We [heart] workSMART
February 25th, 2008 by Cali & Jody
We were pleased to see what the good people at workSMART are trying to do. We like the spirit behind Work Proper Hours Day although we question whether this is a case of easier said than done. One person standing up for the right to their time makes for lonely work. (This is why it’s so hard for individuals to get what they want and need in terms of work-life balance. You cannot do it alone.)
What we really appreciated were there insights on the “five causes of long hours working.” There is a line in the second item that really jumped out at us:
“The less say you have over how you do your job and how you organise your work, the more likely it is that this is the reason for your extra hours.”
We also liked their answer to what you can do about long hours at your workplace:
“The first step is to work out where your long hours culture came from. If it has just gradually crept up on you, then perhaps you need to agree with your colleagues to just say no.”
Put these two thoughts together and you have a Results-Only Work Environment. Give people the power to do their work on their own terms. Band everyone together to say no to hours and yes to results.
We encourage you to browse around their site and take their work-life balance quiz. We find that they are a little too focused on time (just working proper hours isn’t going to solve the larger cultural problem of work), but there is some good thinking being done here.
Go England!
Thank you for visiting the Nature of Greatness! I am currently in the job hunt, and in this tight market, businesses are able to demand their new workers work longer hours.
Take for example… I interviewed at one company who hires mostly new college graduates, and expected their workers to work 45-55 hours a week in the office, and when travelling for work a 60 hour day was standard. Travel for this position was 50-75% of the time.
But there were no shortage of applicants! Because they paid a premium and were willing to hire entry level, any major. On the flip side… burnout at this company was the highest I have ever heard of.
Companies need to have a broad look when it comes to managing their workforce. More hours does not mean higher quality work.