The original natural family living magazine, founded in 1976. Reader-supported
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from Natural Life Magazine,
November/December 2009 Job sharing is one route to discovering the personal and environmental benefits of working less. According to the United Nations’ International Labor Organization, the typical American worker puts in five weeks more on the job per year than his or her British counterpart and twelve-and-a-half weeks more than the Germans. While Canadians work somewhat less than Americans do, and enjoy longer vacations and paid family leave, they are also feeling the pressure of overwork. And, increasingly, arguments are being made that the results are not only harmful to one’s health, but to family and civic life, as well as to the environment. Take Back Your Time is a major U.S./Canadian initiative that challenges the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine. Among the many ways they list that time stress affects our lives are health effects like accidents, burnout, reducing time for recycling and exercise, and consumption of fast foods and stress-related illnesses; less time with families and other relationships; less time to get to know our neighbors and to volunteer; less time for self-development and spiritual growth; and less time to be engaged citizens. Not only has the pursuit of income put many of us on a treadmill, it has also negatively affected the health of the planet. For instance, studies show that lack of time encourages use of convenience and throwaway items and reduces recycling rates. Then there’s the amount of energy we use commuting, heating and lighting office buildings, and so on. A 2006 study by the Washington D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research looked at the environmental effects of shorter working hours by comparing the European and American economic models. Europe currently consumes about half as much energy per person as the United States, but the researchers calculated that if the countries of “Old Europe” – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom – were to increase annual work hours to American levels, they could consume some thirty percent more energy than they do at present. If the United States had adopted European standards for work hours, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions in 2000 would have been seven percent lower than its actual 1990 emissions, which was the negotiated goal for the U.S. in meeting Kyoto standards. On the other hand, with unemployment at record or near-record levels, many people don’t have the opportunity to decide whether or not to have the pressure of overwork! So, if you are trying to get back into the job market after having been laid off, or are trying to enter the working world for the first time, now is a great time to re-think your relationship with work and not get back onto that treadmill. At least not totally. Although businesses are generally very opposed to shortened work hours, some public sector jurisdictions in North America are taking the first small steps in that direction by offering their employees a four-day work week – many motivated by high gas prices and general financial pressures. In 2008, Utah became the first state to make the four-day work week mandatory for about 17,000 state employees. Governor Jon Huntsman says he made the change to reduce the state’s carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, improve customer service and provide workers with more flexibility. The four-day work week is widely recognized as a quality-of-life issue, especially for younger employees who want to enhance their work-life balance. If that need for work-life balance is making you wonder if full employment is such a great thing, why not become part of the job sharing movement? Two people sharing the same position in a company is . . . To read the rest of this article, subscribe to Natural Life's online edition. Wendy Priesnitz is Natural Life’s co-founder and editor. She has been an advocate of alternative work arrangements since the 1980s. |
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