Sweden introduce standard 6-hour working day
In Ireland, the average worker works approximately 8.5 hours per day of a standard 39-hour working week. Despite these standard working hours we tend to think that by working longer we will see the benefits later but this rarely works in our favour.
Sweden has challenged this common practice with a move toward a shorter standard 6-hour working day.
In April 2014, the government of Gothenburg announced that public sector employees would work less hours in an experiment to improve mental and physical health and increase productivity.
Sweden is shifting to a 6-hour work day (p.s Iv always said this makes more sense! change #workculture) http://t.co/6yDQ3e9j56
— Dr Kav_Kay (@KavytaK) September 30, 2015
Mats Pilhem, Left Party deputy mayor of Gothenburg, hoped the six-hour staff would take fewer sick days.
Speaking to The Local at the time, he said: “We think it’s time to give this a real shot in Sweden. We’ll compare the two afterwards and see how they differ. We hope to get the staff members taking fewer sick days and feeling better mentally and physically after they’ve worked shorter days.”
Some businesses across the country have now followed Gothenburg’s decision and already implemented the change.
Sweden is switching to a six hour work day. I'm for it. Life balance= better and happier workers= more production. http://t.co/uKBpvALYfy
— Moriah Costa (@MoriahCosta) September 30, 2015
CEO of Stockholm-based app developer Filimundus, Linus Feldt, told Adele Peters at Fast Company that the 8-hour work day is not as effective as one would think.
“To stay focused on a specific work task for 8 hours is a huge challenge. In order to cope, we mix in things and pauses to make the work day more endurable. At the same time, we are having it hard to manage our private life outside of work," Mr Feldt said.
That's it. Moving to Sweden! #productivity #science Sweden is shifting to a 6-hour work day http://t.co/wGpMxEdVMx @ScienceAlert
— Traci Oshiro (@TreTre0) September 30, 2015
Filimundus switched to a 6-hour day last year, and Feldt says their staff haven’t looked back. "We want to spend more time with our families, we want to learn new things or exercise more. I wanted to see if there could be a way to mix these things," he said.
The thinking behind the move is that because the working day is shortened, staff will now be more motivated and have more energy to get more done in the shorter period of time.
