Historically, the worker who logged the most hours at work was an organization’s most valuable employee. But that isn’t necessarily the case anymore.
Now, as AI promises to transform how we work, and the four-day workweek movement gains steam, it is time to admit once and for all that working more does not make you more productive.
When individuals, organizations or even nations are worried about declining innovation and productivity, the natural response is to work more. The best solution, however, may be the opposite.
At a time when we moan – or is it brag? – about the speed, intensity and all-encompassing nature of change in the workplace, the 40-hour, five-day work week remains firmly entrenched as the societal standard and rarely questioned.
One of the many points of differentiation between today’s young people and older workers is their perception of stress. Historically, Western workplace cultures equated stress with importance. If you were stressed, it often meant your job was more demanding and thus more important, encouraging some to complain about stress as a way to subtly communicate their value.
Sharing some of AI's promised efficiency gains with employees — by letting them work fewer hours, not just get more done — could help get workers on board with a technology that some fear might ultimately replace them, authors of a new book advocating for a shorter workweek told Business Insider.