How the 6 Hour Work Week is Disrupting Life-Work Balance
Michael Spencer
A.I. Writer, researcher and curator - full-time Newsletter publication manager.
This isn't exactly news, but it's very relevant as we wind down from 2015, and reflect on how to be better workers, better citizens, better family members, and better people. To live authentically, according to our unique values in a changing society. To balance our social existence, with our fundamental contribution to society and how we make our livelihood.
With tech that streamlines our work productivity and automates many of our tasks, it's only a matter of time before a 6 hour a day work week, can transform the way we relate to work, improve the quality of lives while enabling us to have a new level of focus & productivity for those 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon.
In fact, with the ability to work remotely on the cloud, we should be able to find new ways to balance life and work in 2016. #BigIdeas2016. Sweden is disrupting how we view this, the fact is this relates to many aspects of our lives:
Why Should Companies & Startups adopt a 6 hour - 30 hour Work Week?
- More time spent with family, friends and what really matters. Leading to better relationships, resulting in improved subjective well-being scores that translates into higher career motivation.
- More time spent on health, exercise, sleeping more and what really matters. Taking better care of our bodies for sustainable living.
- Better morale, less burn-out and being able to concentrate better when we are "working".
- Better maternity and paternity leave, so we can take time for family and work remotely on the cloud on a reduced schedule. More flexibility for shift workers.
- Higher employee engagement that recognizes the importance of work-life balance.
I'm always saying that technology should facilitate how we work, that working smarter is more important than working harder. We have to learn, how to work smarter and how to keep learning while we are at work.
I've read dozens of articles this week alone, that drives home the importance of work-life balance. As Millennials are starting to have families, we're quite sure we want to do things differently. Many of us were raised by workaholic parents who didn't spend enough time with us growing up.
Fundamentally, it's about how we manage stress as a society. Work that is viewed as more pleasurable, results in employees who are more creative, more learning directed and more innovative. This translates to higher revenues.
The early signs from the trials in Sweden, are quite positive on the outcomes of the shift to a 6 hour day. Could it work, in a place like Canada? What kind of difference would it make in your life, if you could work a 6 hour day?
What do you think? Comment below.
People Business Partner for West Balkan region at Ericsson Experienced HR professional with expertise in people processes, corporate culture, and employee relations
8 年Yes, working smarter is more important then working harder. I expect this practice with excitement!
Financial Inclusion| Banking| Risk Management| DFS| Microfinance| Consumer Finance ?????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????
8 年David, it stands to reason that this cannot fit into every sector of employment, agree factories are driven by up time, shutting production is costly - but that said, think about productivity cycles, many manufacturing companies run shifts, 8 - 12 hours on rotation, with some maintenance downtime thrown in-between. Do you really think a sustained high output is maintained throughout this period? I doubt any manual orientated manufacturing plant can boast of sustained output for 8 hours straight. Now imagine a different approach, 3 or maybe 4 - 6 hour cycles daily, shorter work cycles can increase productivity through less fatigue setting in, less mandatory breaks would be required. This enables a greater rotation of shifts, more employees open to shifts, potentially eliminate expensive overtime costs. So it is possible, just requires planning and logistics, again industry will determine if this is a fit or not.
Founding Member at Fortogen: Executive Coach; Counselling Psychologist in Private Practice
8 年I used to work a full 8-9 HR day seeing coaching and therapy clients. I now work a 6 HR day, exercise every morning, take a slightly longer lunch break, am less stressed, and strangely enough, because I'm working clever, I am earning more?
Senior Project Engineer - CAPEX & Continuous Improvement Projects
8 年See how well this idea is received in manufacturing. The goal of corporations is to make money. How much money? As much money as possible. Publicly traded companies are measured and compared to each other by return on investment. One thing companies invest in is capital equipment. The return on that investment goes up when utilization of the equipment is increased. Ideally, a corporation would strive for 100% utilization of equipment. Corporations see employees as assets. An unstated goal of corporations is to get the most output from humans for the least amount of money. Some people call this productivity. Each human resource requires a related set of employee benefits. It's more cost effective to pay overtime than it is to add another set of benefits. Again, see how this idea is received in manufacturing...
Operational excellence, cost management, product management professional
8 年:-) who writes the history? Who writes labor law?