Ep. 7 - The 15 hour work week (+40)

In 1930 John Maynard Keynes wrote a famous essay; “Economic Possibility for our Grandchildren." In it, he alluded to the possibility of a 15-hour work week by the 21st century. Due to automation, technology, and sheer progression, his claim was seemingly fair.

Although I don’t agree with everything Keynes brought to the table (a little too socialist/interventionist for my liking - a topic for next week 😉), this thought is extremely interesting.

Take a step back and really think about it. We have never seen such advancement, but yet we have never worked more - why? Have we created this work for no reason? Are we creating value, or just updating spreadsheets? It’s a dark hole to go down. That’s why I practice stoicism (I honestly think this is a must for anyone in professional services).

But it’s a great thought experiment. Could we do everything we needed to do, and maintain our quality of living by working 15 hours a week? On average, yes I do think so.

We have over complicated everything. We are using hundreds of different messaging platforms, numerous different ‘dashboards’, fancy analytics (that are never actioned), beautiful presentation decks (no one cares unless it’s valuable), new laws created every year, new accounting standards implemented every year. More, more, and more.

I don’t think we need it. The most successful businesses I work with are utterly and sometimes painfully, simple. Their tech stack is minimal. They know what they’re good at. They execute. They repeat. The flywheel is firing. Nothing fancy and nothing more. And guess what? Everyone there has a great work-life integration.

At Elevate Financial, we track five things. Nothing is double counted. We get the picture from one page in excel. I do understand that the larger the business is, the more data they need for various revenue streams and regions. But sometimes too much data leads to poorer decision-making and performance. Stick to the basics.

But what would you do?

This is the question/argument that is always brought to the forefront when discussing shortened work weeks. It usually goes something like this; “humans are meant to work hard, and too much free time will lead to social unrest.” I get it. And, I do agree to a certain extent. I think we are meant to work. But I also think we’re meant to play more. To get up from our desk. To move - a lot. To do hard things.

Do I think a 15 hour work week is realistic? No, I don’t. But, I do believe we have tons of potential to shift the narrative. Busy is not sexy. Burnout is not sexy.

But enjoying your work and having the time to be creative? That's sexy.