Poll: Do you think reducing workdays to six hours with full salary could work well in your region?
论题张贴者: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
网站工作人员
Feb 2

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you think reducing workdays to six hours with full salary could work well in your region?".

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Guy Michel De Orval
Guy Michel De Orval
加拿大
Local time: 13:34
正式会员 (自2024)
English英语译成French法语
+ ...
Too global poll topic. 04:42

This poll is too global and general. Not sufficiently focused on translation.

Dan Lucas
Rachel Waddington
Sebastian Witte
Christine Andersen
Joe France
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
writeaway
 
Philip Lees
Philip Lees  Identity Verified
希腊
Local time: 20:34
Greek希腊语译成English英语
Other 06:11

Define "work well".

Dan Lucas
Sebastian Witte
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
writeaway
Luis M. Sosa
 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
英国
Local time: 18:34
正式会员 (自2014)
Japanese日语译成English英语
I just don't understand this 07:49

So employees do less work for the same money?
Or employees do the same amount of work by being more efficient?

If the latter, why are they not already doing it?

If the former, they will be getting more money for the same work, which - putting aside issues of whether that is considered ethical or not - would be an increase not backed by productivity gains, which would presumably be inflationary.

I'm not sure if the person who proposed the poll has not
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So employees do less work for the same money?
Or employees do the same amount of work by being more efficient?

If the latter, why are they not already doing it?

If the former, they will be getting more money for the same work, which - putting aside issues of whether that is considered ethical or not - would be an increase not backed by productivity gains, which would presumably be inflationary.

I'm not sure if the person who proposed the poll has noticed the devastation caused by inflation and the resulting increases in the cost of living over the past few years since Russia invaded Ukraine. Do we want more of that?

More pipe dreams...

Dan
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Carla Selyer
 
Liena Vijupe
Liena Vijupe  Identity Verified
拉脱维亚
Local time: 20:34
正式会员 (自2014)
French法语译成Latvian拉托维亚语
+ ...
Yes 09:23

As far as I know, some countries in northern Europe are already doing this, but not in all professions perhaps. As for translators, most of us are freelancers and even those who work in-house would probably still depend on volumes meaning they might have to work overtime or just sit at work with nothing much to do.

 
Zea_Mays
Zea_Mays  Identity Verified
意大利
Local time: 19:34
English英语译成German德语
+ ...
rather 4 instead of 5 workdays 09:55

I don't know if there are countries experimenting with a six-hour model, but I do know that there are regions and countries and individual companies experimenting with a four-day week and it seems to be working quite well (in terms of people being more satisfied = more engaged = increased productivity).

Marijke Singer
Lieven Malaise
Annette Fehr
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
葡萄牙
Local time: 18:34
正式会员 (自2007)
English英语译成Portuguese葡萄牙语
+ ...
Other 10:49

Does it make sense to ask this question to people who don’t work 9 to 5 and don’t have a fixed salary? I suppose many workers would be very happy working less hours for the same salary, but I’m afraid this doesn’t apply to freelancers.

I worked for 20 years in-house (retired in 2006) and in the 5 last years we had a flexible work time (even before Covid). I had a well-paid job, but no payment for extra hours (just once a month during the sessions). Now some of my colleagues
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Does it make sense to ask this question to people who don’t work 9 to 5 and don’t have a fixed salary? I suppose many workers would be very happy working less hours for the same salary, but I’m afraid this doesn’t apply to freelancers.

I worked for 20 years in-house (retired in 2006) and in the 5 last years we had a flexible work time (even before Covid). I had a well-paid job, but no payment for extra hours (just once a month during the sessions). Now some of my colleagues (who are still there) can choose working at home for a part of the week and the remaining at the office.
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Dan Lucas
Christine Andersen
Liena Vijupe
Florence Risser
Luis M. Sosa
 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
西班牙
Local time: 19:34
会员
English英语译成French法语
It's bound to 11:04

From full-life slavery to 4-day-paid-7 work weeks, we're doubtlessly getting there.

As an advocate of a work-free life since my infancy, this poll resonates. Because the human being took the wrong route tens of thousand years ago, it is my duty to blow the whistle. Work is something that no other mammals or amphibians adhere to, and anyway, humans as a whole should be clever enough to rid us all from trivial chores like work to make a living in order to buy things and services that
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From full-life slavery to 4-day-paid-7 work weeks, we're doubtlessly getting there.

As an advocate of a work-free life since my infancy, this poll resonates. Because the human being took the wrong route tens of thousand years ago, it is my duty to blow the whistle. Work is something that no other mammals or amphibians adhere to, and anyway, humans as a whole should be clever enough to rid us all from trivial chores like work to make a living in order to buy things and services that require work from other humans to ensure they can be sold.

In a nutshell, I believe we should have had machines working for us for everything (including translation, of course) long ago.
The massive wealth that they would generate by themselves through thorough and responsible self-managed use of quasi-limitless energy resources and raw material from the solar system and beyond, thanks to revered visionaries pioneering space exploration for the better good of mankind, would be redistributed to everybody according to their needs and wants.
Ultimately, everybody would live a life of leisure and gin-and-tonic or alcohol-free squeezed fruit juice, far away from the burden of responsibility and obligations, apart from those edicted by unbiased, multilingual law enforcement machines, whose behaviour and precepts would be continuously monitored by a committee of humans assisted by AI-enhanced machines developed by humans based on predictive foundation models trained on the historical information of the Earth itself from the past 4.5 billion years.

I therefore think that reducing workdays to zero hours and well machine-designed machines to do the needful would work well, at least for me. But until then, I still have to assist them in understanding English properly.

Philippe
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Dan Lucas
 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
波斯尼亚黑塞哥维纳
Local time: 19:34
正式会员 (自2009)
English英语译成Croatian克罗地亚语
+ ...
Public sector 11:16

In my country, in the public sector, it’s an 8-hour shift, but they work effectively at 4 hours max, so this is already a reality, in a way. Excess coffee breaks and all sorts of avoidances.

On the other hand, in the private sector, they wouldn’t experiment with any sort of work reduction unless it’s followed by a cut in salary.

There’s a local saying: In the public sector, 5 people do 1 job, while in the private sector, 1 person does 5 jobs.


[Edit
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In my country, in the public sector, it’s an 8-hour shift, but they work effectively at 4 hours max, so this is already a reality, in a way. Excess coffee breaks and all sorts of avoidances.

On the other hand, in the private sector, they wouldn’t experiment with any sort of work reduction unless it’s followed by a cut in salary.

There’s a local saying: In the public sector, 5 people do 1 job, while in the private sector, 1 person does 5 jobs.


[Edited at 2025-02-03 18:27 GMT]
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Astrid Elke Witte
Astrid Elke Witte  Identity Verified
德国
Local time: 19:34
正式会员 (自2002)
German德语译成English英语
+ ...
I find it utterly offensive to pose this question to freelance translators 17:51

To rephrase it:

"Should people in other jobs have an easier life, less work, and more money, at the direct expense of freelance translators?"


 


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Poll: Do you think reducing workdays to six hours with full salary could work well in your region?






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