Workweek and weekend
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The workweek and weekend are those complementary parts of the week devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal working week (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to labour. In most of the Western world, it is Monday to Friday; the weekend is Saturday and Sunday. A weekday is any day of the working week. Other institutions often follow the same days, such as places of education.
In some Christian traditions, Sunday is the "day of rest and worship". Jewish Shabbat or Biblical Sabbath lasts from sunset on Friday to the fall of full darkness on Saturday; as a result, the weekend in Israel is observed on Friday–Saturday. also Muslim-majority countries have Friday–Saturday weekend
The Christian Sabbath was just one day each week, but the preceding day (the Jewish Sabbath) came to be taken as a holiday as well in the twentieth century. This shift has been accompanied by a reduction in the total number of hours worked per week, following changes in employer expectations. The present-day concept of the 'week-end' first arose in the industrial north of Britain in the early part of nineteenth century and was originally a voluntary arrangement between factory owners and workers allowing Saturday afternoon off from 2pm in agreement that staff would be available for work sober and refreshed on Monday morning. The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Union was the first to successfully demand a five-day work week in 1929.
Most countries have adopted a two-day weekend, however, the days of the weekend differ according to religious tradition, i.e. either Thursday–Friday, Friday–Saturday, or Saturday–Sunday. Proposals have continued to be put forward for further reductions in the number of days or hours worked per week, on the basis of predicted social and economic benefits.
See also
- Feria
- Labour and employment law
- Long weekend
- Business day
- Calendar day
- Days of the week
- Shopping hours
- Saint Monday (precursor of modern weekend)
- TGIF
- Waiting for the Weekend
- Working time – how much time people spend working in a day, week, or year
- Work–life balance
