Could a Five-Hour Workday Be the Solution to Boosting Employees’ Productivity?

The typical 9-to-5 job can squeeze the juice out of you – so much so that you rarely have the energy to spend time with your kids, have a night out with your friends whom you only see once in a while, or to even do your hobbies.

Your post-work routine might include driving home, getting stuck in traffic, eating, and then sleeping. The daily runaround is no doubt exhausting, add to that the pressure you face at work from your coworkers and boss. Hence, burnout and stress are inevitable.

Five Hours of Work

It’s not hard to see why exhaustion is an issue for regular day jobs. Within those eight hours, you are constantly pushing yourself to its limit, oftentimes under the pressure of your supervisor. Throw in the toxic workmates and you will surely have the worst time. But can you imagine just staying at the office for five hours?

Spending hours at the office could limit your time with friends and family

Germany company Rheingans Digital Enabler recently tested out cutting the working hours of its employees. Lasse Rheingans, its chief officer, revealed that he also implemented this to have more time with his kids. Same with the workers, they get to spend time with their loved ones, too, once they get out of the office earlier than usual – and no, he didn’t cut their salaries nor did he added leaves.

There’s a huge condition — the executive orders his employees not to use their cell phones and social media. Small talks are not allowed as well, while company e-mails should only be checked twice a day. Meetings will only last 15 minutes tops. What do all these mean? It means that distractions were taken away from the workers, in turn boosting their productivity.

To Boost Productivity

Of course, this was a welcome change for some, but others found it hard to adjust to the new system. Yes, spending less time at the office sounds nice but if you are used to checking your phone every once in a while, this could take time getting used to.

For parents, this could also be a problem since they won’t be able to check on their children. Generally, employees became happier because of the saved time that can be used for other personal matters.

Those who regularly check their phones at work may need to adjust to the new rule

This wasn’t a new discovery in a bid to up the efficiency of the employees. In 2015, Tower Paddle Boards implemented a four-day work per week. However, this only ran for two years and the company had to limit this to five months per year because the workers’ life outside the office became so much better to the point that their passion in their work suffered, its CEO Stephan Aarstol explained.

Adverse Effects of Overworking

Overworking can be detrimental to your health

There are only a few advantages of overworking — you get to finish what your boss asks you to do, feel accomplished because of it (and probably get rewarded), and beat the deadline. However, the number of its adverse effects far outweigh the benefits. Not only will a person’s physical health suffer, but also the mental and emotional well-being.