O
ON TOPIC
decreasing productivity. A recent
US study of construction workers,
found a decrease in productivity as
the number of hours worked per
week increased. In fact, according
to the OECD data, productivity
declines in a fairly straight line as
more hours are worked.
On the upside, a 2018 study by
Oxford University, of 5,000 workers
in BT call centres over six months,
revealed that shifting from a
five- to a four-day work week led
to an increased number of calls
made, happier customers, more
sales, fewer absences and an
increased sense of wellbeing.
t’s not just productivity
that suffers from longer
hours. In 2015 more than
half a million UK workers
experienced work-related stress,
leading to 12.5 million lost working
days at a cost of up to £43bn to
the economy. The main cause of
these mental strains? Excess work.
In the US, it’s estimated that
job stress as a result of overwork
causes 120,000 deaths a year. The
Japanese even have a word for
death through overwork – karoshi.
I
Their government is planning to
introduce a ‘shining Mondays’
scheme, where employees are
allowed to start work after lunch
one Monday a month to try to
inject a little more balance.
According to a recent study,
61% of UK employees have
resorted to taking a ‘duvet day’
simply to recuperate due to
work-related exhaustion. As
the psychologist and author of
Office Politics, Oliver James,
comments, employees who feel
under high pressure will find
ways of putting the brakes on,
even if only surreptitiously.
He explains: “It’s no surprise
that levels of mental illness in the
UK are around twice as high as
they are on the continent. When
employers just want to wring the
most out of their workforce for
as little as possible in return, can
staff really be blamed for putting
up a facade of effort while doing
as little actual work as possible?”
So if it’s not making
businesses wealthier, and it’s
harming wellbeing, why are
organisations working people to
the point of exhaustion?
A
In terms of global
productivity,
we’re dragging
our heels
60 Working hours and
productivity
50 Hours worked and productivity in Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, 1990-2012
80
70
cknowledging this
anomaly, a few small
agencies are making
attempts to reinvent the
work week. Tash Walker, CEO of
London market research agency
The Mix, introduced a four-day
week on full pay from October
2017 after realising how damaging
her own relentless focus on work
had been to her personal
relationships.
“Something had to change,
tinkering at the edges wouldn’t cut
it; our arrangement wasn’t about
condensing 40 hours into four
days, or reducing pay. It simply
40
30
20
10
0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
2.2
Hours worked per person, '000
54 //
Future Talent
2.4
2.6
2.8
Source: OECD