There are different ways to reduce working hours:

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John Trougakos, an associate professor in the Department of Organizational Behavior at the University of Toronto, says the point is that the standard 40-hour week simply isn't conducive to effective work.

"It's impossible to maintain energy for eight hours straight. People have to maintain attention for a long time, and that's hard to do," says Trougakos. "So they're going to be less efficient."

Many people spend a significant portion of their 8-hour workday browsing social media, shopping online, or texting as a way to compensate. One 2015 study found that workers can spend up to 2.5 hours a day online.

We don't know exactly how many hours a workweek should have to ensure optimal productivity, but proponents of reducing the number of hours believe that limiting the number of hours makes you work more efficiently to get things done.

“It shifts the focus from hours worked to productivity, from ‘hard work’ to ‘right work,’” says Rachel Service, CEO of Melbourne-based consulting and training company Happiness Concierge.

A large-scale study was conducted in Iceland between 2015 and egypt number data 2019, involving over 2,500 civil servants in various positions. They switched from a 40-hour workweek to a 35- or 36-hour week, while maintaining their salary.

Scientists found that in most organizations, productivity either remained the same or increased: in the Reykjavik accounting department, 6.5% more invoices were processed, and in the police, the reduction in working hours had no negative impact on the number of solved cases.

“When we interview employees, they say it makes them more aware of their workload and more focused,” says Will Strong, director of Autonomy, a British think tank that studies the future of work and analyzes data collected by the Icelandic Association for Sustainable Democracy, which worked with the Icelandic government to conduct the experiment.

Strong says employees are more motivated to complete tasks when they are rewarded with a shorter workweek. An extra Friday off helps with productivity.

Typically, fewer hours also mean more order in the workplace. “Things like long meetings and long lunches become less common,” says Trougakos.

This is what was observed during the trial in Iceland. In some cases, managers said they had replaced meetings entirely with email, while others shortened them and scheduled them no later than 3 p.m. Less time was now spent on coffee breaks, employees were encouraged to do personal business outside of work hours, and shift lengths were adjusted to take into account downtime and increased workload.