Intro.

Did you know that in France, companies that employ more than 20 people are restricted to enforcing a 35 hour work week. This is significantly less than some western countries such as Australia, the UK or the US.

The French seem to have the ratio right in terms of a work/life balance. Similarly, the Swedes had a 23 month trial of 6 hour days, which they found was unsustainable due to the financial cost of employing extra people to fill the gap.

Having said that, it was reported that staff had a much happier and healthier life due to the reduced hours.

So, what can we take from these trials in revised hours for employees? It’s not so much what we can take away now but into the future also. Mainly because we’re going to have to think long and hard about employment because of technology advancements.

Many people would really like to reduce their working hours, others are not so sure as it gets them motivated for the day. I have a friend that says no matter how wealthy he becomes, he needs work to get him up in the morning.

Everyone, including me is different, but I’m interested in why and how people will reduce hours into the future.

Why Do You Want to Reduce Working Hours

People have a multitude of reasons for reducing their work hours and often it’s not voluntary. The most common reason for working less is to free up more time to spend with family. However, this can only be achieved if there’s enough money coming into the household.

For many this isn’t a problem. As we get older and more experienced in our jobs, salaries often go up, and with some professions, wages can get to large figures.

On the other hand, the majority of households struggle with the income they receive, and the only wage rises they receive are inflationary. These are the people that find it harder to reduce hours as they still need to pay the bills. Is this you? If so, I’ll soon talk about how you can learn to create a side income to allow for a reduction in your working hours.

There’s also the possibility of your company no longer being able to keep you on their books, and therefore have the need to relieve you of your duties. This could be because the company is going in a different direction, or it may be a financial decision. Sometimes the employer just can’t afford to keep all their employees in work.

You may just be in the situation where flexibility of hours is what you’d prefer. This has also become a more common model in today’s workplace due to the digital age. More employers are becoming open to the idea of working from home, and this can be achieved through remote connection.

How to Deal With Redundancy News

If you had no intention of reducing your hours and your employer decides that your time at the company has expired, there are a number of options you could put forward to them. Here’s 3 options that may work in this regard, or at least prolong their decision.

1. Offering part time – Put forward to them, that you’d consider reducing your hours. This becomes a win/win for both company and you. The reason for this is that when a company requires more employees, they can often be hard to find. Keeping you employed part-time keeps that contact with you.
2. Offering to take leave – This will free up money from the company and reduce pressure on their finances. You’ll also get a break to recharge the batteries.
3. Take a Pay Cut! – As a last resort to keep your job, you may offer to have a pay cut. This is not usually an acceptable alternative, hence why I say ‘last resort’!

Unfortunately, the direction that some companies are heading means that jobs will be no longer required. Many positions now, and more importantly into the future, are going to be automated. Therefore companies will make more money this way, and regrettably, no longer need people to fill tasks.

The Stress of Today’s Life

It’s staggering how different today’s life is compared to the 1980’s and 1990’s. Even the 2000’s for that matter. Life seems to be so much faster and we all cram so much more into our daily routines.

This is part of the reason for many folk wanting to drop hours of their daytime employment. Sadly, it’s becoming harder to do so with inflation constantly rising more than wage growth.

A large reason for our days becoming busier is the advancement in technology. Although it’s supposed to make out lives easier, technology also plays its part in wasting our time.

How often have you been on your home PC attempting to figure something out, like paying a bill or getting technical support. It seems to be a snowball effect, one thing leads to another and before you know it, you’ve been on your computer for 4 hours. This all came from trying to change a data setting or something similar.

We need to stress less and focus more on the major things we can, and should centre on, and employment is one of those. Ideally if we can focus more on work, this can often give us the opportunity to reduce our working hours. Employers are becoming more open to the fact that if the work is completed, then the hours are secondary.

I’ve basically covered more of the office and/or factory type jobs but what about transportation jobs, farming jobs or shift workers. Every situation is different, but reducing hours can be applied in any field should you want it enough.

A New Alternative Model

A good alternative to working for the same company in a full time role, is to find an online method of creating an income. Here you can find out how to make money online from anywhere in the world.

From all these different legitimate online money making opportunities, there’s one that I rate more highly over all the others. It’s known as affiliate marketing and can be leveraged by anyone online. There’s an educational course that can be taken to learn how to set it all up, and I can also show you exactly how it works.

Diversifying your income streams (especially online) is always a good idea in case you are made redundant or can no longer work physically for some reason. With various methods available, you can easily learn how to do this from many forms of education videos or online instructions.

This side income could one day become your full-time career. It is possible to achieve, and you’ll know and understand how as time goes on. Especially with affiliate marketing or opening a Shopify store, these two options can both earn a good crust.

I would urge you to look past this new series of websites that have recently popped up. They call themselves ‘influencer networks’ and offer you $25 just for signing up. These are scam sites , and I’ve written reviews on a few of them. A common one is called Influencer Cash, and some of the replica sites are Click4Kash, EarnBucks or Clout Bucks.

They all have the same similarities and claim to give you big returns for little effort. In reality they are a scam and are only interested in obtaining your personal information for unknown purposes. They could use this information in a variety of ways, so I’d urge you not to risk signing up with them.

Wrapping Up

Do you think that in 10 years time, workplace arrangements will be the same as they are now? If you were to ask me that question, I’d be astounded if the general 38-40 hour working week will still be common practice. That’s not to say that there won’t be people working these hours, it’s just that a shake-up is on the way.

I believe a lot more people will be working less hours and will either need to supplement their income somehow, or governments will be helping out in regards to this.

Having seen the immediate progression of the online world since 2010, the current opportunities available to make your own online income are starring many of us in the face.

Having said that, it’s not as simple as some YouTube gurus make out. You need a plan, the guts to take action and persistence to make it happen.

If you’re going to still be in the workforce in 20 years time, I’d start preparing for an online income now. The internet isn’t going away and more people are getting online to find their niche. Don’t be left behind whilst everyone else ventures past you on the way to a successful online career.