I want to start a revolution….
Hands up if you actually have a job that works 9 to 5…no, I don’t think one of you could put your hand up. The old saying no longer applies to any job I have come across in a very long time.
The advent of the 35 or 38 hour Government workweek, coupled with weekend work, flex time, rostered days off and other types of leave mean no one actually starts at 9 am and walks out of the office at 5pm.
Even a 9 to 5, 40-hour workweek is not viable because you have to factor in lunch breaks, business meetings with travel, everyone’s crazy schedules that we have to work around. Shops don’t even have the luxury of opening at 9 and closing at 5 or they miss the after-hours trade which keeps them alive.
So why do we still call our workday the 9 to 5?
I have no idea. History I suppose, or Dolly Parton’s song, which this phrase always invokes in my mind. (I can hear you singing it now!)
A shorter working day and improved working conditions were part of the general protests and agitation for Chartist reforms and the early organisation of trade unions. It was the fight they used to give some type of work life balance in the mid 19th Century. Australia followed the lead of many other countries around the world by campaigning for better working conditions in the colonies. The eight-hour day began in 1856 in the month of May.
That must have been quite a big change to adapt to back then. It was the norm to work 10, 12 even up to 16 hour days before that.
My questions and you might wonder where I am going with this, is what should our norm be today?
The 9 to 5 is out the door. I hear complaints all the time about the long hours people are putting in, the amount of hours they sit in their car wasting precious family time just to get to an office where they flop down in front of their computer screens and answer emails or write reports. Or they spend their time on the phone answering questions or dealing with customers.
If all these people need is a computer and a phone to do their job, why do they need to travel so far to do it?
I hear your answer, meetings….human conversational interaction.
Well, surely they live in the same world I do where I use Skype or Lync or even Facetime can be used to have these discussions. Instant messaging has changed the entire way I connect with people on a daily basis. It doesn’t cut into my day, it gives me more time to do my own thing and spend time with my family. Shouldn’t that be our goal, do what is best for the family?
Even my previous workplace where we had many main offices and depots, communications between the officers was mainly phone, text and email. I worked with people electronically on a daily basis that I never had the pleasure to meet and some of my teams best work was done when they set their business tools up from home and worked through disasters professionally and efficiently. We were all still connected, but our best work was done during these times and no one was the wiser that we weren’t sitting in a stuffy office on top of one another.
I firmly believe we would all get so much more done if we could open our Laptop and work from anywhere. Wear what we felt comfortable in and make sure all the work gets done. How much happier would we be if we didn’t have to sit in traffic jams, or on stinky public transport. We would also have more money in our pockets and make a difference to pollution levels and the environment. Wouldn’t it reduce the need for childcare if we were able to work around them?
My question to you is, could you do your job from anywhere?
Oh, you said, but I have staff to oversee.
Could both your jobs be done better if these people had set targets to meet and could contact you electronically? Would they work smarter if they were given autonomy and trust to do the job they have been employed to do. Everything is systemised and emailed. We have centralised filing systems that just need your computer to meet legislative needs. Bosses could still contact their staff everyday if they needed to. Approvals can be completed electronically.
Why do we in the 21st Century, still live within a structure set up over 150 years ago?
Employers obviously coped with such a huge change to go down to 8-hour days. The world didn’t stop turning. I’m sure there was grumbling, but in the end they made it happen. So maybe it’s time for us all to campaign for a new 21st Century work from home model to get some congestion off the road, ease our work life balance burdens and use the technology we all have at our disposal.
My suggestions for a 21st Century Business Model are:
- Be proactive on allowing workers to work from home. No need for bigger physical buildings to house people sitting staring at computers all day. Set people up in appropriate home offices that meet safety requirements and give them the tools to be highly productive forward thinking members of society.
- Companies need to ensure when jobs are developed that there are appropriate policies and procedures in place to make this an option.
- Invest in appropriate technology and keep up to date on making this work.
- Set up regular online team meetings so that workers don’t feel isolated from their peers. Keep communications lines open between them.
- Provide online reporting systems to make feedback easier.
- Trust the people you employ to do right by the company.
Would you take up the option to work from home if it was offered to you?
I want to challenge companies to provide the option for current workers to take up, maybe trial it with a few to set up a system that works for you.
I believe it would reduce the number of sick days taken and make for much happier employees.
I know this is not typical mentoring information, but sometimes I need to share my thoughts and if more mentors, who are obviously forward thinking persons get on board. Then we might just cause a revolution.
Share to be inspired, be inspired to share.
