14 DAY TRIAL // If there’s one perk to adulthood, that’s getting to do whatever you may wish whenever, wherever. Except there’s also a catch: having to work. You know, to have the money to do anything you want whenever, wherever. Sounds reasonable enough, right?
Some of us are lucky enough to land a job they love and adore, and so waking up every day to go to work isn’t that big of a deal. But not all of us. There are also people who aren’t exactly fond of their job and so dread workdays.
Then again, even the coolest of jobs can be a bit of a bummer if it adds up to 50+ hours a week, which actually happens quite often. After all, a job shouldn’t take up nearly all our waking hours. Rather, it should leave us enough time to, well, go on and have a life.
Introducing the 6-hour workday
Our ancestors from millennia ago didn’t have to worry about getting to work on time. They made their own schedule and so, as long as their most basic needs were met, they could just sit back, relax and enjoy the view.
In this day and age, however, the majority of people work at least 8 hours a day, Monday to Friday. Coincidence or maybe not, many are stressed and exhausted.
For some time now, Sweden has been experimenting with 6-hour workdays. Private businesses and even institutions in the public sector have made the switch, and they all seem to agree it was one very smart move.
True, they had to hire some more people to make up for the fact that employees weren’t spending quite as much time as they used to on the job, but everything worked out a-ok in the end.
“My impression now is that it is easier to focus more intensely on the work that needs to be done and you have the stamina to do it and still have energy left when leaving the office,” Linus Feldt, CEO of Stockholm-based app developer Filimundus, said in an interview.
“I think the 8-hour workday is not as effective as one would think. To stay focused of a specific task for 8 hours is a huge challenge,” Linus Feldt went on to explain.
The trouble with working long hours
The Swedish businesses and institutions that have so far implemented 6-hour workdays say they did it to give employees the chance to enjoy more free time to unwind and rest.
Sure enough, specialists agree that spending 8+ hours at work from Monday to Friday is a sure way to exhaustion. In fact, studies have shown that most Wall Street employees who clock in more than 120 hours a week get so tired and stressed they break down in the 4th year of their career.
All the same, this wasn’t the only reason companies and institutions in Sweden started implementing 6-hour workdays. True, taking better care of their employees was a factor, but so was trying to boost productivity. And, wouldn’t you know it, it actually worked.
You see, employees who are stressed and tired don’t just miss out on their personal life. They can’t give it their best at work either. They are slow, have trouble focusing and so aren’t very efficient.
The more hours they clock in, the more likely they are to experience depression or have their immune system backfire. Creativity is also affected. In a nutshell, the more people work, the less they can work.
Should 6-hour workdays become the norm?
Remember when we talked about laziness and how constantly fidgeting for hours on end doesn’t necessarily mean accomplishing anything? Well, the same is true when it comes to work.
Spending all day on the job doesn’t always mean being productive, especially if exhaustion or stress have taken hold. People are bound to be distracted and so they can’t give it their best. They hate the feeling and productivity drops.
When you think about it, Sweden might really be on to something. For starters, 6-hour workdays are guaranteed to make for happier and more productive employees. Then, the economy would also benefit, seeing as companies would have to implement more shifts.