A Look Into the 8-Hour Workday
The 8-hour workday originated in the 19th Century.
Photo credit: Frédéric Barriol
Welsh textile mill owner and social reformer Robert Owen is credited as the first person to come up with it by calling for “eight hours labor, eight hours recreation, and eight hours rest”.
Over the next century, labor unions in the United States fought for and adopted the eight-hour standard in different industries across the nation. The idea was brought into the mainstream in 1926 by Henry Ford who adopted a five-day, 40-hour workweek in his factories. In 1940, Congress set the American workweek at 40 hours.
Fast forward to 2020 — a year where technology is at its peak and remote working has taken hold globally. We have been forced to reconsider the way we work to adjust to this new normal. Many companies have realized the 8-hour workweek is not so relevant anymore, and have found the levels of productivity of their employees has actually gone up in the past few months with more flexible schedules. According to Tony Schwartz, we need to shift the focus of our workweek, focusing more on our energy and less on time.
Manage your energy, not your time. – Tony Schwartz
Schwartz studied humans natural ultradian cycles, cycles that allow our brains to alternate between high-frequency (90-120 mins) activities to low-frequency (20-30 mins) activities. This means our brains can focus on any given task for 90-120 minutes. After this, a 20-30 minute break is required to get us back to performing high-frequency tasks again. Our failure to ignore our natural ultradian cycles can result in our inability to focus, fatigue, and anxiety.
Our ultradian cycles is a good way to keep track of our productivity levels throughout the day. But what catches my eye is Schwartz’s premise about focusing on our productivity rather than our time. A very similar thing is happening right now with a lot of companies working from home – there’s really no way to measure time spent at the office. Instead, we can measure productivity and results. So…do we really need eight hours of unfocused work to complete all of our tasks? Or can they be completed in less hours of focused work?
Three to four hours of continuous, undisturbed deep work each day is all it takes to see a transformational change in our productivity and our lives. – Cal Newport
In addition to this, studies have shown that by creating a flexible workplace schedule and incorporating a shorter workday, there’s more room for higher productivity and better results. Employees are more motivated and less-stressed, and have more time for everything that happens outside of office walls, otherwise known as life. Microsoft tested out a four-day work week in its Japan offices and found as a result that employees were happier and significantly more productive. Microsoft Japan president and CEO Takuya Hirano said “Work a short time, rest well, and learn a lot. I want employees to think about and experience how they can achieve the same results with 20% less working time.”
There has definitely been a switch in the way people are working now. If there is something I've learned in these past few months, it’s that having a work-life balance is extremely important to our quality of life. It is our job to learn, evolve, and acquire new standards that will make our lives and those of future generations better.