Forward-thinking countries have been talking about the benefits of shorter working hours, and this company has decided to give it a shot and the outcome was surprisingly good!
An Australian financial firm called Collins SBA has recently executed a five-hour workday policy where employees from top to bottom can go home at 2pm, provided that they get their work done.
This brilliant idea came from its managing director Jonathan Elliot when he was juggling between taking care of his then cancer-stricken wife and work. He realised that despite working fewer hours a day, he was still able to complete the same amount of workload.
That made him rethink about the necessity of a nine-to-five work style. After some research, including looking into similar models practised by Swedish companies, the firm bravely undertook a 3-month trial of a five-hour work day in 2017.
The results and benefits were profound. Its operations director Claudia Parsons said the improvements were immediate. In fact, she said,
“Our staff produced the same workload, received the same pay, and had the same responsibilities. The idea was that if you could get all this done within a five-hour period, you were free to leave at two.
“It really got people evaluating how they do something, and how they can do it better. It motivated them to evaluate every aspect of their role.”
As the employees had more time to spend with their family members and to exercise, their mental and physical health improved overall too, thus leading to less sick leaves being taken.
The new working style has spun the wheel of cultural shift in the workplace. For instance, the sit-down meeting style has since changed to a speedy stand-up, while a new technology called Yammer is used to update colleagues for non-urgent matters, instead of bombarding each other with emails every now and then.
Source: Hyger
However, Parsons did point out that not all businesses can adopt this model. For instance, restaurants, cafes, and retail stores need to stay open for customers while media workers need to be on standby for news. That includes us!
Also, those who are not able to work fast will feel tremendous stress under this policy while slackers could potentially take advantage of this opportunity.
“It’s hands-down the most life-changing workplace initiative I’ve ever been involved in. I’d love for more organisations to get on board,” Parsons said.
Do you think this policy would work well for Malaysians? Tell us what you think in the comment section!
PS: Don’t forget to share this article because change can only start with you (and also for your boss to see it)! 😛
Also read: Former AG Apandi is So Hardworking, He Showed Up At Work Even After Getting Fired
