Sweden introduces six-hour work day

[Language]

"Sweden is moving to a six-hour working day in a bid to increase productivity and make people happier.

Employers across the country have already made the change, according to the Science Alert website, which said the aim was to get more done in a shorter amount of time and ensure people had the energy to enjoy their private lives

Mr Feldt has said staff members are not allowed on social media, meetings are kept to a minimum, and that other distractions during the day are eliminated - but the aim is that staff will be more motivated to work more intensely while in the office."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a6674646.html

Not bad at all...although to be honest, between the coffee breaks, browsing of the internet, etc., I doubt most people work a solid eight hour day anyway.

[Red]

Originally Posted by Language

"Sweden is moving to a six-hour working day in a bid to increase productivity and make people happier.

Employers across the country have already made the change, according to the Science Alert website, which said the aim was to get more done in a shorter amount of time and ensure people had the energy to enjoy their private lives

Mr Feldt has said staff members are not allowed on social media, meetings are kept to a minimum, and that other distractions during the day are eliminated - but the aim is that staff will be more motivated to work more intensely while in the office."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a6674646.html

Not bad at all...although to be honest, between the coffee breaks, browsing of the internet, etc., I doubt most people work a solid eight hour day anyway.

I think that's the point they are making. Instead of being away from home for 9-10 hrs a day and wasting half of it in meetings or water coolers they are cutting it shorter and hope to get the same results. People will have more time to go out to the malls and prop the economy?

Interesting stuff, hope it works out for them.

[chemgear]

Psh, haven't you seen the Layoff thread? Calgary is introducing the 0 hour work week . . . leading the way!

[Thor]

I can get the same amount of work I do in 8hrs in 6hrs. This only makes sense to me, and hopefully Iceland follows this model

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by Language

I doubt most people work a solid eight hour day anyway.

Might as well formalize it then.

[Language]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

Might as well formalize it then.

Completely agree. However, I just don't see that ever happening in Canada. The idea would just be brushed aside.

Actually is very impressive that Sweden took the concept and formally implemented it.

[undercoverbrother]

What makes them think that people won't still fornicate the pooch for 2 hours, and only work 4 hours.

[Harry Lime]

I worked out that not including weekends, the maximum amount of time I have to 'live my life' each day is 5 hours, once sleep, commute, work prep and work is eliminated from the equation. This allows for one hour commute (most people would have less) and eight hours work (most people would have more). Two extra hours would be very significant.

I think that the quality of life in Sweden is about to make a tremendous leap.

[CaptainCrunch]

I would assume that they're getting paid for 8 hours and working 6. I'm pretty sure that those organizations are going to be looking harder at their staffs in terms of productivity.

If this is implemented, I think that there will be a lot of terminations at the start.

[peter12]

Will employees love the no-doubt inevitable 25% drop in their wages?

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

What makes them think that people won't still fornicate the pooch for 2 hours, and only work 4 hours.

The savings that employers will see from not paying for extra activity over those final 2 hours will more than pay for any supervision that would ensure that productivity doesn't fall.

[blueski]

If I lived in Sweden I'd rather work 30 hours in three days and have the rest of the week off.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

What makes them think that people won't still fornicate the pooch for 2 hours, and only work 4 hours.

For me the theory is that the smaller window of time will make people work harder to get stuff done before then.

Not many people actually have 8 hrs worth of work to do per day. I doubt many people have more than 3 or 4 hours of work per day if they really just did it with no distraction. The idea is that the shorter day (and thus, shorter week) will have you working on projects one after the other rather than finishing one, then pissing around for 30 min, then finishing one, then pissing around again, because there's no time to piss around, or less time anyway.

Personally, I know that this type of system would work for me. The days when I have to leave early for whatever reason are my most productive days.

[topfiverecords]

brb, packing my things.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I would assume that they're getting paid for 8 hours and working 6. I'm pretty sure that those organizations are going to be looking harder at their staffs in terms of productivity.

If this is implemented, I think that there will be a lot of terminations at the start.

You never know, hardline fiscal efficiency isnt really part of Sweden's ethos.

I like the concept of 'delivered product.' If the company gets the same thing you gave them in 8 hours out of 6, call it squarsies.

[jammies]

Only 6 hours a day to surf CP? I don't think they've thought this thru properly.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by jammies

Only 6 hours a day to surf CP? I don't think they've thought this thru properly.

I think they surf SverigaPuck over there...

[pylon]

Jeebus, this would actually be a nightmare for me. I can't even get my day done in 8 hours let alone 6, and I might take an actual lunch break once a month.

[mrkajz44]

They are on the right track, but I feel like it should be taken a step further. Most people are pretty competent in their jobs. If they are ahead of schedule and only need to work Thursday morning and be fine for Friday, why make them sit around all afternoon and poop the day away? I feel like my motivation would be much higher if I knew I could set my own hours so long as everything got done well, and done on time.

[Red Slinger]

This might be okay for the typical office worker but a 6 hour work day would likely have negative repercusions for non-office type of work. I know when I worked at a jobsite I needed 8-10 hours every day, easily, to keep up with the workload. I imagine the same would apply at blue collar jobs like manufacturing. I suppose they could find a way to add an extra shift or something though.

The other problem, as someone above alluded to, is that wages would likely have to go down. So, you may have more time on your hands each day but you'd also have less money to use in your free time.

It'll be interesting to see what happens though. The Scandinavian countries always seem to be leading the world in these types of social experiments.