Can't Find a Job? Work Part-Time and Live a Simple Life

It seems it is in the news daily...more people can't find work, especially those over 50. I know a few people who have been looking for full-time work for two years. I also know another person who finally found work, but it took him two years, and he now has to commute. It's the same sad story all over the United States. Even recent college graduates are having a hard time finding work. Right now, the jobs that people are finding are only part-time, since many employers can't hire full-time and/or they don't want to offer health insurance.

What's the answer? Now's the time to look at your expenses and see if you can live more simply. You can live in an Intentional Community with others, or if you own your own home, you can either downsize or rent out a couple of rooms to like-minded people. Co-housing, a form of Intentional Community, is another option. I know a woman who sold her home and moved into a room with her two dogs. She also house sits for others. I also know a man who has never owned his own home. He rents a room and also house sits. These people live a simple life, unburdened by material possessions. You can get creative and find meaningful work you love, especially when the economy is in bad shape.

Since most employers are not interesting in "spreading the work load," which means less layoffs and gives more people jobs, people who are not employed have to think about the skills they have to offer and create their own work. Check out 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller. This is an excellent book for anyone in transition, whether you want to work for someone else or become an entrepreneur. Also, review the list of interesting web sites listed on the left side of my blog.

Dan Buettner and the "Blue Zones"

Dan Buettner searched the world to find out what makes people happy. In his latest book, Thrive: Finding Happiness The Blue Zones Way, he talks about "Thrive Centers" which are interconnected: community, workplace, social life, financial life, home and self. On page 216, in Chapter 6 (Lessons in Thriving), he states "Limit the Workweek. When it comes to long-term happiness, personal income fails to provide much of a boost for Americans once a household rises above the $60,000-a-year threshold. Individuals who work long hours have less time for social interaction, education, culture, sports and volunteer work. They're also more likely to suffer chronic diseases and a poor family life. The Danish-mandated maximum of 37 hours per week is a good benchmark."

On page 70 (the chapter about Denmark), he states "Most Danes work 37 hours a week and go home to their families or their associations. They take an average of six weeks vacation. If people work for money, they do so to get just enough. The lesson: Knock off at 5 p.m. and take your vacations. The Danes' Protestant work ethic is tempered by their understanding that working too hard - or too long - is a waste of time. So they get their jobs done and pursue other things they enjoy."

Dan Buettner is an internationally recognized researcher, explorer and author. He founded Blue Zones to research the world's best practices in health, longevity and happiness.

This is an excellent book.

Take Back Your Time Has YouTube Channel

Take Back Your Time now has a YouTube channel. Nearly all the lectures from their 2009 Vacation Matters Summit are available on this YouTube channel. The Vacation Matters Summit was held in Seattle, Washington, a project of Take Back Your Time. Video filming and production by Todd Boyle.

To access the videos, click HERE. On the right side of the page there are "playlists" of the talks that have been posted so far. Because posted videos have to be less than 10 minutes long, the playlists are the easiest way to collect the clips in chronological order.

Speakers include Joe Robinson, Sarah Speck, Arnold Pallay, Peter Fraenkel, Suzy Ross, Cecile Andrews and Mara Adelman.

21 Hours - Why a Shorter Working Week Can Help Us All to Flourish in the 21st Century

According to the The New Economics Foundation (NEF) in Britain, a ‘normal’ working week of 21 hours could help to address a range of urgent, interlinked problems: overwork, unemployment, over-consumption, high carbon emissions, low well-being, entrenched inequalities, and the lack of time to live sustainably, to care for each other, and simply to enjoy life.

NEF is an independent think-and-do tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being. Their goal is to improve quality of life by promoting innovative solutions that challenge mainstream thinking on economic, environment and social issues. They work in partnership and put people and the planet first.

To download the free 40 page pdf of the 21 hour workweek, click HERE.

Gross National Happiness Conference in Vermont

John de Graaf spoke at the Gross National Happiness conference in Vermont this week. John is the national coordinator of Take Back Your Time, an organization challenging time poverty and overwork in the U.S. and Canada (see www.timeday.org). He is the co-author of the best-selling Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic. John has written two other books and numerous magazine articles and has been active in promoting GNH. He has worked for 33 years as a filmmaker with 15 films shown in prime time on PBS. His latest film, What's the Economy for, Anyway? was shown at the GNH 2010 conference.

Gross National Happiness USA envisions a sustainable future, based on the use of a comprehensive set of social progress indicators that reflects our American values and truly supports life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

In general, those who work a shorter workweek are happier, as they have more time for friends, family, pets and themselves. People for a Shorter Workweek supports GNH-USA, and we encourage you to check out their web site to learn more about this organization.

Reducing Work Time as a Path to Sustainability

Worldwatch Institute, a globally-focused environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C., has a new publication - State of the World 2010 - Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability. Sixty renowned researchers and practitioners describe how to reorient cultures toward sustainability. In this publication, there is a essay entitled Reducing Work Time as a Path to Sustainability, written by John de Graaf. John is the Executive Director of Take Back Your Time, a documentary filmmaker and co-author of Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic. To view this essay, click HERE and scroll down to the section, THE POWER OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS.

Work to Live, 2nd Edition is Now Available!

Joe Robinson's important book on work/life balance, Work to Live: The Guide to Getting a Life has now been updated with new information and a new cover!

Here's some information about the book from Joe's web site:

Overcome job burnout
Escape the automatic stress cycle
Work fewer hours, get more done
Control runaway E-tools
Learn how to say no
Set boundaries between work and home
Increase your vacation time
Create your Personal Life List (what do you want to do on this planet?)

For more information about the 2nd edition, vist Joe's web site, WorkToLive.info.

Take Back Your Time Needs Your Help

Take Back Your Time is a major U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of the following:

OVERWORK

OVER-SCHEDULING

TIME FAMINE

These three things threaten our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment. The folks at Take Back Your Time (a non-profit organization) need your financial support now so that they can continue their work helping all Americans gain more time.

Please visit their web site today at www.timeday.org or click on above link and donate to this important organization. Just click on the "donate now" button on their home page.

Thank you for supporting Take Back Your Time, and please mark your calendar for the annual Take Back Your Time Day, Saturday, October 24th.

Conscious Web Sites Added to my Blog

Two great web sites have been added to my blog this week:

Conscious Talk Radio and Conscious Consuming. Please take some time to review these interesting web sites.

Conscious Talk Radio offers one of this country’s most informative and compelling alternative talk radio programs – pioneering a shift in consciousness – empowering individuals to become conscious consumers and a positive force in their own lives through subjects and interviews in areas as diverse as politics, money and alternative health. It's "radio that makes a difference."

Conscious Consuming seeks to increase awareness of the impact of buying decisions on our health, happiness, and environment. Through education and discussion, they encourage people to live in line with their values by better prioritizing time, money, and material things.

If you are ever in the Seattle area, please tell Rob Spears and Brenda Michaels of Conscious Talk Radio hello from me!

It's time to wake up and be CONSCIOUS!

Vacation Matters Summit

People for a Shorter Workweek supports the national vacation campaign. Join John de Graaf, author and Executive Director of Take Back Your Time for this important conference in Seattle in August. Details are as follows and the link is above for further information:

Mark the dates and make your reservation now for the NATIONAL VACATION MATTERS SUMMIT, Monday, August 10 - Wednesday August 12, 2009 at Seattle University, Seattle, Washington.

Space is limited. Register before May 1 for a total registration fee of $95, and $45 for students. Media passes available (email jodg@comcast.net).

If spaces still remain after May 1, registration fees will increase to $125 and $65.

Tickets are available from Brown Paper Tickets.

You are also welcome to register directly with TAKE BACK YOUR TIME. Simply send a check payable to TBYT/VACATION SUMMIT to:

Take Back Your Time
PO Box 18652
Seattle, WA 98109

Add your email address for confirmation. Otherwise, we will have a name tag and conference materials waiting for you at the registration desk at the beginning of the Summit.

WHY THIS CONFERENCE? WHY NOW?
Studies show that vacations are essential to physical and mental health. They provide the strongest of family-bonding memories. They improve workplace productivity and prevent burnout. They increase international contact and understanding. They offer opportunities for spiritual growth and joyful play. They provide employment and business opportunities in the travel industry. But the United States is the only industrial country that does not guarantees some vacation time by law and Americans get less vacation time than people in almost any other country of the world.

Times of economic crisis like the one we face today are also opportunities to envision the kind of economy and life we really want and to ask what really matters when it comes to quality of life. Just as the Great Depression led to the forty-hour week and the expansion of the middle class, these new hard times can lead us to new choices that honor the need for balance and leisure in our lives.

The Vacation Matters Summit is about learning and sharing what we know about the value of leisure travel and vacation time. We’ll be bringing together more than three hundred experts, researchers, advocates, stakeholders and interested citizens for the first-ever national gathering about the importance of vacation time. The program starts Monday evening with a welcome and reception and continues until early Wednesday afternoon. It includes eight plenary speakers and at least fifty workshop presenters.

We are still looking for workshop presenters and will be accepting proposals. Let me know if you are interested in presenting and I will forward the information to our workshop committee. Registration fee for presenters will be $25.

ACCOMMODATIONS AND FOOD
Please let us know whether you will need meals and accommodations while in Seattle. Seattle University offers single and double rooms in both residence halls and residence suites at modest prices ranging from $26 to $55 a night. Email John de Graaf at: jodg@comcast.net

Residence halls—1 person in room: $31 per night; 2 persons in room: $26 each per night
Residence suites—1 person in room: $55 per night; 2 persons in room: $43 each per night

There are also a number of hotels in the immediate area.

Seattle University also offers a meal plan at $30 per day or you may purchase food in the dining area separately. There are also many restaurants in the area.

Please let us know your preferences. Space at Seattle University is limited and first-come, first serve.

Total conference costs including lodging, food and registration (but not travel costs) ranges from approximately $137 (presenters in residence halls) to $265 (non-
presenters in single room residence suites).

Summit begins at 6 pm Monday, August 10 and ends at 2 pm, Wednesday, August 12.

"This Way, it Sounds Noble."

The friend of mine who is enjoying her shorter workweek due to a lack of work at her company said she did not want to sound lazy, so she told her manager she would be happy to pitch in and take time off without pay and "help the company out." She told me "this way, it sounds noble, as I am doing the company a favor." She did not want to sound lazy. She told me now that she has Fridays off, she is "exploring her inner lazy child." She loves the shorter workweek and doesn't really want to go back to the 40 hour workweek.

People are so afraid that they will look like they are a lazy bum just because they want a shorter workweek (in other words, a life). We all need to explore our "inner lazy child."

Shorter Workweek Instead of Layoff

A friend of mine told me that a half dozen or so plant employees were laid off from her company. It was a sad day for the plant. In order to not have to layoff the office folks they worked it out so that everyone has two Fridays off per month. My friend was used to working 40 hours per week all of her working life. At first, she thought about the money she would lose, but after the first Friday off, she LOVED it and now she can't wait until her next Friday off.

She called her sister (who is now retired) and told her she would love to have a shorter workweek every week, as it is so wonderful!

Instead of workers being laid off, this company worked it out so that everyone in the office shares the work, and all of the office staff works a shorter workweek. They love those Fridays off and the money isn't as important as time off.

The 40-hour workweek is very hectic. Thanks to the economic downturn, people are discovering how great a shorter workweek is.

Work Less Party of Vancouver, BC has New Film

The Work Less Party of Vancouver BC has a new short film on their web site: Movie 2. I highly recommend watching both of Conrad Schmidt's films. Conrad is the author of Works of the World RELAX: The Simple Economics of Less Industrial Work. He is currently working on another film and book, so stay tuned!

Economic Downturn

With the current economic downturn, now is the time to ask your employer for a shorter workweek, and your employer might even be relieved that you asked! I know a few folks whose companies are cutting back the workweek due to slow sales, etc. These people are happy to have the extra time off, while keeping their current benefits. So, don't be afraid to ask.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Another Reason not to Work too Much

Thanks to Mike of the Shorter Worktime Group for sending us this article:

Toyota Camry engineer died from 'overwork'
July 10, 2008

A Japanese labour bureau has ruled that one of Toyota Motor Corp's top car engineers died from working too many hours, the latest decision against overwork in Japan, where stoic acceptance of extended overtime has long been the norm.

"In the two months up to his death, he averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, the criteria for overwork," an officer at the Aichi Labour Bureau, who asked to remain anonymous because she is not an official spokeswoman, said today.

The man who died was aged 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota's blockbuster Camry line, said Mikio Mizuno, the lawyer representing his wife. His identity is being withheld at the request of his family, who continue to live in Toyota City where the company is based.

He regularly worked nights and weekends, was frequently sent abroad and was grappling with shipping a model for the influential North American International Auto Show in Detroit when he died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006.

His daughter found his body at their home the day before he was to leave for the United States.

The ruling was handed down June 30 and will allow his family to collect benefits from his work insurance, Mizuno said.

In a statement, Toyota offered its condolences and said it would work to improve monitoring of the health of its workers.

It is the most recent in a string of decisions against long working hours in Japan, which is struggling to cut down on deaths from overworking, known as "karoshi." Such deaths have steadily increased since the Health Ministry first recognised the phenomenon in 1987.

A court in central Japan last year ordered the government to pay compensation to Hiroko Uchino, the wife of a Toyota employee who collapsed at work and died at age 30 in 2002. She took the case to court after her application to the local labour bureau for compensation was rejected.

AP

http://www.theage.com.au/world/toyota-camry-engineer-died-from-overwork-20080710-3cql.html

Workers of the World Relax Film

You can now view the short film, Workers of the World Relax, at www.workersoftheworldrelax.org or just click on the title of this post. Directed and Produced by Conrad Schmidt of the Work Less Party in Vancouver, BC, this video is a summary of Chapter 4 from Conrad Schmidt's book Workers Of The World Relax: the Simple Economics of Less Industrial Work. Further chapters will be released on video in the future.

PSW Supports Vacation Law

PSW supports a three-week paid vacation law for all Americans. Since a shorter workweek is difficult to get (for most people) unless you work part-time, we need to work on getting a decent vacation for Americans. Most Europeans get 4-6 weeks off a year, and when you think about it, getting a mere one or two weeks off a year out of 52 is just a drop in the bucket.

I am asking everyone to visit the new web site, www.right2vacation.org, and support this organization. And while you are there, you can thank John de Graaf and Joe Robinson for all their work so that we can have more leisure time! Don't forget to tell all your friends.

I have heard more horror stories of people whose health suffered because they worked too much, and even worse, those who have died either right after retirement or at a young age.

Even if you don't have the funds to go anwhere (due to high gas prices and/or low income), you can take a vacation right in your own home by turning off the TV, cell phone, and other electronic devices and letting the answering machine get your phone messages. Then, get a chair, grab a book, fix yourself a tall glass of ice tea, and go out in your back yard (weather permitting) and R-E-L-A-X. Go to your local museum, take a walk in a park. bike to your local tea or coffee shop, relax in a library, etc. Most people don't have time to do these things during a regular workweek.

Your help is needed! Support a vacation law for all Americans!

www.right2vacation.org

Shorter Workweek & Four-Day Workweek are not Necessarily the Same

Now that gas has topped $4.00 per gallon in many cities across the country, several companies are trying out a four-day workweek to help their employees save gas. A lot of people believe that a four-day workweek equals a shorter workweek. This isn't necessarily true. A shorter workweek is a workweek LESS than 40 hours, whether it is 5 days, 4 days, 3 days, etc. A four-day workweek can also be 40 hours per week, and in this case, it is called a COMPRESSED workweek. A compressed workweek can be very stressful, since each day worked consists of at least 10 hours. This makes your day around 14 hours (or longer) from the time you get up until the time you get home. A ten-hour work day is very grueling for anyone; however, it is especially difficult if a you have children, parents or pets to care for.

People for a Shorter Workweek advocates a SHORTER workweek of LESS than 40 hours per week, AND to help save gas and keep fewer cars on the road, PSW would like to see a workweek of 4 days or less, and no more than 32 hours per week.

Take Back Your Time

The TAKE BACK YOUR TIME March 2008 newsletter is now on the TBYT web site at

http://timeday.org/news_March2008.asp

From their web site:

I think you’ll find a lot of interesting material in newest issue. Good news on Family Leave from New Jersey. A thoughtful article on the impact of Paid Family Leave on Children’s Health in different countries by our new board member Anmarie Widener. A review of an important new book, THE LEISURE ECONOMY by Linda Nazareth. A letter from newsletter editor Kelley Smith on how this year’s flu season shows we need paid sick leave. A fine essay on “Natural Time,” by Matt Zeufle.

You’ll also find an update on our campaign for a paid vacation bill, including an invitation to help plan and build a National VACATION MATTTERS Summit for the spring of 2009.

NOTE: People for a Shorter Workweek supports Take Back Your Time Day.

Gas Prices and Shorter Workweek

With gas prices reaching an all-time high, companies should consider allowing people to work a shorter workweek (4-days, 32 hours). Send me your comments about gas prices and the shorter workweek.