ILO homePublicationsWorld of Work magazineArticles Articles April 2010 “Become a man instead of a mere machine”: The ILO and trends in working hours 01 April 2010 In 1930, John Maynard Keynes imagined a world in which, a hundred years later, work would be to a large extent replaced by leisure. He speculated about a three-hour shift and a 15-hour working week by 2030.