As technology enables more and more white-collar employees to work from home (WFH) – not only is the location of work shifting from the office to people’s kitchen tables, but so is the pattern of the numbers of hours and days spent working.
This change in working patterns for those in appropriate occupations is nothing new. After all, since the development of fast widespread internet and cheaper travel, the ‘digital nomad’ has been around since the beginning of this century.
Self-employed freelancers, providing their services remotely, can live anywhere. As a result, many graphic designers, copywriters, accountants and such people regularly spend winter seasons in warmer climes.
Of course, there are many occupations that can’t be performed remotely. Physical services like plumbing, building work, road-mending, retail and restaurant jobs necessitate physical activity and metaphysical presence. Then you’ve got to plan ahead for global computer system outages; when that happens WFH employees and those in the office alike are sitting twiddling their thumbs.
It’s a case of horses for courses; some people prefer the routine of living in one place and commuting to a job for five days a week over about 40 hours.
Digital nomads should enjoy living their dream while it lasts
On a cautionary note, those white-collar ‘knowledge workers’ might be living the dream now from their winter rentals on a beach somewhere in southern Spain, but they might do well to remember that jobs that can be performed ON a computer may well soon be performed BY a computer! Artificial intelligence (AI) can, and almost certainly will, replace those like accountants, web designers and computer software coders within the next decade.
Like everything else in the world, technology is democratising and changing working patterns fast – unless people learn to embrace the concept of ongoing digital adoption, they’ll end up poorer for it.
Employees in all jobs are starting to see changes in the working week
For many years, a ‘full-time’ job in most countries of the industrialised world was considered to be around 40 hours per week, performed over five days, regardless of shift patterns. However, there are notable European exceptions. In The Netherlands, an average full-time working week since about 2000 has dropped to around 30 hours.
In France, it’s illegal to be made to work for more than 35 hours per week. And if an employee agrees to work over those 35 hours, they have to be paid at least 25% extra for the first eight hours of overtime and a 50% additional rate for anything more than that.
Finally, even the Protestant Work Ethic norms of the UK and USA are being challenged by a toiling population suffering from a cost-of-living crisis and burnout, accompanied by ongoing mental health issues for many.
Ever since the Covid-19 lockdowns of the global pandemic, many employees started to realise, having spent more time with family or in front of daytime TV while not doing very much, that there’s more to life than working your guts out.
A ground-breaking UK study of attitudes to work
Between June and December 2022, researchers from the University of Cambridge looked at the potential impact of a four-day working week on employers and employees alike. The results, by any standard, were revelatory and almost entirely positive.
Of the 61 companies involved in the trial, 56 said they would continue with the four-day week (92%), with 18 of those confirming their intention to keep the policy permanent.
It’s crucial also to note here that the four-day week in the study actually involved a 20% reduction in working time, simply people taking one day off a week, NOT working the same number of hours over four longer-than-usual days.
Around 2,900 employees across a spectrum of businesses took part; from creative digital studios to brick-and-mortar takeaway food shops. Employers found that anxiety and fatigue levels decreased across their workforces. Employees stated that both their mental and physical health improved.
Surprisingly, many employers saw an increase in people’s productivity to offset the reduction in their working time. This could be down to a combination of factors, but the old adage ‘look after your workforce and they’ll look after the business’ seems to hold true. People tended to appreciate the shorter hours for the same money, and wanted to ensure that they kept the new perks – so they generally responded by working harder and more efficiently.
In post project interviews, many people reported that anxiety, fatigue and poor sleep issues lessened, while their physical and mental health improved. 54% of interviewees said that the four-day week improved personal relationships, household finances and gave more time for exercise.
The most significant finding from employees was that 15% of them stated that ‘no amount of money would persuade them to go back to their previous work patterns’. So The Beatles were right, – money can’t buy you love.
But it’s not all a bed of roses
One caveat to all this perceived positivity was that the report’s authors noted that the trial was performed amongst organisations that had volunteered to join in; therefore it was more likely to show positive results. Had the exercise been carried out by employers forced to do so against their will, the outcomes might have been very different.
And while most of the companies involved said they were happy with results, only a few provided empirical accounts data. Those findings tended to demonstrate that revenue hadn’t increased over the six-month period but hadn’t significantly dropped either.
Some employers also found that while fiscal results remained largely unchanged and their employees were generally happier, more admin was required by human resources (HR) when having to employ more people to cover the demands of the business. Customers still exist at least five days per week, after all.
However, as any HR department knows, it’s often a good idea to have a base of more part-time workers, as covering sickness and ad-hoc holidays is easier when you have a larger workforce pool.
In summary
There’s little doubt that technology is going to replace many jobs over the coming few years, and those affected by it will need to re-train. For example, ongoing opportunities are always to be found working for the Search Engine Optimisation industry – such as companies like Orca SEO – where WFH is perfectly possible. Otherwise, people will have to find something to do with the times they’re not at work. But at least that same technology also affords opportunities for people to make a living, if only for a little extra income, when doing other things in their own time.