Work your proper hours day
There appears to be an unwritten punishment for leaving the office first or arriving last. This is classic long hours culture, with staff judged on how long they stay, not how quickly they get things done. This normally means that people are not working efficiently, with a lot of time spent doing very little, particularly towards the end of the day. They may be plenty of time to chat, surf the web or spend on the phone but you should be free to leave when the job is done, not when your workmates leave.
Today is “National Work Your Proper Hours Day” in the UK. The TUC has designated 22 February as the day we should all work our contracted hours and no more.
The TUC says 5 million workers in the UK do unpaid overtime, saving employers almost £25bn in 2007.
The report indicates that 24.2% of all women without children do unpaid overtime.
The TUC Work Smart website has a short test you can take to determine your workplace culture in terms of time keeping. I came out as:
Which means:
There does seem to be culture (in the UK at least) of long hours – we have the impression that working longer makes us look more professional, that we’re more productive and therefore more promotable which simply isn’t true.
I think this is where business goes horribly, horribly wrong.
We are so entrenched in a 9 – 5 (or longer) culture that we can’t (and won’t) value the productivity of workers. Sure John is at his desk at 9am on the dot and stays until 6pm every night but does that mean he’s actually getting work done?
Surely if someone can complete a task in half the time they should be rewarded for it? In the long run it’s going to save a heck of a lot of time and money….
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