Thank you. Here is to a healthy work / life / income balance for everyone. raises glass

All good questions. When you're new and training, you're on an office schedule, so M-F 40 hr, once you take a bid into a department you move to what is called a rotation schedule. This means work 7 days, have one off, work 7 have 2 off, work 7 have 4 off. You time off only lands on a weekend once a month, during that 4 day period. Since we work with food, it is 24/7/365, so holidays mean nothing outside of more pay. The pay is the only reason they keep people. It is $28 an hour with anything over 8 hours in a day being 1.5x, anything over 40 hrs being 1.5x, Sundays 2x & holidays being 2.5x. We are a Union facility, or it wouldn't be that good.

Hours have always been 60+ a week, we knew this going in, but new corporate trends like "lean manufacturing" that means fewer employees, less maintenance and reduced benefits have made for consistently more hours, more stressful work environment and higher turn over. The people that stay are usually my group, the 50 somethings that don't want to start over some where else after spending 10 years to get to a day shift, and... need the income if we ever want to retire in this economy. The other group is the young bloods, 20-35 yr olds who have never made this kind of money and assume they will be able to move into a decent position in a reasonable amount of time. Usually takes these guys 5-10 years to figure out the company sees us a just another resource to expend. By that point they are used to the income. Divorce rate is high. Spouses feel the hours, but when it comes giving up the money, they tend to say "it can't be that bad".

My point is, the employees that stay tend to do so because they feel trapped. Greed and inflation in America has made it so making ends meet on less than $40k a year is a struggle at best. An old and tiring story.

Food. Specifically Processing; from Farm to Food Ingredients. That said, anything around Food, Medical or Emergency Services (to name a few) are known for long weeks and hours. For two years after the Pandemic 70-80+ hrs a week was common for us. 60 hrs has always been a short week in our Industry, but consistent 75+ was a new level of burnout.

4 day versus 5 day... I wish. Worked 7 day weeks for 15 years. Most people I know work at least 6. When are these studies actually going to apply to the every day person and not the elite?

Working in Food Processing or Manufacturing means everything has to have a label, a place, a cleanliness standard, and all will be audited regularly. Then documented for any Vendor, FDA or Program Certifier to verify for up to 5 years, depending on the program.

Source: 15 years in food ingredient processing.