Imagine you are managing a factory that produces some product. It might be a tangible commodity -- something you can actually touch or hold in your hands -- or it might be something intangible like processing insurance claims. The important thing is that the market be a large enough to justify the techniques of modern mass production, including the division of labor and the use of machinery. In other words the factory must employ considerable amounts of both labor and capital.
Your goal as manager is to produce as much product, at the least cost, of the highest possible quality. Only then can you get the best possible rate of return on your investment.
Let me now state as concisely as I can the case for factories in the countryside run on four-hour shifts: Many such factories well be able to run faster and more efficiently than similar factories in the cities using a full-time workforce. For two reasons:
In the first place because part-time workers can work faster and more efficiently than full-time workers -- just as in track-and-field the short-distance runners always run faster than the long-distance runners.
And secondly, because our part-time workers will, if anything, have slightly fewer hours in the week than they might voluntarily prefer. This means they will be eager to earn every penny they can. Provided their wages are tied to their output by some equitable formula, the workers can be motivated to exert themselves to the maximum degree possible.
Thus, though unit labor costs should remain the same, the factory’s total output will be greater than that of an identical physical plant elsewhere employing the same amount of capital equipment. Wages and profits would increase proportionately together.
[When I presented this argument in a letter to the management of the Fantus Corporation, a firm specializing in industrial relocation then headquartered in New Jersey, the executive vice-president flew down to see me the very next day. It was a 'doable thing' he assured me, not pie-in-the-sky.]
For tomorrow's working families we propose factories in the countryside run on four-hour shifts. Under this arrangement both parents would work half-time outside the home, and in their free time would build their own houses, cultivate gardens, cook and care for their children, and pursue other leisure-time activities. They would care for their elderly parents instead of putting them in nursing homes, and not retire at 65 but go on working for as long as they were able.
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