So Greece has determined to buck the development in the remainder of the world and make the work week LONGER for a lot of employees. The legislation simply went into impact this month and it’s a spectacularly unhealthy concept that WILL backfire within the worst attainable method. And on this article I’m going to show it with science!
What does the legislation say / not say
However first – what does the brand new legislation really say and why are they passing it?
Greek firms can now compel workers to work extra hours. It’s been extensively reported as a transfer to a 6-day workweek, however in actuality some employees should both work 6 8-hour days OR an additional 2 hours a day 5 days every week. Every of those choices will take the workweek from 40 to 48 hours. In return they get a 40% wage improve for the additional hours and extra for working Sundays. The legislation doesn’t apply in all workplaces, solely in non-public firms that function across the clock in shifts and that are going through labor shortages.
The professional-business Greek authorities believes this legislation will enhance the economic system by addressing a scarcity of expert workers. In fact many different nations are going through related challenges as a consequence of falling birthrates and different elements, so it’s tempting to imagine that we will make up for a scarcity of employees by making present employees work extra hours.
And certainly, many nations and workplaces are itching to make individuals work extra. For example, right here in Denmark, the federal government simply canceled certainly one of our beloved annual public holidays as a result of – they declare – we have to enhance productiveness to counter the risk posed by Putin and Russia. I’m positive Putin is simply quaking with worry now that Danes should work yet one more day yearly.
In actuality, analysis clearly exhibits that rising working hours goes to have the other impact and damage the economic system! Listed below are 6 the reason why.
1: Decrease output
Initially – let’s make this very clear: Greek firms is not going to be any extra productive or worthwhile with a 6-day workweek.
Why not? It actually isn’t a giant thriller: When workers work extra hours they get extra drained, They lose cognitive capability which implies that overworked individuals:
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Are much less productive
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Are much less inventive
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Make worse choices
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Make extra errors.
Research even present that overwork makes you dumber. A research of British authorities employees discovered that those that labored longer hours scored decrease on varied cognitive checks than their coworkers who labored 40 hours every week.
It’s essential to make a transparent distinction between PRODUCTIVITY and OUTPUT. Output is how a lot work a given individual or crew or firm completes. A sure variety of widgets produced in a manufacturing unit or strains of code written in a tech firm, for example. Productiveness then again is output per hour labored, so how a lot will get produced per hour labored by workers.
For example: If a automotive manufacturing unit with 1000 workers makes 80 vehicles in an 8-hour shift, their output that day is 800 and their productiveness is .01 automotive per man-hour.
Now, many individuals settle for that an individual who works 60 hours every week will in all probability be much less PRODUCTIVE than one working 40. They intuitively get that the final 20 hours are in all probability going to be much less efficient than the primary 40.
I requested about this on LinkedIn and other people perceive that. Solely 17% believed that extra working hours would result in increased output.
That’s the excellent news. The unhealthy information is that solely 37% bought the proper reply: that productiveness really drops a lot for individuals working greater than 50 hours every week – for all the causes we simply noticed – that their complete OUTPUT is decrease – not simply their PRODUCTIVITY. That is true for each manufacturing unit employees and data employees. It’s not only a matter of diminishing returns on the additional hours – there’s a detrimental return on these hours and the corporate is general LESS worthwhile.
This isn’t a brand new discovery. Again in world warfare 1 the British military wanted as a lot ammunition as attainable, so that they desperately wished to maximise the output of their munitions factories. So clearly they made employees work extra – as much as 90 hours every week. When that mysteriously didn’t work, they began gathering knowledge connecting working hours to output and located one thing very curious.
This graph exhibits precise output (not productiveness) vs. hours labored for 2 teams of girls employees doing two completely different sorts of duties. As you may see, past a sure variety of hours – on this case 51 every week – working extra hours didn’t improve output. Each hour labored after that was primarily wasted. We have now identified this since 1917.
This impact has been discovered time and again in many alternative research from each manufacturing unit settings and office-type data work.
Granted, Greece isn’t shifting employees to a 90-hour work week however solely 48 hours each week, however the knowledge exhibits very clearly {that a} 20% improve in hours will NOT result in a 20% improve in manufacturing.
This new legislation is additional ironic as a result of Greece already has the longest working hours per employee of any European nation and seventh highest within the OECD.
So if Greece is hoping that firms will probably be general extra worthwhile and due to this fact enhance the economic system, the info exhibits the precise reverse – it will result in decrease productiveness and output amongst Greek companies.
2: Extra sickness
So overwork is unhealthy for the office – nevertheless it’s even worse for workers. Research present that everlasting overwork is linked with an extended listing of psychological and bodily well being issues together with strokes, despair, alcoholism, diabetes and coronary heart illness.
This isn’t simply unhealthy for the person, it’s additionally going to harm Greek workplaces. If the issue they’re searching for to handle is a scarcity of certified employees, you don’t need your present employees to get sick and miss a ton of labor.
And naturally extra sickness amongst employees will even damage the Greek economic system as a result of it would improve healthcare prices.
3: Extra office accidents
Additionally, an extended work week will result in extra office accidents. Analysis exhibits that a rise in regular hours labored will increase damage threat as a result of employees are extra fatigued.
That is particularly related for Greece as a result of a lot of the workplaces that may lengthen hours below this new legislation will in all probability be in manufacturing.
4: Worse work-life stability and extra burnout
That is so apparent that you just hardly must say it however should you’re working 6 days every week, your work-life stability goes to endure. You’ll have much less time for your loved ones, your mates, your kids, your accomplice, your hobbies and every thing else in your life.
Analysis clearly exhibits that longer working hours result in:
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Impaired sleep
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Job stress and burnout
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Worse accomplice relationships
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Worse household relationships
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Decrease life satisfaction
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Extra burnout
And once more, extra burnout results in extra employees being absent from work and better healthcare prices for the nation.
5: Extra mind drain
Mind drain has been an enormous drawback for Greece. The monetary disaster hit that nation particularly arduous and the powerful economic system made a whole bunch of hundreds of principally younger and well-educated individuals go away and discover work in different nations. Authorities estimate that 600,000 younger professionals left to work overseas between 2010 and 2021.
Greece actually needs them again. Amongst different initiatives, the Labor Ministry has created a web-based platform known as Rebrain Greece to assist match professionals prepared to return house with potential employers.
However right here’s the factor: On condition that the youthful generations at work are likely to worth work-life stability, how do you suppose they’re going to love the prospect of being pressured to work 6 days every week’ Think about you’re a younger Greek working in Denmark the place the official work week is 37 hours and shifting again may imply working 48 as an alternative? Or think about you’re a younger Greek at the moment working in Greece whose office is seeking to go to a 6-day workweek. May this not be precisely the factor that conjures up you to search out work in a special nation?
If Greece is seeking to reverse the mind drain, that is precisely the unsuitable factor to do.
6: Unproductive time
OK, one final drawback with Greece’s new legislation: Whereas individuals could be pressured into the office for an extended time, that doesn’t imply they’ll be working productively on a regular basis. Compelled overwork results in a ton of unproductive time the place individuals are at work? however little actual work is getting finished. That is deeply irritating for employees as a result of not solely is that point taken away from the remainder of your life, that point is WASTED and YOU KNOW it’s wasted. No person likes to waste time.
Additionally, research present that when the office mandates lengthy working hours, individuals are likely to lie about what number of hours they work. And managers are straightforward to idiot. One research discovered that managers couldn’t inform the distinction between these of their workers who ACTUALLY labored 80 hours every week and people who simply pretended to.
What ought to Greece have finished as an alternative?
So my prediction is that that is going to backfire spectacularly for all of those causes. Corporations will probably be much less productive, workers will probably be extra sick resulting in increased healthcare prices for the nation and extra Greeks who’re in a position to will flee the nation or keep overseas in nations which have extra affordable working hours.
What ought to Greece (and some other nation seeking to enhance the economic system) do as an alternative? Properly first they may have checked out all of the nations which have examined a 4-day work week and located it to work exceptionally nicely. Like Iceland, the place it’s been known as an “overwhelming success.”
They might even have chosen insurance policies that maximize employees’ welfare. Any authorities has an curiosity in enacting public insurance policies that strengthen the aggressive benefit of firms in that nation. Nevertheless, that is usually finished by slicing company taxes, deregulation or makes an attempt to extend working hours – none of which have a lot of a observe file of success.
If a authorities is really severe about giving firms a sustained, robust aggressive benefit, they need to actually deal with insurance policies that create happier workplaces. This is able to not solely be good for the businesses and the staff, it will even be good for the nationwide economic system, as it will enhance nationwide productiveness and scale back absenteeism, stress and associated healthcare prices.
I’ve an article on 11 insurance policies that nations can implement to create a aggressive benefit as a result of completely satisfied employees are extra productive.
One other factor Greece might have finished that I additionally point out in that article is spend money on coaching present employees. The unemployment price in Greece is over 10% so there are many individuals with out jobs. They could not at the moment have the talents and competencies that firms are on the lookout for however that’s why you practice them.
However most of all, Greece – and some other nation that wishes to spice up the economic system – might have centered on maximizing output and profitability, not hours labored, and realized that these are two very various things. If that they had spent just a bit time trying on the out there analysis on overwork, they might have realized {that a} longer work week is definitely going to harm, not assist.
If you need a extremely good overview on all the explanations lengthy working hours are horrible for workplaces AND workers, I’ve a video on why that’s and the way we cease it.
The one redeeming high quality of Greece’s new legislation
Simply to be clear: I’m not saying that Greece’s new legislation is totally ineffective. You see, different nations are already taking a look at this legislation and asking if they may do the identical. And I’ve each confidence that when this legislation inevitably backfires in Greece, that failure will warn some other nations or firms away from making an attempt one thing related.
So I suppose we should always all thank them for that no less than.
Your take
What do you suppose? How a lot will this legislation enhance the Greek economic system? Ought to different nations observe their lead? What’s the optimum size of a piece week that can result in essentially the most output? Write a remark, I’d love to listen to your take.
Video
In the event you’d desire to look at this, I even have a video the place I make all the identical factors:
A brand new legislation simply went into impact in Greece that goals to spice up the economic system by shifting employees to a 6-day work week. This legislation goes to backfire and damage each the economic system and naturally the employees and on this video I current to current 6 the reason why.
