Go Tell Your Boss Working Less Could Save the Planet
We’ve already established that working 9-5 five days a week does the opposite of magic on your booty, but did you know that working fewer days a week could also save the planet?
It might be a bit of a stretch, but the numbers don’t lie. Alex Williams pointed out in his piece for The Conversation that a three day weekend could ridiculously decrease energy emissions and potentially slow down global warning before our planet’s imminent demise.
“If Americans simply followed European levels of working hours, for example, they would see an estimated 20% reduction in energy use – and hence in carbon emissions,” Williams points out.
It sounds crazy. I mean, how much energy is your office really using? But when you factor in every employee’s commute, office lighting, and office heating/AC, that shit starts to really add up.
And it’s been proven that changing up our work week would make a difference. When Utah put a new schedule into place for its government workers which extended their hours Monday-Thursday and cut Fridays out entirely in 2007, they saved $1.8 Million dollars in energy in the first ten months. Holy shit, right?
Obviously, working four days a week rather than five would also drastically improve our health, work-life balance, and mental health. But considering that none of those arguments have swayed big business before, we’re not banking on them.
Instead, let’s go with this anti-global warming angle. Because our planet is seriously getting fucked up from everyone only caring about immediate profits rather than long term consequences.
Plus, if the world is going to end anyways, we might as well start having three day weekends to enjoy life while we can? Am I right?
