How the Five Day Workweek Emerged

The history of the five day workweek we are used to today is a long path of trial and error, conflicts, and reforms. When people lived mainly by agriculture, labor norms were not discussed, because everything depended on the season and immediate necessity. However, the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century changed the situation. Factory workers labored twelve to sixteen hours a day with almost no days off, children worked as well, and workers lost control over their own time.

Gradually, the labor movement and trade unions emerged, beginning to fight for humane working conditions. In the early nineteenth century, Robert Owen formulated the famous principle of eight hours of work, eight hours of rest, and eight hours of sleep. Strikes spread across the world, and legislative limits first appeared in industrialized countries. In England, in eighteen forty seven, the working hours of women and children were limited to ten hours a day. In the United States, workers actively demanded an eight hour day, and the protests of May first became the foundation of Labor Day. In France and other countries, attempts to shorten the working day also passed through sharp social conflicts.

Sometimes reforms came from employers themselves, who voluntarily introduced shorter working hours and social guarantees, but such cases were rare. By the early twentieth century, workers’ demands had become widely accepted, and after the First World War many countries recognized the eight hour workday. In nineteen nineteen, the International Labour Organization established the forty eight hour workweek as a standard.

Once the eight hour day became the norm, the question of days off arose. Society debated what was better, six shorter working days or five longer ones. In the nineteen thirties, the United States legally established the forty hour workweek, and the two day weekend began to spread around the world. In the Soviet Union, various experiments were conducted, including a continuous workweek with rotating days off, but eventually the country returned to the familiar system. From nineteen sixty seven, the USSR officially закрепила a two day weekend and a forty hour workweek.

Today, most countries live under roughly the same standards, although differences remain. Europe has strict rest regulations and limits on overtime. The United States allows more flexibility in certain industries. Japan has a strong culture of overwork, sometimes leading to dangerous consequences. France has one of the shortest workweeks. China and other economies are also searching for a balance between productivity and workers’ health.

Modern research shows that work efficiency is limited. It is difficult for a person to maintain high concentration for long periods, and overtime more often leads to mistakes than to better results. That is why more and more countries are experimenting with a four day workweek, and in many companies productivity does not decrease.

Nevertheless, there is still no universal solution. Different fields require different amounts of time, and humanity will likely continue searching for a new optimal balance between work and life.