In general, the eight-hour workday is regarded as the standard for earning a living. However, it hasn’t been that long since our agrarian ancestors allowed the sun to set their work schedule. At the beginning of the industrial revolution, a separation between work and private lives became an accepted reality. Since then, not much has changed. Workers today, thanks to innovators like Henry Ford, labor an average of 8.7 hours each workday.
As we transition into a work culture that requires less actual labor from us, traditional ideas about work are being explored in a new light. Many think it may be time for companies to consider a shorter work day. CEOs like Linus Feldt of Swedish app developer Filimundus are leading the conversation about what a shorter workday might look like and what the benefits might be.
According to Feldt, “the eight-hour workday is not as effective as one would think. To stay focused on a specific work task for eight hours is a huge challenge… In order to cope, we mix in things and pauses to make the workday more endurable. At the same time, we are making it hard to manage our private life outside of work. We want to spend more time with our families; we want to learn new things or exercise more. I wanted to see if there could be a way to mix these things.”
With the amount of time saved by technology and other modern conveniences, we have greater room to determine our daily structure. More people are choosing to work to live, rather than living for work. This affects us as employers and recruiters when it comes to the quality of life for job candidates as well as employees.
Swedish companies are finding great benefits in the shorter workday. The freedom to allot more time for things they are excited about is translating into many unforeseen benefits.
In some cases, companies may have to put their money where their mouth is to get these results. For instance, a public-sector experiment with nursing staff offered shorter hours for the same pay. The quality of care for patients improved dramatically since nurses were not dragging at the end of shifts, but the higher cost per hour led to additional expenses for the hospital. The question for each individual company is to determine whether a six-hour workday and its associated expenses are less than the cost of human capital for their company. More importantly, can a company remain profitable – or possibly even increase revenue – by moving to a six-hour workday?
As more companies explore this idea, there will be more ways to offset the cost. Happier employees are better employees. Overall, the idea is gaining support in places like Sweden and may soon be coming to an office near you. Rather than trading time for money, companies will be able to expect a more specific amount of work to be completed in the available time, leading to higher productivity and improved company culture.
3 Comments
The aim is to get more done in a shorter amount of time and ensure people have the energy to enjoy their private lives. But not all employees would be happy to have their hours shortened, even if the salary remained the same. More will appreciate flexibility during working hours to handle personal business.
I remember seeing a similar change in Utah when, for some employers, the workweek was reduced to four days. It had a positive impact; however, not many followed the example. Such experiments are done from different considerations: the human side, gas consumption, longer working hours during certain days, etc.
Employees would definitely be happier if the workday was shortened to 6 hours, but employers would definitely expect them to deliver the same results, if not better, as if they had been working for 8 hours. Some companies could afford this change without extra expenses, but for some industries this would generate additional costs, as they would need to hire more people to cover for what has been cut.