All At Once
What would happen if the entire world worked all the time?
What would happen if the workday was no longer eight hours, but twenty-four hours? In other words, a world where the workday became the whole day. I wonder what would happen if this became normalised and widely adopted.
Imagine the function of one role became shared across three individuals, each occupying a specific ‘eight-hour working window’ during the day. In such a world, we’d all be operating within different timeframes.
Hypothetically, such a shift would need to be all-encompassing. It would need to (1) cut across industries (including, but not limited to, blue- and white-collar), (2) be applied to various sectors (primary, secondary, and so on), and especially (3) receive opt-in by key players in the global economy.
On one hand, employment levels would significantly rise: individuals cannot work round the clock—nor should they. So, more people would [need to] work to account for such a shift. More people would have disposable income, and as such, we can expect broader multiplier effects to occur. However, it is unclear if these would happen, and to what extent.
On the other hand, such a significant change may create coordination problems that could disrupt labour markets, social security, and public finance. It’s also possible that this creates negative effects on society’s aggregated mental wellbeing. Ultimately, whether such a transition becomes largely beneficial also means confronting the structural issues with our current economic system(s).
Overall, it’s unclear whether we would collectively be better off, or this is yet another bleak picture of ‘labour for survival’. Yet, it’s still fascinating to think about. After all, the eight-hour workday as we know it was once also just a crazy idea.