Working Whenever To Whenever: The New Office Hours
Flickr
Society has decided–for whatever reason–to push papers five days a week, eight hours a day. Even those hours are mostly relegated to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Some folks cut out at 6 p.m. because lunch is not part of the eight-hour work day.
After all, food isn’t necessary for productivity.
It wouldn’t be correct to say that there are no advantages to the 9-5 slog. Just like dogs nipping at the ankles of the sheep, bosses and managers can herd their workers into the right direction, or at least in the same direction, if there’s a common time and place.
But, the strictly-regimented time and place of office work is starting to fracture under the strain. Commerce is becoming global and information is quickly becoming ubiquitous. You don’t need to access a drawer full of files to complete a task. That info is available whenever and wherever you want.
Not only is it no longer necessary, it may be actually holding us back.
The blog, Pick the Brain, dissects the eight-hour work day as a relic of the past and a tool that doesn’t work well for info workers.
A continuous 8 hour work day is a relic of the past. It makes sense for physical labor and manufacturing work, but with information workers it doesn’t account for the mental energy cycle. The ability of a factory worker to think analytically is irrelevant, he’s either cranking widgets or he isn’t.
Most people do have different times when they’re most productive; there are morning people and evening people. But, the post also brings up the twin peaks of information work. People are more productive in the morning and right after lunch. It’s a good bet that 90 percent of the work happens then.
The 9-t0-5 day will fracture further when small groups and even individuals are able to out-perform large companies that use the eight-hour standby as a way to control their staff. Individual workers, likewise, will break off and earn money in non-traditional ways.
Cloud Living, by Glen Allsopp, and the 4-Hour-Work-Week, by Tim Ferris, are the most recent exposes on the new approach to time and money. We’re also putting together a book called The Wealth Singularity that will explore this concept.
But there will be more.
Related posts:
- Power Hour: The 60-Minute Secret To Success
- What Will You Do With The Other 8 Hours
- Panic! How You Can Tell If Your Workplace Isn’t Working
- Why Does Your Home Office Scare Your Boss?
- The 10 Percent Self-Employment Solution
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
is one of my favorite financial books of all time. It's an allegory about a guy who has a terrible job, and how he overcomes challenges to achieve his dreams.
