Still Working Nine to Five? Why?
AdAge’s Darryl Ohrt articulates a work schedule reality many management teams and HR departments are trying to rationalize:
Entrepreneurs, senior executives and serious career employees have known for a long time that the “work day” is all day — and all night. (And if you’re doing what you love, it isn’t work at all.) Meanwhile, the tools that we have been afforded have allowed the boundaries between work and play to become effortlessly intertwined.
We bring our personal lives into the workplace and our work into our personal lives thanks to smart phones, internet everywhere and teams spread across time zones. At our agency, we openly encourage employees to spend time on Facebook, Twitter and other personal social networks while at work, and they’re answering emails from home at night. This is the workplace of 2009.
So if we’re all working at all hours, and playing at all hours, why do most firms still maintain an office schedule around nine to five?
The primary context of Ohrt’s piece is agency work, but doing a little research reveals this topic is pushing management and HR agendas across just about every vertical.
Technology being what it is, I could do my job from a beach in St. Thomas and very few people would be able to notice – if anyone. As a knowledge worker, my number one work resource is a computer and Internet connection. From there, boundaries dissolve. And I happen to believe that not everyone performs their best with a rigid schedule, as morning people are very different from those who get their burst in the evening or late at night. Given what we know about specialized skillsets and modern management, you’d think more organizations would take this into account.
What about your organization? Is your HR department and management team talking about flexible scheduling? Love to hear your comments.
