Advantages of Four Hour WorkDay!

In modern times, a popular phrase says, “Time is money.” Admittedly this is one of the overused phrases in the organization world but is it true?

Well, not exactly. The basis behind this saying is the simple concept of “the longer you work, the more you earn.” However, as you can easily tell, long working hours do not equal increased productivity. This concept was clear long before.

Did you know that back in the era of the industrial revolution, people used to work as long as 16 hours every day? But then the Labor Union propagated the eight-hour working days, and they found out that surprisingly, productivity increased. Therefore, working fewer hours daily for better productivity is not new.

But the eight hour working day system that we have now was from a century ago, when most, if not all, work was done manually. Now we have all sorts of systems to automate our work – so why not reduce our working hours even further – say four hour work day week? As surprising as it may seem, there are some legitimate reasons why this is a good idea. 

But before we talk about why a four hour working day is a good idea, we need to be clear about why more work does not equal more productivity. 

Why does longer work not equal more productivity?

The answer to this question is embarrassingly simple – humans have a limited attention span. Although some people can remain focused on their tasks for hours at a time, people generally cannot do this. There is a consensus that average humans can only concentrate for around 45 minutes to an hour and a half. Beyond this, our brains need some form of break.

While this does not mean we need to switch off our minds completely, a small break can and does cause a break in our workflow. Now multiply this eight times. Sure, you get more hours of focus, but at the same time, you also get more time spent on distractions  – which increases as time passes. So while you may only be distracted for 10 minutes after the first hour of focused work, your distraction can easily last 30 minutes or more by the seventh hour. 

Our minds work better when we divide our work into small chunks of focus and a decent relaxation time. While this may seem like slacking out in today’s time, figures like Charles Darwin and Henri Poincare understood this. They only worked four hours daily and spent the rest of their time thinking, pondering, and exploring. 

Our minds get exhausted with each progressive hour of focused work, and our efficiency decreases over time. Ergo, longer working hours do not equal better productivity.