know the best part? It's the fact that my employer hasn't noticed a drop in performance. This was an eye opener as it made me realize that overworking was a trap I set for myself

INSANE I tell you. Insane.

It’s like humans just create work for themselves, work that doesn’t necessarily even need to be done…just to simply fill a void.

Why? Why do we do it? Boredom? Do we like to make life suffer? Do we do it to avoid existential thought and dread? God forbid we think about death!

I get the premise of work, I am not completely anti-work…but what is this reason to WORK so much so to fill our every awake minute with work?

To truly understand this human phenomenon (being obsessed with being busy), we must analyze it with a philosophical and psychological lens.

I can work hard, I have achieved lots in life, I am thoughtful, I love learning, I strive to be kind, and I will always go the extra mile to support people in my field.

Modern work is killing me

A meme I recently saw said:

• Smoking takes 20 minutes of your life

• A shift at work takes a day off your life

Before I entered the work force, I would read philosophy books, seek new adventures, and embrace new opportunities with open arms. After I entered the workforce, I stopped reading as much, I stopped socializing as much, and I stopped exploring life as much.

Years of my life are disappearing consumed by monday to friday work. 40 hours a week that I could easily accomplish in 20 hours. I am not paid for my output, I am paid for my time. X number of dollars PER hour. At the end of my shift, even if there is nothing left to do, I have to sit there and wait until the clock says I am free to leave.

Every year since I have started working, costs go up while my wage falls behind. Every year that passes I have wasted more of my life chasing a promise that never existed.

The amount of work I do is not important, the amount of TIME I spend at work apparently is.

When I get home in the evening I am too tired to work on things I was previously interested in. I balance the few hours I have a day to myself trying to recuperate while also having to do chores around my house, get groceries, do laundry, and keep my place clean.

If Socrates or Plato had to "philosiphy" from 9-5 monday to friday with 2 weeks of annual vacation per year, and were paid per hour, their philosphy would have sucked.

What in the world do you do with ten (10) days of PTO?? A YEAR?? What if I catch the flu in January then again in December, does that mean I just don't get to go on vacation anywhere for longer than Friday after work til Sunday evening... Is this the norm for jobs in the US that DO give PTO since a lot of them don't even do that...

EDIT: Y'all I posted this for a friend, but I just fell victim to this, I received a job offer that offers only 10 days of PTO 😭😭

There, I said it. I love having all this time to myself, getting to do what I want and when I want. If I want to work on some of my hobbies, or go out and socialise, I can do that. Equally, if I want to lie in bed all day, I can do that too. It’s so refreshing being free of the toxic productivity culture we have, that only serves capitalism.

Sure, I struggle with my mental health, but thats been the case my whole life. However, being unemployed has given me the space to actually work on my mental health and grow as a person and experience new things. Work and college just burn me out and make things worse.

We only have one life, yet we give up most of that to work. I am just lucky I am in a situation where it is financially viable to be unemployed for a while (savings and living with parents), but it wont be forever and isn’t possible for most people. I really hope with the innovations in AI that we consider moving to a world where work is optional rather than compulsory. I hope we also stop valuing people on their ‘productivity’ and stop shaming those who don’t want to work constantly.

My company is nice enough to give us Christmas and the day after off as a paid holiday, however the 27th they will be closed and the only way to get paid is to use our vacation pay. Is this completely ridiculous or am I over reacting?