Bambi Eloriaga-Amago
When Toyota Motors in Gothenburg, Sweden shifted to a six-hour work day 13 years ago, the company’s profits spiked, while turnover rates dipped. They also reported that staff became happier overall.
Now, in a move that will hopefully boost productivity and ensure that employees still have the energy to pursue personal interests, companies all over Sweden have begun to follow Toyota’s lead.
“The eight-hour work day is not as effective as one would think,” said Linus Feldt, CEO of app developer Filimundus. “To stay focused on a specific work task for eight hours is a huge challenge. In order to cope, we mix in things and pauses to make the work day more endurable. At the same time, we are having it hard to manage our private life outside of work.”
Feldt further explains that within the six hours of work, to make employees more focused on the job, distractions—such as logging on to social media—as well as staff meetings are kept to a minimum. The aim is to boost employees’ motivation and get them to work more intensely while in the office. Shorter hours also ensures that workers have enough energy after work to pursue private endeavors.
Even hospitals and medical centers are switching to shorter work shifts. A retirement home in Gothenburg is experimenting with the six-hour work day to see if shorter shifts would result in improvements in patient care and a boost in workers’ morale. They will also weigh the benefits of the shorter work day against the cost of hiring more employees to cover hours lost due to shorter shifts.
