Radio Islam News Team – 27/01/2016

A report in Business Day this week seems to indicate that working less hours, but working harder during those hours, are becoming the latest trend in South Africa.

You could argue that this is just lazy people with their wishful thinking, however Labour analyst Loane Sharpe told Ml Sulaiman Ravat earlier on Sabahul Muslim that the time people spend at work has dramatically decreased over time as people became more skilled.

“In the 1800’s, the average person worked two thousand eight hundred hours a year and today the average person works about one thousand six hundred hours a year.” said Sharpe

We can see the dramatic decline in the number of hours that people work, Sharpe says part of the reason is that people get higher incomes and they become more skilled which makes them more productive.

He says people nowadays do not need to be physically present at work.

“Work nowadays is more knowledge based and less physical, manual labour.”

According to reports and surveys, if everyone had a shorter working week, people would be healthier and happier, and society would be far less unequal and more sustainable.

More than 6 million of people work more than 45 hours a week, while 1.85 million are unemployed.

While it would need to happen gradually, alongside some reskilling and training, a shorter working week for all would mean fairer distribution of available work.

It would reduce the number of people working far too many hours, and also the number with no work at all.

Shorter hours could also help mitigate climate change.

According to a report from the US Centre for Economic and Policy Research, reduced greenhouse gas emissions go hand-in-hand with shorter working hours for a variety of factors including lower levels of consumption.

With all these benefits, cutting the working week should be at the top of every politician’s agenda.

But it bumps up against some big prejudices like would our economy fall apart? Especially in a country like South Africa, where there is a tremendous shortage of skill and employers have to compete for talent.

Comment from Cassim Amod-

As Salaamu Alaikum 

My job role is such that I can work from home at times. It is more productive given that you save travel time. This can give you abt 2 extra productive hours.

Using an online meeting is also an option as this saves on travel time to and from meetings.

It is also good to schedule face to face meetings in off peak traffic times.

For me the most productive is early morning.

Sharpe says Faith Popcorn who was Coca-Cola’s marketing guru in the 80’s predicted the phenomenon of cocooning amongst the ‘Baby-Boomers’.

“Her big prediction at the moment is that in our lifetime we will have a three day weekend as a common practice. “

Now while the culture today is ‘how many hours can I spend at home’, among ‘Baby Boomers’ the key characteristic is the insecurity and vulnerability about their jobs.

Today, the new generation is concerned with job mobility, and not job security.

Sharpe says this is now more about a case of the have and the have-nots with haves in this case being those who have skills.

Twitter – @momo_db

Click to listen to podcast:Are less work hours the key to productivity? Interview with Loane Sharp