The Six-Hour Day and Other Industrial Questions

In this title, first published in 1918, Lord Leverhulme explores the ideas of co-partnership, piece-work, housing, and the benefits of shorter hours of labour. The most notable of these discussions, collected by Stanley Unwin, with a Preface by Lord Haldane, advocates a six-hour day, with two shifts, in all industries in which the overhead charges are equal to or larger than the cost of weekly wages. Lord Leverhulme’s view is that the employees work better in a short working day and might produce as much in six hours as in eight hours, and that in any case the machinery could be utilized more profitably by running for the double shift of twelve hours than for the single shift of eight hours. This seminal work will be of interest to students of business studies and human resource management.