Workers had paid lunches, daily rates (not hourly), weekends, and implicit time off during winter when there wasn’t much daylight or much to do.
The invention of the clock changed that to an hourly wage (which employers would cheat by fixing the clock, later saved by the invention of the pocket watch), and specialisation of labour meant that any worker could be replaced to serve as a cog.
Source: a great History Civalis video titled “Work”
Workers had paid lunches, daily rates (not hourly), weekends, and implicit time off during winter when there wasn’t much daylight or much to do.
The invention of the clock changed that to an hourly wage (which employers would cheat by fixing the clock, later saved by the invention of the pocket watch), and specialisation of labour meant that any worker could be replaced to serve as a cog.
Source: a great History Civalis video titled “Work”