Last week Amazon announced a reduced work week plan where employees will only work 30 hours a week, in an effort to improve productivity, employee happiness, and recruitment. The plan follows a recent trend among some businesses to make working hours more flexible, or even reduce the amount of time spent in the office. The idea behind the trend is that reduced hours will not have a significant impact on productivity, as studies have shown that work performance decreases as the number of hours spent working increases. With Amazon’s announcement, the reduced working schedule is moving from small companies and startups to the mainstream.
globalEDGE Blog - By Tag: productivity
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In a recent Entrepreneur article, Jane Porter discusses the psychology of the average workday, giving tips on how to get more out of each day. In today’s blog, we will look some of the suggestions given in the article, as well as take a broader look to see how a normal workday might differ in several countries. One of the main takeaways from the article is that workers should look at the workday as several blocks of time, instead of one single eight-hour period to accomplish their tasks. Splitting the day into sections takes advantage of what psychology tells us about our brains and behaviors, and may help workers accomplish more of the goals they set out for themselves.
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Despite low unemployment, the United Kingdom is currently faced with extremely low levels of productivity. As a country, the U.K. produces 30% less per hour than its counterparts in France and Germany while working on average more hours. The problem is deep-seeded and dates back to almost 1991. And although productivity was not high on the agenda during election season, Chancellor George Osbourne has stated that addressing the root causes is now a priority for Parliament.