When Less Work Created More

Rea,

It was so much fun taking that day off together yesterday! It got me thinking about our schedule. Have you ever wondered why we usually go to school or work for five days and then have two days off for the weekend? Where did that idea even come from?

For a long, long time, most people didn’t have weekends like we do. Many worked six days a week, and some even worked seven. Imagine only having one day, or maybe no days, to rest and play! That was normal for hundreds of years.

Then, about a hundred years ago, a man named Henry Ford had a different idea. Yes, the same Henry Ford who started the Ford Motor Company that makes cars. Back then, his factories, like most others, ran six days a week. Workers were often tired, and sometimes they made mistakes or got hurt.

In 1926, Ford made a surprising announcement. He decided his factories would close not just on Sunday, but on Saturday too. His workers would only work five days a week, but he would keep paying them the same amount of money – five dollars a day, which was a lot back then!

Other factory owners thought Ford was making a huge mistake. They predicted his company would lose money and fail. Why pay people the same for less work? But Ford believed that giving workers more time to rest and be with their families would actually make them better workers.

And guess what happened? Ford was right! After switching to a five-day week, his company found that workers were actually more productive. They made fewer mistakes, and fewer people quit their jobs. The company became even more successful.

Ford’s idea slowly caught on. Other companies saw his success and started trying the five-day week too. Eventually, in 1938, the government passed a law called the Fair Labor Standards Act, which helped make the 40-hour, five-day work week the standard for many jobs in America. The “weekend” as we know it was born!

It’s like the bass bow. If you keep a bow strung tight all the time, it’s not good. You have to unstring it, let it rest, so it stays strong. Ford figured out that people needed rest too, not just to feel better, but to do better work.

Now, some people are even talking about a four-day work week. Some companies that have tried it found that people get just as much done, or even more, in four days. What do you think about that? Would a four-day school week work?

Love, Abba

P.S. Think about your own week. Do you feel more focused and ready to learn after a weekend break? It’s interesting how sometimes doing less helps us achieve more!