Weighing in: Shorter or More Flexible Work Schedule vs. Official Work Hours
As a startup entrepreneur, I’ve been enjoying the wonderful experience of a non-traditional or atypical work schedule. That’s the beauty of entrepreneurship: you spend your time as you wish.
Of course, it’s already a given that I should know how to efficiently and judiciously spend my time. Because if I don’t then everything is gonna go downhill.
Still, I appreciate having the option of working my butt off on days that I really, really feel like it (which is almost always), and then be able to take things a little easier or slower on some days.
In my personal experience, I do find that having a strenuous work schedule of going beyond the usual 9 to 5 can be effective for the short term. Yes, by rushing or cramming you can somehow come up with a respectable work output. But holistically and in the long term, how productive can you be given this system of beating yourself to the ground?
Good thing is that it’s the mega-moguls that are rallying behind the idea of a shorter work week. And countless others are also promoting for a more flexible working hours. The idea is to find ways to make work easier for the employee and that their productivity will be measured solely on output and not attendance.
For me, personally, there is a hidden message or thought behind this movement that business owners and entrepreneurs are honestly afraid to face. And this is the fact that working tirelessly isn’t really necessary to make ends meet.
Even by applying simple arithmetic, you will arrive at the conclusion that working hard at a maximum of ten years can at a decent-paying job can already save you enough money to get you the basics in life: a simple home, clothing and some luxuries, and even have some funds saved up.
Now, if you want to switch your financial goals to have the means to buy a car or invest in different instruments, then 10 years might still not be enough. Maybe add 3 to 7 years at most.
Given that, you can retire happily by the age of 37! Even by having a family, wife, kids and all, still you can adjust the years but you still don’t have to reach 50 and still be working hard at your job to be able to pay for your needs.
Having said that, slaving your employees away and making them overwork will make no sense for them. People are now more inclined to what’s really more important in life. Sure your career is a vital component to life, but I can name three or four things that are more important than that.
This is why younger generations of workers have a higher attrition rate; they don’t want to be stuck at a job that will force them to work more than what is expected of them just so they can make a living. They can do that with half the time and less work.
Larry Page, head honcho at Google, emphasized this in his Forbes Magazine interview, saying:
“If you really think about the things that you need to make yourself happy — housing, security, opportunities for your kids — anthropologists have been identifying these things. It’s not that hard for us to provide those things. So the idea that everyone needs to work frantically to meet people’s needs is just not true.”
That right there says a lot! Function-wise, why buy an Audi if you just need a car to chauffeur you around the city. You can just get a Honda or a Toyota and it will serve the same purpose. And you don’t have to kill yourself working to get to that, too.
Richard Branson has an equally interesting perspective. He says that exploring outside of the 40-hour work week would be beneficial for us.
There are ways to make this shorter workweek a reality. One would be to introduce and apply automation in most of your operations. Honestly, I can’t really imagine having a business that isn’t at least run by a computer.
Even in purely labor-based industries like construction or agriculture, you can implement automation maybe not in the core operation but in supporting ones like their payroll. That is definitely a welcome change for HR practitioners.
Another option would be to teach employees to work smarter and more efficiently, not longer and harder. Oh, how this advice works on so many levels!
Our Western counterparts and cohorts have already been implementing this. Offering more money and benefits while requiring fewer hours might be laughed at before; now it is fast becoming the norm instead of the exception.
Fret not, fellow Singaporeans. We are headed in that same direction. But there has to be a significant culture change in the workplace for this to successfully be implemented.
The key actually lies in our ability to be self-motivated and not needing the confines of an actual work schedule to be productive.
Can you self-start when working? Can you be honest enough to finish your work with quality and efficiency?
Or are you much comfortable with having to come to work 8 to 10 hours a day, 5 to 6 days a week because you think at least you’re getting paid to go to work?
Both employees and employers are starting to get behind the idea of shorter and more flexible work hours. And it has a high rate of succeeding, might I add. Why you ask? Well, simply because work hours has been reducing for the past century because people are becoming more vigilant about what should come first and why.
Still on the fence about it? It’s okay to be. Change is always threatening. But it’s also the gateway to innovation and ultimately, success.
