this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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North American here. 8-5 is 8 hours of work with a 1 hour lunch. That ends up being only 40 hours a week. Some workplaces standardize on 45. Some workplaces pay overtime starting at 40 (extra pay for the 41st hour) while some wait until 90 hours in two weeks before paying overtime. If the work hours arrangement doesn't work for an employee they should bring it up to HR or managers. They can quit anytime.
That is really unfortunate, so sad to see NA work culture progress backward... I am pretty sure 9-5 was standard for a while.
What's even more messed up is part time work here. Legislation stipulates that workers get additional benefits at 30 hours. End result is companies only hire people for 29.5 hours and don't have to supply those benefits. Meaning people take two jobs and still have no healthcare paid by either employer.
Where was 9-5 ever standard? Here in Europe you usually work 8 hours plus 1 hour lunch. So you either do 8-5, 9-6 or 10-7. 9-5 is only standard if you work like a slave without food all day.
Like I said, I have never worked a job with fixed schedule, so I really don't know. However based on this article: https://www.historydefined.net/the-9-to-5-workday-a-brief-history/
Also several of my friends work 9-5 in the U.S. including lunch, although many others work 8:30-5.
The 9-5 work day usually refers to a work day without a lunch. It was common for employers not to offer lunch breaks for labor jobs. Even now, there are a lot of states that don’t require employers to give employees an hour for lunch. I live in Texas and they don’t require giving breaks or lunch.
Yeah, but I am refering to the time when 9-5 was first introduced, I imagine they would include lunch break, since most people do need to eat. If they were doing 8h without lunch break, I think they would simply call it 8-5 or 9-6.