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This article discusses about how reducing working hours can help improve workers' productivity. A British economist named John Hicks said that with "longer hours, output per hour would fall. As workers slaved away for longer and longer, they would lose energy, which would make them less productive". In the jargon, "the marginal product of hours is a constant until the knot at about 50 hours after which it declines". Which means worker output at seventy hours has not much difference from output at fifty-one hours. The extra nineteen hours was just wasting time.
The article suggests that people who work longer hours will have lower productivity, but what if people work longer just because they are less productive? I am not saying this applies to all, but I know there are people who have to work longer simply due to their low efficiency. But I disagree with some companies stressing over working hours instead of looking at output. Workers are human beings and they need rest in order to reach their full potential.
In the US, we have longer working hours than most European countries, as well as less breaks and vacation time. I think productivity depends a lot on the person, but I also think we stress the importance of high productivity more here than most other countries. This leads to stress and sadness, and sometimes even clinical depression, which will of course lead to lower outputs. Although I think it's important to have quotas, more businesses, especially large corporations, should take into account the toll that long hours has on the mental health of their employees.
ReplyDeleteI agree and disagree with this article. I agree with the idea that working too many hours can decrease productivity due to a few factors. However, i believe that everyone is different and ones motivation, drive, ambition and goals matter when measuring ones potential productivity. So there's just too many factors that have to be considered when making such statement.
ReplyDeleteA typical work week for most US employees is 40 hours a week. Whether increasing this time or decreasing it would lead to more productivity is dependent on the person. Personally I know I tend to procrastinate a lot so having a shorter work week would motivate me to get more done. Again, though, this most likely depends on the person.
ReplyDeleteThere is a reason why people in jobs usually work for about 6-8 hours a day, it is so their work week does not really need to exceed past 40 hours. This is a widespread concept, working from 9-5, and it seems to be relatively effective and efficient. I feel like if people work for longer, they need more motivation, which at times is hard so they are less productive. I agree with John Hicks on this, people need breaks to mentally and emotionally recover from their work, and overworking them could have a number of consequences.
ReplyDeleteI think this should be up to the discretion of each company. In some cases, worker productivity may benefit from decreasing work hours, however it could be true that decreasing work hours would not aid in increasing productivity. There are many arenas of work and I believe that the results of decreasing work hours would differ in each.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to compare the regular work to some finance jobs. Investment bankers have been known to work 75-90 hours a week. This has been this way for a long time and does not seem to be drastically changing. Some banks are attempting to restrict hours or give at least one weekend off a month but if the marginal productivity of a worker is really that much lower you would think some of the banks would change but they have not. I wonder why this is for bankers and many in finance in general.
ReplyDeleteYou raise a valid point that each individual has a different efficiency rate therefore maybe 50 hours to someone is 65-70 for another. I agree with economist Hicks in terms of losing that efficiency after hitting around 50 hours. It's like studying for a test when you first wake up at 7 am compared to studying through to 1am without rest. You will be much more efficient when your brain is rested.
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