It may sound counterintuitive, but working less could actually result in higher productivity. Seriously.
Although many of us continue the tradition of working at least eight hours per day, with an hour's break in the middle -- if we're lucky -- a recent study found that productivity is actually highest when people spend fewer hours working, according to researchers at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which examined working hours in several countries over a period of 22 years.
In fact, one paper (PDF) suggested that output actually starts to fall if people work more than 48 hours per week. Data on munition plant workers in Britain during World War I showed that long hours led to fatigue and stress that not only reduce productivity, they make accidents, errors and sickness more likely.
A hundred years later, we're still facing the same issues. Today, working overtime has been linked (PDF) tohigher rates of injury, illness, weight gain, alcohol use and smoking and, in general, an increased risk of mortality. One study found that putting in long hours could result in a 40% higher likelihood of coronary heart disease, compared with people who work standard hours.
Reducing our working hours could, therefore, make a huge difference to our health and well-being, in turn enabling us to work more efficiently. In Sweden, this theory is being put to the test -- with promising results.
Source: CNN
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