40 Hour Work Week - Seriously?

Okay, let’s be honest. Do you know anyone who actually works a 40 Hour Week?

I’m not talking about juggling a job and raising a family and taking care of a home. 

Everyone I know who works—inside the home and outside the home—puts in way more than 40 hours a week, and that goes for women and men.

There may be jobs—probably the kind where you punch a time clock—where someone works a 5-day week, with each work day beginning at a specific time and leaving exactly 8 hours later, but that was never my experience even when I was a teen working for an hourly wage.

Most working people get there before their official day starts and leaves after their official day ends. A lot of people work during their lunch hour, and many take home work. that they do in the evenings and weekends.

Why am I even talking about this? Because on this day in 1940, the  40-hour workweek went into effect in the U.S.

It was actually part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, but it took 2 years before it went into effect.

WHO HAS THE WORST WORK WEEK?

As someone who is self-employed, I think I can safely say that the self-employed work the most hours every week. Whether you’re an author like me or someone who makes and sells something physical, you work far more hours than someone getting a paycheck from an employer.

If you’re self-employed and home-based, your time is never your own. Your work may not even be at a specific time especially if you have children. You probably squeeze in some work time before preparing meals, after getting the kids off to school, and walking the dog.

Then you juggle your “work” with house work, laundry, meal preparation, errands, and all the other things that make you think you have the worst of both worlds—career and parenthood.

In fact, to the self-employed, having 40 hours to do nothing but work your business would be a blessing.

Those who work outside the home, i.e., getting a “real” paycheck, and then come home to the chaos of children, meal prep, and, hopefully, time to work your self-employed dream, may well question why you’re trying to start a sideline career.

At night, when everyone else is in bed, the self-employed worker bee, like me, is in the office with a few hours of peace and quiet to devote an hour or two to creating something to get the self-employed paycheck.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Do you work only 40 hours a week? If so, I congratulate you. Leave a comment and tell us how you manage that. I’ll take notes while I finish my coffee.

Joan Reeves aka SlingWords: The Word Slinging Adventures of Joan Reeves

Source: https://slingwords.blogspot.com/2025/10/40-hour-work-week-seriously.html