The current work environment is tearing families apart. Parents are frazzled, children are confused and lost while businesses are wondering what the problem with their workforce is.
Businesses and employees are not solely the fault.
The damage being done to families is the length of the work day.
We inherited the 8-hour workday from Henry Ford in 1914 when he doubled the pay for his workers and cut their work to 8 hours a day.
Proponents of the 8 hour day promoted 8 hours for work, 8 hours for rest, and 8 hours for recreation.
It has been a long time since 1914 and we have not made much progress to reducing work hours.
In fact, we have extended the day with the average worker putting in an average of 8.8 hours per workday (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
It is not uncommon for a worker to spend 45 minutes driving each direction daily. That is 18.5 days each year spent commuting!
So an 8.8 hour day turns into 11.5-hour day door to door. This requires the employee to leave for work by 6:30 am each day and gets back home by 6:10 pm.
Dinner is late and the whole family is frazzled.
Children have been home in the afternoon for about 3 hours after school by themselves (what could go wrong?)
Parents pick up a pizza or stop by their favorite Teriyaki spot and dinner gets finished by 8:30 pm.
Time for a few chores and then the parents fall into bed exhausted just to do it over again in the morning.
I have had managers complain to me about their “lazy” employees who cannot get anything done.
Truth is, those employees are just plain exhausted and can barely get through the day.
Give these employees better options and they will perk up and work more efficiently.
Reduce the Commute and Reap the Rewards
Let’s take a look at the workday for an employee without the commute
Without a commute, the 8.8 hour day starts at 8:00 am and will end at 4:46 pm.
It gets even better as the employee will be home when their children get home from school (or even better they will go get the children!).
They will also be home to get packages when delivered.
They can let in service people to work in their home.
They will be at their house to keep it secure rather than leave it alone all day.
Oh, did I mention that there will be a 33% increase in productivity?
As an employer, what are you waiting for? Fix the incredibly long days for your employees and give them the option to commute ate least several times a week!