Wed, 9 Jul 2008

Do 6-day working weeks really work?

Filed under: People and society by Hari
Posted at 09:13 IST (last updated: Thu, 30 Oct 2008 @ 08:14 IST)
I'm not going to explore deep into this subject, but from a HR perspective it seems to me that organizations with a 6-day working week are wasting their time. Organizations which ask their employees to work on Saturdays seem to have this deluded notion that an extra day of work means extra productivity during these extra hours. Here's my own analysis of this situation.

No doubt, the additional hours of work on Saturday means that a little more work will get done. But will employees really improve their productivity in the process? I doubt it, seriously. You see, a 5-day week with 2 days of rest is a perfect recipe for both employer and employee. The weekend seems long enough to feel attractive for employees to work harder during the week. I have no reason to doubt that the popular formula of 5 days of work with 2 days of rest is actually the most optimal formula to increase productivity. Fridays will be an extra productive day under this formula because people will try to finish weekly deadlines at this time. However, if the organization asks people to come into office on Saturdays, this motivation is thrown out of the window. Fridays no longer seem so important and employees won't feel the need to put in that extra bit of work. And to top it off people will tend to drag their feet into office on Saturdays. With a whole week behind them, fatigue is inevitable. Even with the so-called "casual dressing" rules, my belief is that people resent walking into a workplace after 5 continuous full days of work.

Even if you think that one extra day of work doesn't matter, consider its effect on Sunday. After 6 whole days of working, Sundays are practically ruined. Most people who work in high-stress jobs find it difficult enough to unwind in any case. Imagine having just one day of rest. And it's not just about the one extra day; with a 5-day week, Friday evening to Monday morning seems a lifetime. The addition of a Saturday removes that additional bonus completely: after all, Saturday evenings would be so tiring after work and you obviously cannot unwind on a Sunday evening as you have to get ready to face the next week!

And there's one extra reason why I feel that Saturdays are horrible working days. Not all organizations follow the 6-day week. Most government offices and banks remain shut during the weekends. Outside work (including interaction with customers/clients or other organizations) will be limited. All this increases my belief that a 6-day week is the lousiest idea in the history of mankind. And I've not even talked about the levels of stress or fatigue that employees might undergo as a result of the extra work day.

If all this seems like something out of the Papa Hari School of the Obvious, then I am surprised that so many companies still insist on following a 6-day week. I feel that it's best to let employees off for the weekend. Not only does it allow people to get back a sense of perspective from their time off, it also increases the motivation to actually get work done during the week.

7 comment(s)

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  1. I'm seeing just the opposite trend in many places in the USA, Hari, but not here in the Philippines.

    The work week in the U.S. is based on 40 hours. I don't know how that started, but it's slowly disappearing. They now have 4x10 work weeks, 3x13, etc. As long as fuel prices remain high, I see that trend continuing.

    Comment by RT Cunningham (visitor) on Wed, 9 Jul 2008 @ 11:33 IST #
  2. Wholeheartedly agree. Our whole team had to work for 6/7-day weeks chasing a very elusive deadline for close to 2-3 months. Soon, the productivity was really down, number of bugs per job shot through the roof, and the general motivation was down. Restoring the week of work (and sending a few of us onsite :D) took care of things again.

    Comment by Sudipta Chatterjee (visitor) on Wed, 9 Jul 2008 @ 12:52 IST #
  3. RT, yes, but going completely in the opposite direction doesn't really help either.

    Sudipta, thanks. I'm glad to have some confirmation of my views from your own experience.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Wed, 9 Jul 2008 @ 14:50 IST #
  4. In the U.S., I'd say probably 85% or more places follow the 5 day, 40 hour work week. Some places may have you work more one week, then less the next in a two week period but you still end up with 80 hours, they do this cause most pay on a bi-weekly basis.

    There is now a trend to do 4 day 10 hour work weeks. They gave our developers the option. They can work Monday - Thursday and or Tuesday - Friday. They can swap each week to, enabling the the ability to have a 4 day weekend. Take off Friday one week and the following take off Monday.

    Personally I think if you're not hourly and salary, as long as you get your work done, who cares how much you work, just get what needs to be done, done. :)

    I also believe if you can't finish your work in 40 hours consistently each week (granted, sometimes you're just going to work more hours cause it's required), either you suck at your job or they need to hire another body.

    Comment by drew (visitor) on Wed, 9 Jul 2008 @ 20:48 IST #
  5. Yes, it's a bit of a dilemma to employers who want to squeeze the maximum out of their workers. But I would suggest that people who're productive and active by nature don't need any demotivating factors like extra working days. Some people just have the ability to get the job done and I think they should be given the flexibility to choose their timings.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Wed, 9 Jul 2008 @ 20:59 IST #
  6. I did read an article a while back about Best Buy's approach at their corporate headquarters. I don't like Best Buy as I worked one of their stores back in college (long story) but I was amazed at how well they treated the corporate employees.

    Their first rule was, no meeting was mandatory, ever, unless it was something special and they wanted everyone to attend.

    Their second rule was, you work when you want. If it's at 3am, fine, work at 3am. They wanted people to be able to live their life, pick up their children from school, attend events for children, family, etc. Do what comes first in your life, your family but as long as you can get your work done and on time when it's due, you work when you want and as long as it takes you. If it takes you 2 hours to complete your work each week, you work 2 hours.

    I think approaches like this, it gives people flexibility, makes their life less stressful and you actually get more productive employees.

    Comment by drew (visitor) on Thu, 10 Jul 2008 @ 07:35 IST #
  7. Drew, it all depends on the nature of the organization, the nature of its business, the nature of the management and most importantly the nature of its employees.

    You generally find that some people are very comfortable with fixed timings while others need the flexibility.

    My point is that even with fixed timings, I think organizations shouldn't overdo the working week.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Thu, 10 Jul 2008 @ 08:52 IST #

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