Morning Brew - 🕰️ 40 hours a week

Time-saving tools and products we’re really into rn.

Holiday season is here, which means we can really start dressin’! But washing and drying your woolens and delicates can be complicated, and dry cleaning…in this economy? Just invest in this folding sweater dryer rack instead to keep your ugly Christmas sweater looking fresh and new on a budget.

There are so. many. things. to remember on any given day, and not as many efficient ways to keep yourself on track. So hear us out: We know it’s $14.99, but you must try the Due app. It sends you persistent reminders, adapts to your style of communication, and syncs with your computer, cloud account, or other applications like Dropbox. It’s like a brain for your brain.

Sometimes you need to send your mood to boot camp. Lean into these tips from a military psychologist on how to stay positive and keep negative thoughts at bay. Acknowledging your negative feelings = good. Letting them run your life = bad.

Lessons from the past to use in the present.

Whether your Saturdays and Sundays involve a trip to the beach or the playground, a leisurely brunch or a long list of errands, the five-days-on, two-days-off rhythm of the workweek is deeply embedded in American culture. But this wasn’t always the case.

The practice of taking a day for rest or revelry every seven days is a centuries-old concept, but the more recent convention of “work hours” can be broken down into three broad eras. The first wave of this culture emerged in pre-industrial societies, when people hunted, gathered, and farmed. They worked as much as they needed to survive, which probably amounted to a lot less than 40 hours a week.

That lifestyle pattern changed sharply in the mid-18th century as the Industrial Revolution picked up speed and workers learned to work alongside machines. By the mid-19th century, it was common for workers to log 70-hour, six-day workweeks in the newly mechanized factories.

Industrialization made it possible to do a new level of manufacturing, Joel Suarez, a labor historian and assistant professor at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, told Sidekick. “And at the same time, industrialization was radically transforming the nature of work, drawing in not only millions of immigrants and former slaves into the world of wage work, but also former subsistence farmers.” These groups understood control over their time as an essential part of realizing their freedom.

With this growing sense of autonomy, workers began to protest long work hours and poor working conditions that infringed upon their rights. Still, change was slow to come. When the US government started tracking working hours in 1890, the average full-time manufacturing employee clocked 100 hours per week.

Henry Ford became one of the first employers to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week at his Ford Motor Company plants in 1926. He was not just responding to pressure from the labor movement, though, because he saw employment as a way to grow the middle class—his customer base.

At the time, he wrote in a company newsletter, “Just as the eight-hour day opened our way to prosperity in America, so the five-day workweek will open our way to still greater prosperity.” But Ford’s “altruism” came with a calculation. He also implemented a $5-per-day wage in 1914—well above the going rate at the time—with the rationale that if they had more to spend, workers could buy their own Model Ts.

Finally in 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Fair Labor Standards Act as part of the New Deal, a series of programs designed to help move the US out of the Great Depression. The act formally codified the 44-hour workweek (and two years later, the limit was adjusted to 40). Any work done beyond that threshold meant employers would have to pay their workers overtime.

That law is still in effect today, but not all workers are eligible for additional pay if they work more than 40 hours in a week. For example, there are overtime exemptions for executives, administrative workers, highly compensated employees, and other groups enumerated by the Department of Labor. However, many people are eligible for extra compensation and don’t realize it.

One commonly misunderstood point is that being salaried makes a worker overtime-exempt, but this is not necessarily true. You’ll have to check with local authorities or hit up an expert to understand your eligibility for overtime pay as a salaried worker because rules can vary state by state, and some have minimum salary thresholds for overtime exemption.

The five-day workweek came out of a period of upheaval, and after the disruptions of the pandemic, some are arguing that it’s once again time to rethink the rhythm of the week. Last year, members of the House of Representatives proposed capping regular work at 32 hours per week. After that, overtime pay would kick in. While that bill hasn’t yet made it out of the House, some companies including Unilever, Basecamp, and San Francisco-based tech firm Bolt offered employees a four-day workweek. The results? After a three-month trial, Bolt found that working 32 hours a week made employees more productive. Interesting… —RR

Things over at Twitter aren’t looking too great. Over the past week, Elon Musk has laid off about 50% of Twitter’s workforce (and then tried to hire some of them back), charged an $8 subscription for verified accounts (and then killed the initiative after being trolled by parody accounts), and ended Twitter’s work-from-home policy in one fell swoop.

So, just in case Twitter implodes next week, you may want to download your data and consider strengthening your account security. To download your Twitter data from a web browser, log in to your account and click More on the bottom left. Select Settings and Support > Settings and Privacy > Your account. Click Download an archive of your data, enter your password, and select Request Archive. You can download your data from the mobile app, too: Click your profile icon, then Settings and privacy. Select Your account > Download an archive of your data, enter your password, and then select Request Archive. Once it’s ready, you’ll get a notification to download a .zip file of your tweet history. Godspeed to all tweeters.—SS

Your punch list for when you punch out.

Read: Get in losers, we’re going to Roku City! This recent NYT article gets into the bright lights and intricate designs behind the hypnotic digital skyline—and the freelance graphic designer who created it. We wonder what the rents are like…

Watch: If you’re an amateur mixologist, this is your show. Netflix’s Drink Masters follows 12 expert bartenders as they compete for a $100,000 cash prize. With stunning drink displays and an excessive amount of edible glitter, we can confirm it’s just as fun (and over the top) as Iron Chef.

Follow: For your daily dose of language inspo, give @thatbilingualchick a follow. The creator shares her journey learning Spanish through short and easy-to-follow lessons. They’re perfect for newbie language learners and anyone who just wants to sharpen their skills.

Apply: Morning Brew’s Business Analytics Accelerator is now accepting applications for the January 2023 cohort. Become more data-driven and master the spreadsheet—all while maintaining your 9-to-5. Apply for free today!

Manifest your financial freedom: Money with Katie is obsessed with personal finance. Her weekly newsletter takes a spicy approach to budgeting, investing, taxes, and more. Get simple and practical ways to live the rich life you deserve delivered for free.