In a news paper report, I read that in Sweden, number of working hours have been brought down to 6 hours per day, 30 hour week in many firms. The reasons quoted were expectations of higher productivity, more happiness of employees, more time availability to pursue their personal lives, etc.
It is said that, present working hours of eight per day extends to 9-10 hr per day and if you add transportation time to and from workplace adds to 10-12 hr per day away from home. This leaves little time for attending family duties and sleep. Higher work hours also lead to increase in risk to health, as per the studies.
But by reducing working hours, I could not make out, whether number of work shifts will increase where round-the-clock operations are to be carried out, i.e some more persons will be recruited to run the fourth shift (4 x 6 = 24 hr a day).
But, it appears that 6 hr a day is a good idea for all. Youngsters can spend some extra hours for higher studies or pursue their hobbies. Elders can have more relaxation time.
http://www.sciencealert.com/sweden-is-shifting-to-a-6-hour-workday
http://www.sciencealert.com/working-long-hours-is-linked-to-a-significantly-higher-risk-of-stroke?utm_source=Article&utm_medium=Website&utm_campaign=InArticleReadMore
http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/02/news/economy/sweden-6-hour-work-day/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-introduces-six-hour-work-day-a6674646.html
