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It sounds too good to be true, but companies around the world that have cut their work week have found that it leads to higher productivity, more motivated staff and less burnout.
"It is much healthier and we do a better job if we're not working crazy hours," said Jan Schulz-Hofen, founder of Berlin-based project management software company Planio, who introduced a four-day week to the company's 10-member staff earlier this year.
In New Zealand, trust company Perpetual Guardian reported a fall in stress and a jump in staff engagement after it tested a 32-hour week earlier this year.
Even in Japan, the government is encouraging companies to allow Monday mornings off, although other schemes in the workaholic country to persuade employees to take it easy have had little effect.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Friday December 21 2018, @07:14PM (2 children)
It's more than the long hours. Don't get me wrong-- a 32 hour work week would help immensely. But it's also an attitude. Lot of managers seem to think if you're not sweating bullets, stressing out over deadlines and problems, you don't have enough work to do. Closely related is overly optimistic planning that simply asks too much.
Worse if management does not understand what they're asking of people and thinks those genius engineers could do more if they wanted to. Fewer hours will not help a whole lot in the toxic sweatshop workplace where, despite all evidence to the contrary, management suspects the workers are a bunch of lazy bums who are purposely dragging the work out so they can collect more paychecks, keep their jobs more secure. No matter how hard the workers bust their own asses, management just will not believe in their work ethic.
But it's all of a piece. Any workplace that seriously considers a shorter work week can hardly have a sweatshop mentality.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday December 21 2018, @07:28PM
This very much. Different managers mean very different experiences at the organization. I recently took some paternity leave to help my wife out with the twins and the newborn. Told my boss I would be in late every day for a while and would call if I'm going to be out that day or give a few days heads up if I will miss a meeting. He asked as compensation I take my laptop and be willing to work from home if something important comes up. A coworker of mine with a different manager had to plan out six months of leave ahead of time down to the specific breakdown for each day in that period. Recently he had a week scheduled out that was half leave and half work, he ended up being asked to stay late one day for a meeting and was told he had to code it to leave without pay instead of offsetting his leave time because it was outside of the agreed upon schedule.
I imagine a lot of the places testing ideas like this have a less jackassy management team anyways so the change might not have been accompanied with excessive pressure.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Friday December 21 2018, @08:00PM
There's also the 24/7 work day attitude. A lot of my coworkers all live in the same apartment complex. If one doesn't pick up the phone, management will call their neighbor to go pound on their door until they log in and start working. Your scheduled shift doesn't measure when you are working, it only measures when you're in the office.