People across the country are celebrating Dolly Parton Day on Friday. They’re being encouraged to wear rhinestones, listen to her music, and be generous. The day was chosen because the date — 9/25 — hearkens back to Parton’s hit song “9 to 5.”
It is perhaps the singular ode to the eight-hour American workday — so in Parton’s honor, here’s a look into the origin of that schedule.
Around the time of the American Civil War, people typically worked 12 hours a day, six days a week.
“And then what happened is that we became more prosperous,” said Robert Whaples, professor of American economic history at Wake Forest University. “And people said, ‘I don't want just more food and clothing … I'd also like more leisure time.’”
One rallying cry for the movement was “eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for what you will.”
Whaples said workers were attracted to jobs with fewer hours. And it was Henry Ford who first instituted a company policy of working eight-hour days, five days a week — which actually happened 100 years ago on Friday.
“This would provide workers with leisure, which was important to him,” said Shelby Long, audiovisual archivist with the Ford Motor Company Archives.
Long said the company benefitted, too: workers were more rested and therefore more productive.
The 40-hour work week eventually became enshrined in federal law. Decades later, the song “9 to 5” became an anthem of the American workday, both celebrating it and acknowledging that it can be exhausting.
“I mean, we live it,” Long said. “I also work nine to five. I'm very familiar.”
On Friday, may we all enjoy our work, our rest, and our time of what we will.
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