The Five-Day Workweek
A shorter standard week emerged through labor organizing, legislation, and employer experiments.
In 1926, Ford Motor Company adopted a five-day, forty-hour schedule for many workers. The change followed decades of labor organizing and other experiments with working hours; later laws and union agreements helped establish broader standards.
The shorter week changed how people organized work and leisure, while employers also expected benefits from lower turnover and productivity. Effects varied by occupation and period; a seven-day schedule would not have physically destroyed every workforce, but excessive hours can harm health and safety.
Without Ford's move, shorter schedules could still have spread through unions, legislation, or other firms. The timing might have differed, but no single company controlled the entire labor movement.
Working time is negotiated through power as well as efficiency. The standard week reflects choices about who owns time, how productivity is measured, and whose needs count outside paid employment.
Without Ford's move, shorter schedules could still have spread through unions, legislation, or other firms.
How much of my time do I treat as naturally owed to work rather than something people should negotiate?