Work Smarter - Not Longer | Smart Working Revolution

Work Smarter – Not Longer

Thoughtful Leaders encourage their people to work smarter – not longer.

Don’t sit in rush hour – sit at home and come in when you need to. If you need to be in the office, that’s fine. If you don’t – work wherever you want. If you can work on the beach & it works for you a couple of days a week, and your team, do it! Andy Lark, Xero

Can you guess what number of working hours per week drives optimal productivity?

During the Industrial Revolution, 10 – 16 hr days were the norm. In 1914, Ford was first to experiment with an 8 hr day. It found workers were more productive and within two years, their profit margins doubled!

Today, boasting a 35.5 hr work, Italy produces almost 40% per hr than Turkey, where people work an average of 47.9 hrs per wk. Italy beats the UK too, where people work 36.5 hrs.

Sweden recently experimented with 6 hr work days and found that employees had better health and productivity.

The average US employee works 4.6 hrs a week longer than a Norwegian. Yet by GDP, Norway’s workers contribute the equivalent of $78.70 per hr – compared to the US’s $69.60.

The Team at Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic & Social Research conducted tests on more than 6,000 workers aged over 40, to see how the number of hrs worked affects a person’s cognitive ability

Working 25 hours a week was the optimum amount for cognitive functioning. Working less than that affected the agility of the brain, while long working hours damaged cognitive functioning.

There we have it. Work smarter – not longer!

Is your long hours working culture damaging productivity?

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