The four-day working week has become an increasingly hot topic of late, however it has been on people’s minds for much longer. During the 1930s, amid the Great Depression, economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that within a century improved and efficient working methods would mean a 15-hour working week for most workers. More recently technological developments in fields like artificial intelligence have fuelled talk of industry needing fewer human working hours in the future.
However, in modern Britain, many of us are working ever longer hours, and not only in our workplace. There is an expectation to be available constantly online and so, for many, our working days do not finish when we usher our last patient out of the door but continue long into the evening.
Our brains are remarkably resilient organs but most fitness coaches will always emphasise that rest and recovery are integral components in maintaining peak performance, which we can monitor on any number of gadgets. However, it can be harder to monitor our mental performance in the face of cultural shifts such as taking lunch on our laptops, taking our work phone on holiday or just working a longer week. It is basic animal instinct to avoid showing weakness after all.
Are we in danger of burning out our greatest asset? Technical advances cannot be fully utilised if the human resources operating them are not managed optimally.
Up until recently, the Boots Opticians I run was a typical high street practice, opening at 9am and closing at 5.30pm, with slightly shorter hours on the weekend. The clinic generally ran from 9am to 5.15pm. This meant the day was packed with relentless activity. Staff worked five days a week with two random days off to recover, in the knowledge work would still beckon the following morning.
However, patients encouraged us to start earlier or finish later so they could attend outside of their own working hours and avoid using precious time off for an eye examination. So we have recently moved to a new system, opening at 8am and finishing at 7pm. Staff now work longer shifts over four days but always have two sequential fixed days off and a third day as well. Part-time staff (often clinicians) have the flexibility of either an earlier start and earlier finish or a later start and a later finish.
The change has had some added benefits for the team:
- Increased efficiency in administration as clinic preparation can be done in quieter times with fewer disturbances.
- The longer day means we can open the shop before the clinic starts and have the shop finish well before the clinic ends. This gives the staff the ability to clear up loose ends at a relaxed pace, and also allows us to finish off everything we need to do before we go home. This helps to ensure we do not need to take our work home with us.
- More hours open means customers do not have to rely on Saturday for collections, instead they can pop in on their way to or from work.
- Staff spend less time commuting. Not only are public transport and roads less busy out of rush hour but staff also need to undertake one fewer day’s commute, avoiding this often unfulfilling time. Fewer journeys undertaken are also better for the environment and cheaper.
- Having two consecutive days off every week opens up opportunities for staff to truly relax and do things for themselves. Also with careful juggling of the rota, it is possible to organise effective mini breaks with minimal holiday taken.
Many of us are aware of how resilient our bodies can be if we look after them and are aware of the dangers of overtraining but do we take such diligence over our mental and emotional wellbeing? Humans have evolved slowly and successfully over millennia but in recent times we are asking much more of our mental capacity.
Can we perform at such a high level all the time if we do not allow rest and recovery? A four-day week may not be the solution for all, but it could be an effective starting point
for a wider review of our work/life balance.
Simon Small is practice director at Boots Opticians Balham
