Don’t get me wrong, I love Dolly Parton, but I just can’t stand the thought of a nine-to-five job.
When I was in high school, or even middle school, I got so familiar with waking up at 7 a.m., leaving for school by 8 a.m., attending classes from 8:30 a.m. – 3 pm, and then going home having a snack, doing homework, watching TV, eating dinner, and then going to bed. Essentially, I had a structure.
In college, I have a class that starts at 9 a.m. one day, 10:30 a.m. another, and one that doesn’t even start till 3 p.m. My job’s schedule is sporadic, work when you can and make note of it. The only structure I have is when I eat and when I call my grandma.
College life and work do not in any way set up to work a nine-to-five job, so why does society make it almost mandatory? Our generation is not built to work for eight hours straight with maybe an hour lunch break. We’re faced with many distractions that I don’t believe it’s possible to work productively for that long. It’s a waste of our time and a waste of resources. Finding this out for myself definitely has saved me a lot of struggle later on in my life and has helped me to look for a certain type of internship as well.
According to a March 2021 Forbes article, there’s been talk about companies abroad who have switched to 4 days, 6 hour work weeks. The article dives deeper into Spain specifically and how they “maintain that working more hours does not mean working better”. I hope more companies begin to switch to this. If I worked an eight-hour day I don’t think I could work productively longer than four hours. The beauty of the four work week is that you get three days to destress, spend time with friends and family, and enjoy life. By having a two-day weekend, we barely get enough time to enjoy the small things in life and get inspired to work better.
The purpose and necessity of this change is to see fewer people with burnout and stress and see more people enjoying the life they live with the people they love within it!
Share your work-life balance thoughts with us @HerCampusSJSU