This article is one woman's reflection of the benefits and disadvantages to a five day week of working in an office setting. The writer herself left the corporate world at the age of 23 to start her own software company. She found the idea of sitting in a cubicle everyday "maddeningly inefficient" and knew that flexibility made her a better, more productive worker. She reports that as her company grew, however, she began feeling the need to put her employees in a typical office setting to be completely sure that they were being productive, and so that she could more easily monitor and measure their productivity. She also noticed that the social interactions between workers was beneficial to the bouncing of ideas between employees. Yahoo argued that point when they made the switch to all employees required to work in the office, saying that "some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway or cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings." But the author also sees the benefits of giving the brain "unstructured time to think," and the value of ideas grown from that.
The writer mentions that she believes the classic five day work week is outdated and not needed as much anymore, because people have the technological resources to work at home and still stay in communication. She concludes her opinion piece by saying that the office should be a gathering space to communicate ideas, but that employees should be given the respect and the responsibility to work on their own schedules and complete their work wherever they choose, as long as they still make deadlines. Because of these reasons, she is in favor of a three day work week.
I see the benefits of this, especially for working parents, who still want to work, but may not be able to under the confines of a typical 9-5, five days a week work schedule. And there have been many studies that show that some people think more clearly at later hours of the night, while other's brains are most active first thing in the morning. Being able to choose when to be productive would perhaps increase productivity among employees. But I also understand the opposing argument that some people work better under a structured schedule, that the work place is a good environment for idea-sharing, and that it is the best way for an employer to oversee the work that's being done. What do you think? As an employer, what would you prefer? How about as an employee?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/jobs/in-defense-of-working-mostly-from-home.html?ref=business&_r=0
The writer mentions that she believes the classic five day work week is outdated and not needed as much anymore, because people have the technological resources to work at home and still stay in communication. She concludes her opinion piece by saying that the office should be a gathering space to communicate ideas, but that employees should be given the respect and the responsibility to work on their own schedules and complete their work wherever they choose, as long as they still make deadlines. Because of these reasons, she is in favor of a three day work week.
I see the benefits of this, especially for working parents, who still want to work, but may not be able to under the confines of a typical 9-5, five days a week work schedule. And there have been many studies that show that some people think more clearly at later hours of the night, while other's brains are most active first thing in the morning. Being able to choose when to be productive would perhaps increase productivity among employees. But I also understand the opposing argument that some people work better under a structured schedule, that the work place is a good environment for idea-sharing, and that it is the best way for an employer to oversee the work that's being done. What do you think? As an employer, what would you prefer? How about as an employee?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/jobs/in-defense-of-working-mostly-from-home.html?ref=business&_r=0
5 comments:
I think this article is really interesting. I am definitely more innovative when I have more flexibility in my schedule. I think that with 9-5 jobs, people often zone out and just count down the hours until they can go home. Working fewer hours may actually make people do more in less amount of time. Granted, this would only apply to certain jobs. I also see the employer's argument that there needs to be a strict work schedule. There has to be some way to make sure employees are working and being as productive as possible.
This article reminds me of another I read that discussed creativity. The article discussed how creativity could not be maximized through normal incentives and needed other means in ordre to be maximized. I think that depending on the type of employment a five day work week might very well be counterproductive to maximizing efficiency. Would be very interested in learning more about how management tries to improve worker efficiency.
I agree that a typical 9-5 workday can limit creativity. Because individuals have varying circadian rhythms people function best at particular hours of the day that might not be defined during a normal workday. This structure reminds me of how college works. There is class to provide structure but students can do work at any point in the day and are not limited to a strict time frame.
As mentioned, collaboration, social interaction, and face-to-face meetings are crucial for creativity, efficiency, and success. This instantly reminded me of an article that said meetings that take place on the go - while walking - are very productive and can provide a new environment to bounce ideas around. This article was published just around when Yahoo! announced that they will now require all employees to work at the office. In the past, Yahoo! was very open to having their employees work from home.
I would love for society to rethink the modern work week. While we should not necessarily have a strict 9-5 for all jobs, we also cannot have the same levels of flexibility for all jobs. Some firms may profit more from particular practices, some may lose more. I am not an expert on the laws governing employment, but I hope that businesses owners generally have enough freedom to make their own policies without fear of litigation or criminal charges. As world becomes more globalized and complex with each passing day, it seems completely natural for us to rethink our societal norms, beginning with the workplace.
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