8 hours of work: myth harmful to health

The trinomial 888 is still the holy grail of work and refuses to leave us. Only a few brave people dare to question it timidly, while for entrepreneurs, talking about schedules is a chimera.

The states and the new entrepreneurs have come to the conclusion that eight hours of work are too many hours. The worker spends the day at his job, with the mistaken idea that presenteeism will make him more productive. At least, in the eyes of the boss. An absurd fact that wastes the time of both the employer and the employee.

Contrary to clichés, our country is one of the developed countries with the longest working hours in the office. The Spanish working day is the longest in our environment, reaching nine hours and twenty minutes. Perfect! Not only do we not work eight hours, but we work more because Spain is different.

While Spaniards are lengthening their working day, other modern countries are trying to reduce working hours without affecting their salaries. These measures are based on studies such as those offered by Workmeter, which reveal that it is technically impossible to concentrate for eight hours of work in a row. The ideal working day is set at six hours in the morning , since a worker's optimal concentration does not exceed that number of hours. This is the time when productivity and efficiency are at their highest: a matter of quality, not quantity.

There is also a revealing and surprising fact: the most productive day of the week is Friday... for a simple reason: many companies have reduced schedules that increase productivity due to the desire to leave work earlier. Why not take advantage of this factor?

There is no point in working without rest; it goes without saying that it is not good for health. But if there are skeptics on this subject, the WHO made it clear in November 2017: the mental state of workers must be a priority in public health policy. In an increasingly frenetic and stressful social and work environment, it is becoming increasingly necessary to look after the mental health of professionals.

Yes, this is all well and good, but more than one will be thinking that it is entirely unattainable... You are wrong! For industrial workers in Germany it has been a reality since the beginning of 2018. After several protests they have reduced their working hours to 28 hours per week along with measures for wage increases. Family and leisure life is gaining ground on the working day.

It is a pity that for the most devoted entrepreneurs this trinomial is nothing more than a myth. There are tireless workers who do not know what a schedule or a working day is. Without vacations and breaks, they would end up not even knowing what day they are living in, if it weren't for their smartphone. They could easily join the club of politicians who, like Trump or Merkel, sleep a whopping four to five hours a day.

Since for entrepreneurs 8 hours of work a day does not make much sense, it only remains to recommend another type of triad. David Carulla proposes in his blog Canasto.es a combination of work, leisure and rest that satisfies both entrepreneurs and their customers and employees. The proposal first involves becoming aware of how much time is spent and what it is spent on. With this information on the table, it is very easy to see where you are failing: do you sleep too little? Is your leisure time conspicuous by its absence?

The good thing that is always said about entrepreneurs is that they are the masters of their schedules, but then the customers come along and they ruin this approach. To get organized, you have to draw on experience, adjust procedures with customers and partners and combine it all with the availability of employees. It sounds complicated, even too much like juggling... but when everything fits together, entrepreneurship becomes a wonderful thing, even if it fulfills the 888 trinomial.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to well-being at work: if you're happy, you'll work better. And if you need more leisure hours or time to devote to yourself to be happy, go ahead and do it. Warming your chair until it's time to go to work is not going to make you feel better about yourself.

What is the point of working to exhaustion? There is no need to become a karoshi to be able to say that we perform at work. According to the ILO (International Labor Organization), work-related stress accounts for the loss of 3% of each country's GDP. It is not worth it to work yourself to death.

In Sweden, they have been testing the six-hour model for years and have multiplied its benefits, reducing sick leave and increasing productivity. The Germans have already taken a good example. Another model is possible. Let's start working to live and not living to work.

AUTHOR: CARLOS LLERENA

IT executive, entrepreneur, communicator and academic with international trajectory, expert in technology, marketing, project management and complex problem solving.

On the cover: image of the TV series Workaholics