Would a 3 day working week be more productive?
A survey by Microsoft of approximately 30,000 people across 200 countries found on average we work 45 hours a week, although here in NZ nearly 30% of full time employees work 50 hours or longer. In fact Kiwis work about 15% longer than the OECD average and produce about 20% less output per hour worked.
I guess you better love your work.
The bad news from Microsoft is that 17 of those hours worked are deemed to be non-productive.
Those of the po-faced Protestant-work-ethic-type might find it a shock, but not every hour people are at work is delivering for the company. Before anyone starts blaming Facebook, EBay or Twitter, the Microsoft study suggests that the reasons for low productivity relate to poor management: unclear objectives, lack of team communication and ineffective meetings:
What is truly awful is that continuing low levels of worker engagement suggest that the hours at work are not happy ones.
Productivity drives wealth much more than spending longer n the job. Longer hours are also associated with poorer health, which costs for employers and government. On the other hand, limiting time available for a task can improve productivity, and research shows that four day working weeks can improve performance and satisfaction.
So why not work less?
The strange and whimsical cereal manufacturer W.K. Kellogg replaced the traditional 8 hour shift with 6 hour ones, and lo, productivity soared.
The city of Gothenburg in Sweden has proposed trialling a slightly different approach, but just as radical. Half the town will work 6 hour days, while the others toil for 8. The expectation is “we hope to get the staff members taking fewer sick days and feeling better mentally and physically after they’ve worked shorter days.”
No less a capitalist than the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim, suggested that a four day weekend would improve the quality of life and make for healthier and more productive employees. The five day working week was developed when life expectancy was lower and Slim reasoned that if employees operated longer hours each working day into their 70s overall productivity could be maintained.
Maria Konnikova in a New Yorker magazine notes that firms would need to change how employee performance is measured, rewarding over-all outputs rather than merely long hours. But since the barriers to productivity are managerial, that change needs to start at the top.
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