# Remote Work as the 15-Hour Work Week Tipping Point By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-05-21 Famed economist Keynes estimated that we should be well on our way to only working 15 hours per week. This was based on productivity trends that have largely continued since he made that prediction a hundred years ago. Yet, we find ourselves not nearly close to 15 hours per week. While deeper analyses exist as to why we are still working ~40 hours per week, I think we are about to see a sudden state transition for many office workers who are willing to challenge the status quo. Anyone who has spent time in a desk job knows either how much time is wasted each week or how overworked and underpaid they are versus the profits they generate for the owners. On the waste side, managers expect your butt to be in the seat and in all the meetings. This is show work and not real work. You may only have 15 hours of real productive, value-added work to perform each week, but the status quo is the 40-hour week. Organizations and managers are horrible at assessing real value versus fake value, so they hope that keeping you around 40 hours will ensure enough value is generated. On the overworked and underpaid side, this reflects many issues levied against capitalism from the start. The owners of capital are incentivized to get you to do as many jobs as possible for as low a price as possible. It's just the way the system works without unions, government intervention, and dynamic and empowered talent markets. Until the pandemic and maturing of remote work technologies, there was largely no way to avoid either situation. You had to be in the office for your show work and were limited to your geographic location to find better-paying and less demanding jobs. Remote work has made it possible for you to teleport around the world instantly and work from anywhere. We are no longer tied to a single geographic location. The status quo approach to remote work is to treat your home office like the corporate office. You still sit there all day to appease the managers, but now you can quickly change jobs without uprooting your entire life. Here you at least have the option to mitigate the overworked and underpaid part of modern employment. However, remote work provides a unique opportunity to embrace the 15-hour work week - if you are willing to adopt working just 15 hours a week. For the most part, no good company is monitoring what you are doing all day in your home, so work 15 hours instead of sitting there all day pretending to work 40. Block off your work calendar as "focused work time" so people don't schedule meetings with you, but only work the 15 hours. You might be amazed by how much work you get done in 15 hours and you aren't devaluing the company anymore than sitting in pointless meetings. For the remainder of the blocked time on your calendar, do something that brings you joy. Maybe it's a hobby, playing a game, or working a second job. This approach isn't for everyone and every office job, but the only way to make the 15-work week a reality is for people to start doing it. We used to work seven days a week in the factories until we stood up for ourselves. Standing up for the 15-hour work week while corporate profits soar to new heights is no different. Profits and productivity are growing faster than wages are increasing. You can choose to work less to compensate or negotiate for higher pay. Remote work lets you do both if you choose to challenge the status quo, but know the risks of being the first mover and outlier. #### Related Items [[Remote Work]] [[Work]] [[Productivity]] [[Business]] [[Economics]] [[Joy]] [[Meetings]] [[Management]]