Gothenburg Trial: Can Shorter Workday Raise Productivity?

During the Industrial Revolution , companies aimed to maximize the output of their factories by keeping them functioning for as many hours as possible, typically employing a “sun up to sun down” workday. Wages were very low, so workers needed to work these long shifts to survive, and they sent their children to work in the factories as well, rather than getting them educated. Factory workers worked under terrible working conditions, for excessively long hours with very little in the way of rights, education, or options. The typical workday lasted 10-18 hours per day, six days a week. When the companies intended to get more output from employees, a 24/7 work schedule was the alternative. Later, a 10-16 hour day became the norm.

The momentum for a shorter workday began in 1791 in the US, with workers in Philadelphia striking for a ten-hour total workday that included two hours for lunch break. In 1817, Robert Owen started a campaign with the slogan ‘Eight hours labor, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest.’ By the 1830s, support for the eight-hour workday was gained from a majority of the workers in the US, but it still failed to find support among business owners. Workers continued to hold strikes demanding shorter working hours and slowly things began improving.. .