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Document: WM-005 P. Webb
Category: Life 2017.01.25
The appeal of the Swiss and Swedish work life
Abstract
Living to work versus working to live.
Body
I recently read an article[1] about Sweden's six-hour work day and
was fascinated by it because here in the States, it's more about the
*quantity* of hours you put in, it's not about the *quality* of the
work you put in (FWIW, that seems to be changing in start-up land).
Henry Ford famously tested the eight-hour work day with his factory
employees, but it's 2017 now. Do we *really* need to continue
the trend?
To quote[2] Magnus Bråth of Brath, a tech company in Sweden
(emphasis mine):
> We also believe that once you've gotten used to having time for
> the family, picking up the kids at day care, spending time training
> for a race or simply just cooking good food at home, you don't want
> to lose that again. We believe that this is a good reason to stay
> with us and not only because of the actual impact longer hours
> would make in your life but for the reason behind our shorter days.
> That we have shorter days is not the main reason people stay with
> us, they are the symptom of the reason. The reason is that we
> actually care about our employees, *we care enough to prioritize
> their time with the family, cooking or doing something else they
> love doing*.
>
> A third huge reason for shorter days is that we all feel more
> rested. Obviously we too have to stay late at times, obviously we
> too are stressed at times but it's from a better base line. Working
> late at our two offices often mean staying for 8 hours, or 7.
> *Think about it, when mom comes home late, she comes home at 5.*
In the linked article at the top of this post, the six-hour work day
experiment ended because it was too expensive for the nursing home it
was tested in. Nurses were more alert and as a result, *care and
happiness amongst those being cared for increased* drastically.
*However*, more nurses were hired to provide overlap for shifts. As
countries become more wealthy, I think the benefits will outweigh
the costs.
I look forward to implementing a similar system when I am able to
hire people for Ideas Never Cease[3]. Better maternity / paternity /
grief leave as well! A previous employer didn't seem to give a damn
while I was grieving over my miscarried daughter Zoe Elise and that
added to the hurt, immensely. I don't *ever* want to make someone
else feel the way I felt, it sucked. My grief was getting in the way
of your *false deadline* on a project for your *still breathing*
family member? Whoops, *my bad*. 🙄 But I digress.
Chantal Panozzo wrote a great article for Vox[4] detailing her life
in Switzerland and the amazing adjustment from American work life.
Here are a few choice quotes:
> In Switzerland, you don't arrive to a meeting late, but you also
> don't leave for your lunch break a second past noon. If it's
> summer, jumping into the lake to swim with the swans is an
> acceptable way to spend your lunch hour. If you eat a sandwich at
> your desk, people will scold you.
>
> Lunchtime is sacred time in Switzerland. When I was on maternity
> leave, my husband came home for lunch to help me care for our
> daughter. This strengthened our marriage. Many families still
> reunite during weekdays over the lunch hour.
>
> Swiss law mandates a 14-week maternity leave at a minimum of 80
> percent pay.
>
> People in Europe took vacation seriously. Once, when I only took
> 10 days for a trip to Spain, my colleagues chastised me for taking
> so little time off. I learned to take vacation chunks in two-week
> intervals. Well rested, I noticed that I felt more productive and
> creative when I returned to work. Recent American research[5]
> confirms what I was feeling: Relaxing can make you
> more productive[6].
I could continue, but you get the gist.
With self-imposed deadlines, I find that I am more creative in my
problem-solving and often find better solutions than if I was working
on problems without a time-sensitive goal attached. I believe the
same thing would be applied to a shorter work day. A six-hour work
day would also discourage long meetings without focus (well, long
meetings *period*). I don't see big American companies making these
quote drastic changes but startups? Hell yeah, definitely. Instead of
focusing on "perks" like beer on tap, foosball tables, and game
systems, &c, why not focus on improving the lives of your employees
so they can make dope shit?
Happy employees will reward you with their absolute best work.
Simple. 🕸
References
[1] <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/sweden-six-hour-working-day-too-expensive-scrapped-experiment-cothenburg-pilot-scheme-a7508581.html>
[2] <https://brath.com/why-we-started-with-6-hour-work-days>
[3] <https://the-inc.co>
[4] <https://www.vox.com/2015/7/21/8974435/switzerland-work-life-balance>
[5] <https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/relax-youll-be-more-productive.html?pagewanted=all&\_r=1&&gwh=AC034D10F64239B961A6E1CDE12C9332&gwt=pay&assetType=opinion>
[6] <https://www.vox.com/2014/7/22/5912369/creativity-vacation-work-office>
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