9 to 5 A Thing of the Past
Why the 9 to 5 Office Worker Will Become a Thing of the Past.
I wouldn’t mind that one bit! I agree with what the article says, about the “mental energy cycle,” with high peaks and low peaks. I know there are parts of the day when I just can’t concentrate on programming any more, or if I’m not programming, I just get restless and need to get up and do something. I’m usually good until about noon, then I take a quick break to check and reply to personal emails and read some blogs. I go back to work, but that’s not much of a recharge, so I’m only good until around 2, which is when I take my lunch. For most, this is a late lunch, but the end of the day is forever long for me if I don’t take this late break. Even then, by 4, I just can’t focus anymore.
As the article says, there isn’t a chance to recharge while in the office. Managers expect us to be productive, internet usage is monitored, breaks are limited. We’re trapped.
When workers reach the low energy part of the cycle, they can’t recharge with a non-work activity. The only option is office purgatory. You can’t be highly productive because you’re mentally fatigued, but you can’t recharge because the 8 hour work day requires the appearance of constant productivity. The result is millions of unproductive workers trapped at their desks when they’d rather be doing something else.
What to do? The author suggests breaking from the traditional office settings.
The obvious solution to this problem is planning around the mental energy cycle by breaking the work day into multiple segments. The traditional office setting doesn’t accommodate this because there are few available recharge activities. People can’t do household chores, run errands, or engage in recreational activities without leaving the workplace.
The solution that makes the most sense is a remote work arrangement because it reduces employer costs and allows employees to adjust their work schedule to their mental energy cycle. When a worker becomes mentally fatigued, they can go off the clock and engage in recharge activities that are personally productive like exercise or relaxation. When energy returns, the worker can start working again at a high level, effectively cutting out the low productivity period of the cycle.
This solution makes sense to me with the exception of two things:
1) Less personal interaction with your co-workers
Yes, personal interaction with co-workers is decreasing due to email, IM, etc., but there’s still something to be said about being able to small talk around the water cooler with those you work with, make new friends, etc. It’s good to be able to schedule on a whim a face-to-face meeting to discuss an issue. Working remotely does not allow this easily.
2) It’s hard to leave work at work if you’re working from home
This is my sticking point, why I will not work from home, and one reason I quit my previous job. I have to be able to leave work at the office. Currently, I have to do a very trivial work task 6 nights a week. This isn’t intensive or very time-consuming, but it’s very draining to me to have to remember to do this each day and put aside whatever I’m doing to work. I’m the type of person who has to have his down time when out of the office, and if the office is home, it’s always hovering there in the back of my mind.
What are your thoughts? Do you like five, 8 hour work days or would you prefer a different schedule?
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Jun 24th, 2007 at 23:03:36
Well, I personally would LOVE to work a 9-5 job. Working nights in a hospital leaves me not only feeling like a vampire, but my friends and family usually pay a price too, because lack of sleep makes me very cranky and emotional. I totally understand the lulls of the day…unfortunatly mine usually comes about 4-5am and there is nothing I can do to change it. In the nursery, it is no music, no internet, and on many nights, no adult conversation at all. The good thing about my job, though, is that I can usually leave it at work–I rarely take anything home, unless it’s an evaluation, or just the emotional baggage that comes for caring for precious babies with very little hope in the world. And I am one of the lucky few…most nurses usually work 12 hour shifts. Eight hours is nice compared to that. I do understand your plight…I just think we all have something about our jobs that we would change if we had the opportunity.
Jun 24th, 2007 at 23:34:01
i would love an office job. for a long time i had the 9-5 schedule, but retail can eat that kind of schedule up so quickly! i would gladly trade the 9-5 lulls for the 9 am to 9 pm zombieism.
Jun 25th, 2007 at 10:26:52
How about a twofer? Work a 9-5 AND work from home…basically, that’s what the current corporate culture (”internet time”) requires.
I’ve been in that scenario for 2 years, and having just a 9-to-5 would be heaven. Actually, I’m transferring out of my current job so that I can go back to being JUST a programmer. Being teamlead, programmer, and project manager is just…insane.
[end rant]
I think the problem with this proposal is how pie-in-the-sky it is. It will get abused on both ends–some knowledge workers will slack, and some will work themselves to death. At least with everyone working at an office, you can see that happening and take corrective action. With everyone spread across the [city|county|state|country|world], that natural process can’t work.
Jun 25th, 2007 at 11:23:37
A 9 to 5 job…whats that? They make those? I have a friend who works for the GAP in their IT. He works 7am to 330pm (his choice, they have flex time), and he is out the door at 330 no questions asked. He also gets 7 weeks of vacation every year.
Jun 25th, 2007 at 20:18:37
Good comments all… It’s good to hear some different perspectives. When you got your college degree and/or current job, how much of a factor was the potential work schedule to you? Are you willing to put up with the hours you have (if they’re negative) for the sake of your job?
I wasn’t complaining about the hours that I have. I actually have it pretty good. I was agreeing with the article as far as having an optimum mental time frame to work. I’m sure many of you can agree that long hours, odd hours, not having days off, etc. can really put a drain on you mentally and emotionally and physically. It can leave you drained and ruin your social and family life. At what point should you sacrifice your job for the sake and you and those you care about? I faced that decision a couple years ago. It was a tough call, but worked out in the end, thankfully.
Back on topic, I’m wondering if a model of “pay per project” (where that’s applicable) would be more beneficial than paying by hour. If I got paid per project, I’d be much more likely to get them done quicker and do more of them than if paid hourly. Keeping the quality in mind in this model (pay for quality as well as completion), this would also allow flexibility in the hours. If I do my best work at 2am (which I do! - at least when I don’t have to get up early the next morning), why not let me work then and sleep in the next morning. I’m sure there are some problems with this model, but it does put enough of a burden on the worker to get work done and not slack, if they want to get paid.
I’m still agreeing with my initial assessment, and with what Harold said, that having an office at which to physically work is still needed (at least at this point in time).
Jun 26th, 2007 at 12:12:13
I think I would actually like to work from home, at least part of the week. Working next to a *gasp* window with my dog at my feet would be nice.
Jun 28th, 2007 at 19:15:50
First of all, I think it definitely depends on the career field and particular job within the field. Still saying that, I think the in office environment is key to our future success. If Americans continue to isolate themselves in silos and hide for confrontations and interactions, we are going to be ran out of many industries but the productivity of other countries.
I believe it more appropriate to research the environments that help individuals be more productive while in the office. I agree with the concern you made about taking work home. If your office is at home, there is nothing stopping the employer from continuously contacting you. They already do this in some instances when you work in the office. I think there is something for keeping a small but defined break between personal life and professional life.
Other things to consider:
Vacation Time - Many countries have 1-3 months of vacation time, which can be taken in large blocks. Why not increase vacation time which allows for recuperation and reduces burnout.
Granted that means employers have to assist and include vacation time into project planning. I know so many people in my previous two places of work that were losing vacation time because they could never get any schedule because of project after project after project. US culture has to allow for time to rejuvenate and get away from the office. In addition, being gone means no blackberry, no cellphone, no communication with work, leave it behind. This too is difficult.
Breaks during the day - If you don’t get up from your desk and move all day, you are going to burnout, be drained, and unproductive. Though I have often fallen victim to this, don’t eat lunch at your desk, instead go to the cafeteria or out to a park or something to eat. Take a walk during lunch. I rather enjoyed eating lunch and taking a walk to get out of the office and forget about what was going on. A coworker and I did this 4 days a week at one job that I was at. When he left the company, I had to find someone else to get me out of the office otherwise I would have gone crazy. Take “smoke breaks”, as a coworker and I would call it, since we didn’t smoke. Go outside take a brief 5 minute walk around the building get away from your desk at least once in the morning and once in the afternoon. This may be more difficult for hourly employees but I think there is a mandatory break that you have to take if you are hourly, so get up and get away, get some fresh air.
Minimize IM, Email, and Phone communications - Now this somewhat depends on the environment but instead of constantly communicating not in person, get up from your desk and walk to the individuals desk and speak with them in person. There is so much to say about personal communication and yes I know for those IT folks out there face to face communication is not preferred, but its a great thing. Plus it gets you away from your desk, more visible, and I believe gains more respect. Now that is as long as you are not going to peoples desk to chat and make small talk all the time. Have a purpose and if the person is busy come back or send an email when you get back to your desk. Don’t be a nuisance.
Jun 28th, 2007 at 19:30:24
Sorry after reading comments…I have a few more to make…
Everyone works differently and we are activated in different ways. For me, there is a point that I cant be in my apartment any longer and need to get out. If I worked, lived, and basically spent my life at home, I would go insane. There is a point that my productivity totally begins to suffer at home, especially since there are no distractions or people to communicate with. I turn the TV on just to have some sort of background noise but then I find myself watching the TV and not getting work done.
For me the flexibility in creating my own schedule within reason has been great in previous jobs. Not being stuck to an hourly schedule. If I needed to leave early or take a long lunch, I could do that as long as I worked later another time. There were some restrictions especially with a daily 9 am mtg but that was manageable.
To answer your question Chris about how does schedule play into what we are doing. I will say that I definitely thought about work hours, on call hours, and overtime hours when taking my second job and also when I decided to leave the IT field. There is sacrifice but then there is insanity. My first job became insanity with the hours I was working and the demands on my time, my life, and well-being. One of many reasons I left IT is because of not wanting to be paged at 1 am , 2 am, or any other time to solve something that was not hurting someone personally at that moment in time. I would prefer to be paged to assist someone than reset a backup that failed.