Saturday is a work day?

In most countries, the 40-hour work week from Monday to Friday is considered the traditional work week. Most people consider Saturday and Sunday as days off. Although many service industries such as banks are closed on weekends, other types of work such as retail, fast food and many entertainment venues are open. So Saturday is a working day?

Many people don’t have days off and so they want to spend time with friends, go to the movies, or go grocery shopping for new products for the home. These types of businesses make Saturday and even Sunday an extra working day. If these types of services did not work on weekends, then no one would go and spend money. Instead, they will stay at home, cozying up on the couch with a movie and their pet.

Another thing to understand is that when some businesses are open on weekends, they hours can be changed. But normal business usually lasts from 9 am to 5 pm. For a family shop, they might close early so they can enjoy the weekend themselves. Or in some places they open later to attract more customers to their business.

Some businesses and services such as government buildings, schools, banks and other businesses remain on the same schedule of days and holidays. Thus, it is much easier for these groups to have the same schedule for doing business with each other.

History of working days

But how did the working day and the weekend coincide? Going back to the Industrial Revolution, business flourished. It was during a time of great progress and industry that created America. However, at that time the factories worked most of the day and did not take good care of their workers. This has led to many accidents and even deaths. Children as young as five or six also worked.

Because of these appalling conditions, many work-weary people were injured. This led Robert Owen, a Welsh social reformer and industrialist, to propose an eight-hour day. Combined with eight hours of sleep and eight hours of rest, he said, this strikes the perfect balance for the average worker.

It wasn’t until later that the Henry Ford-made titanium had an idea. He noticed that his workers, who worked six days a week, burned out on the sixth day. He created an experiment in which they work five days a week, believing that workers would work much harder if they had two days off in a row. Because of this, people credit Ford with introducing the five-day workweek.

In law

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the 40-hour week into law in 1939. Over time, these working weeks soon faced a new mystery. What do you do with people who work more than 40 hours a week? Then came into force the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to which enterprises must pay their employees at one and a half times the rate for overtime work. This has helped employers not take advantage of employees.

The working week was created so that employees do not burn out. However, they were also given two days of rest to spend with their family and do other things. Considering Saturday as a working day is a rather complicated answer. For many federal buildings, banks, post offices, etc. no, not considered as such. But it’s also a working day for others in many service industries, allowing many to get outside and enjoy the activity. It also allows businesses to do business for an additional two days if they so choose.

Conclusion

So yes, Saturday is a working day for many industries. Some remote workers also consider this a work day as they have more than flexible hours. However, for the majority of the population, Saturday is not a working day and they continue to work from Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 17:00.