The Effort to Restore Our Time
Time, too, is something that can be monopolized, for those without choices of work or without a source of passive income. Typically, a person’s time is exchanged for money, which is later exchanged for time again, when that money can be used for leisure or creativity.
While work is necessary for our survival, it has been consuming a greater proportion of our time, despite our higher levels of productivity. Both work and time have been becoming increasingly skewed in their distribution, with some working longer hours, and others with no employment. Older workers sometimes avoid retirement, and are difficult to replace (or unable to retire), while younger workers remain unemployed or in low-level jobs. A lucky few have a balance between time and work, and are able to enjoy both a steady income and the privilege of time for leisure and creativity. For many types of work, longer hours also does not correlate with greater output, due to limits of the human body and mind.The New Physiocrats recognize the importance of time, and its poor distribution. The New Physiocratic platform advocates an effort to value our time, and to reduce working hours in order to better distribute them, starting with a 30-hour work-week, plus a minimum of 30 vacation days per year. To discourage excess working hours (yet acknowledging it may be necessary at times), it would also require double pay for work in excess of 30 hours, and triple for excess of 40. Flexibility can be added to the rules by allowing a certain amount of time to be carried over to the following month, as long as overtime for all employees in a firm is capped (as a percentage of total working hours). Limits on store opening hours and days should also be removed, to further increase flexibility and adapt to people’s preferences. Laws freeing employees’ obligation to stay connected and receive messages outside of working hours, such as France’s “right to disconnect” must be emulated.
Non-compete clauses and no-poaching agreements must be restricted so workers are free to choose higher paying employers. Combined with the wage subsidy effect from the Three Pillars, flexible labor laws, and the other reforms in the Physiocratic platform, these reforms would become very affordable for both employers and employees. In contrast to the serious brain drain that countries such as South Korea have as a result of overwork, these policies would ensure the retention of top talent, rather than burning them out. It also allows more time for family and child care. In a further boost to the economy, it would allow time for entrepreneurial activities for those who desire them, yet don’t have the time to pursue them.The somewhat arbitrary nature of working hour regulations also means that they are by some measure a form of experimentation. Due to this reality, the working hour rules must be revisited every five years. A specific department, The Effort to Restore Our Time, should be tasked with collecting data on whether the above objectives are met for the nation and the individual, and to put forward policy proposals.