By Raúl Gorrín. Even when people think they're buckling down, studies show the average North American office worker wastes over a third of the day. If an employee works an eight hour day then at best — a worker is productive about five of those hours. Worker pay is the most expensive line item in the budget for most businesses, which means billions of dollars are going to waste.
Workers in the US put in more hours than nearly everyone except for the Koreans. You would think that the Koreans would have highly productive workers but the opposite is true. That country ranks near the bottom when it comes to hourly productivity. How well does the average North American worker rank on hourly productivity? Not too bad. We come in third. However it is interesting to note who comes in second place. It is the country that most in America makes fun of. We call them lazy. They cut down their work week and still they are more productive than us. That country is France. This is the country that shortened it work week and workers enjoy a more leisurely life- still they are more productive than the Americans.
This is something business first learned a long time ago. In the 19th century, when organized labor first compelled factory owners to limit workdays to 10 (and then eight) hours, management was surprised to discover that output actually increased – and that expensive mistakes and accidents decreased. Researchers have found that overwork (and its accompanying stress and exhaustion) can make all of these things more difficult. In sum, the story of overwork is literally a story of diminishing returns: keep overworking, and you’ll progressively work more stupidly on tasks that are increasingly meaningless.
Our brains aren’t wired to concentrate intensely for eight hours straight. They get tired! Our minds work in cycles of activity and downtime designed to keep us alert and responsive to our surroundings. But harnessing those cycles to promote productivity proves challenging. So as we work a longer day we become less productive and more likely to make mistakes.
Perhaps we should take a look at the Danes, who work the fewest hours of any nationality, but consistently top global rankings of happiness (and aren't doing half bad economically either). "Here, if you can't get your work done in the standard 37 hours a week," one Dane told a Washington Post reporter looking into this data, "you're seen as inefficient." Studies have shown the diminishing returns of consistently putting in more than 40 hours a week. When it comes to productivity, it might be wiser economically and socially (and hey, maybe even spiritually) if we all worked a bit less--say, 30 hours a week.By Raúl Gorrin.
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