Why the 8-Hour Workday Isn’t the Answer

For those invested in modern-day business, it's crucial to understand how marketplace trends affect how that business is conducted daily. But beyond digital trends and social media etiquette, overall business production habits have a great effect on how that success will affect your business.

But at the core of business – no matter what industry you work in – is business etiquette. The tradition of the 8-hour workday persists, even when the rest of the industry has evolved. Does the 8-hour workday still have a place amongst the ever-evolving business industry? And what methods should we adapt to replace it?

How the 8-Hour Workday Fails Workers

The 8-hour workday started, historically, as a response to the overworking of those during the Industrial Revolution. But the tradition stuck, with the 8-hour workday continuing well within the 20th and 21st century.

But in today's economy, the 8-hour workday may not be the best fit for today's worker. In fact, with the rise of remote working and integration of technologies meant to help workers produce smarter and faster work, the 8-hour workday may soon become obsolete.

Losing Hours, Gaining Production

A big concern about getting rid of the 8-hour workday, for employers, is the question of motivation. Will workers be just as encouraged and supported to produce quality work in a shorter amount of time? Tech.Co explored the idea of the 5-hour workday in a previously published article.

Adapting a shorter workday will not only allow for workers to produce more quality work in a shorter amount of time, but it will encourage more of a work-life balance and allow for focus on combating the health dangers that come along with working in sedentary positions for long periods of time, as the article explores.

Distraction, a common workplace productivity killer, can also be combated by implementing shorter office hours. For employees, this means that less time can be dedicated to indulging in time-wasting habits outside of short breaks.

In short, implementing shorter work hours may not be a conventional solution for boosting worker productivity, but it is a universal one that can work for a variety of industries and companies. Giving the option of implementing a shorter workday can make a drastic difference in the production, happiness, and positive workplace culture of your business.

Image Credit to Thomas8047 / Flickr.

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Written by:
Cameron is a tech and culture journalist, comic book enthusiast, and lives near New York City. A graduate of Stockton University, she's using her words to shift the world of online journalism, one byline at a time. When she's not writing, she can be found reading sci-fi novels, collecting succulents, and planning her next obnoxious hair color. Cameron is an editorial fellow at Tech.Co. Send your tips to cameron@tech.co or tweet @BlkGirlManifest.
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