Our Sandy Hot Take is a quick way to stay up-to-date on the issues and news that impact the world of freelance work.
“There has been no correlation between working more hours and better productivity.” This is what Democratic Assembly member Cristina Garcia, is quoted as saying in a recent article on CNBC. As a freelance worker, this is a truth you may be living personally – it may even be one of the reasons you left the “9-5 grind” to be a free agent. Well it now seems as if this debate – can people do more with less time – is about to get some attention. Let’s discuss.
As we share this blog, legislation is working its way through the California state legislature that would change the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours a week for companies larger than 500 people without a single cut in pay.
“It doesn’t make sense that we are still holding onto a work schedule that served the Industrial Revolution,” Garcia, a sponsor of the bill herself, says.
Opponents of the bill, including the California Chamber of Commerce, call the bill a “job killer” and say that it will impose additional costs on businesses.
According to Ashley Hoffman, a public policy advocate at the California Chamber Commerce, “Such a large increase in labor costs will reduce businesses’ ability to hire or create new positions and will therefore limit job growth in California.”
The shift to a 32-hour or 4-day work week is just another sign of the huge impact that The Great Resignation or The Great Reshuffle inspired by Covid has had on the workforce in general. More and more companies are recognizing that people truly do care about their quality of life – and that the happiest employees may be the most effective and valuable to the team.
We asked Sandy Chief Brand Officer Rae Hames – an expert on all things freelance – to chime in with her take on this issue.
Woop woop! Obviously a formal 4-day workweek is a step in the right direction for a more balanced approach to work and life, and as a Cali girl, I love to see my state leading the charge. With that said, I’m not confident it’ll pass on the first attempt – companies with 500+ employees are typically the ones who are most motivated to squeeze value for shareholders and so I expect to see a lot of lobby resistance against the bill. In the short term though, we don’t need to convince the whole state – one boss, one department, and one company at a time!
Rae Hames, Sandy
Interested in learning more? Check out the full piece on CNBC here and chime in to let us know what YOU think!
