I can't work 8 hours a day. Working hours in non-standard situations. Habit and stereotypes

Work schedules vary. So, some subordinates work in shifts or on a rotational basis, others work out an 8-hour norm per day. There are categories of workers who are allowed to work reduced or part-time. But still, 8 hours of work, 5 days a week, is the most common mode in our country. And it has a scientific and practical justification.

What is the reason for the introduction of the 8-hour working day?

The concept of "working time" is used in the norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Working time is the time spent by subordinates on the performance of professional duties.

The length of the working day and week in any organization depends on the goals pursued by the management.

Table: types of working hours

Name of the type of working time	Peculiarities
Normal working hours	The norm is 40 hours of work per week. This type is the most popular and is used in many organizations.
Reduced working hours	The subordinate will be involved in work less than 40 hours per week. For some workers, such a norm is established at the legislative level.
part-time work	Part-time work is expressed as: incomplete working week (the number of working days per week is reduced); part-time work (the length of daily work decreases). Such a schedule is established by agreement between the employee and the employer.
Irregular working hours	By agreement with the employee, the employer has the opportunity to involve him in performing tasks beyond 40 hours a week without additional payments for processing. But this should not be regular, but episodic.

When and why was the 8-hour workday introduced?

The working day, equal to 8 hours, was introduced in the USSR by a special decree (November 11, 1917). They worked 48 hours a week with one day off. Later, the daily and weekly labor standards changed several times, until in 1991 they were finally established. Then a law was passed that introduced a 40-hour working week. Subordinates could now work 5 or 6 days a week for 8 or 7 hours a day, respectively. This provision was enshrined in the Labor Code, and then in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

The introduction of an 8-hour working day was due to the fact that such a time is optimal from the point of view of human physiology. If a person works longer, efficiency decreases, which affects the quality of the work done. A shorter duration will affect the success of the enterprise. Forcing a subordinate to work more than 40 hours leads to penalties against the employer.

Video: why 8 hours of work is considered the standard and how to use it effectively

How to arrange an 8-hour working day in an organization

The procedure for introducing a normalized working day in an organization consists of several stages:

Rationale (the employer analyzes why the 8-hour working day suits him best).
Determining the category of workers who will work 8 hours a day (if this regime is not appropriate for everyone).
Reflection of the regime in the local regulatory act of the organization and a description of all the conditions that become relevant with an 8-hour working day.
Issuance of the corresponding order. This may be an order to introduce an 8-hour working day for an individual employee, a group, or the entire team. Or they introduce changes to the local acts of the enterprise.

The normalized working day is approved by the documentation:

labor or collective agreements;
agreements to the above agreements;
internal labor regulations.

By finding a job in an organization, a citizen expresses his consent to the proposed work schedule. All the nuances of the normalized working day and week are fixed in the employment contract.

An employment contract is a document concluded between an employer and a new employee during employment.

The employment contract must include the following:

labor functions of the new employee;
working conditions;
working hours (hours of daily work and days off are prescribed);
rights and obligations of the parties to the contract;
liability for violation of the terms of the employment contract;
the duration of the agreement (if it is a fixed-term relationship), etc.

An employment contract is one of the documents that fixes the length of the working day of an employee of an organization.

If in the future working conditions change, an additional agreement is developed, where all innovations are recorded.

Internal labor regulations (PWTR) - a local regulatory act of the organization that regulates the procedure for employment and dismissal of subordinates.

The PVR contains the following:

working hours (in this case it lasts 8 hours a day);
start and end time of daily work;
the start and end time of the break for rest and meals;
duration of weekly uninterrupted rest - days off;
the procedure for granting annual paid holidays;
conditions for accrual of incentives for success in work;
the procedure for penalties for violations of labor discipline.

The PWTR organizations are approved by the management only after the representative body of the workers (for example, the trade union) expresses its opinion on the content of the document being developed.

Most often, PWTR are developed with the participation of the trade union

As a rule, an order to introduce an 8-hour working day in an organization is not issued if such a regime has been in effect from the very beginning. If the subordinate worked in a different mode, the length of working time may be reviewed.

This often happens when a person worked part-time and wants to transfer to standard conditions in order to receive more. The initiative to transfer to an 8-hour working day is made by pregnant women, students, part-time workers, employees who have recently turned 18 (up to this age, they are legally entitled to a reduced working day).

If the grounds for reducing the work schedule are no longer relevant, the subordinate writes an application for transferring him to a full-time position. The personnel department on behalf of the head issues an appropriate order (instruction).

The application must contain:

name of company;
the position of the head in whose name the document is drawn up;
position and full name of the employee;
a request for a full-time transfer;
the date from which the worker is ready to start working in full time;
employee's signature.

The date of the new working regime must be indicated in the application for transfer to a full-time position

The transition to an 8-hour working day is reflected in the supplementary agreement to the employment contract

8 hour work order

A full-time transfer order is drawn up in free form and includes the following information:

date of introduction of the normalized working day;
working conditions for an 8-hour working day;
a list of breaks that a subordinate can count on during the day;
signature of the employee (placed by the employee if he agrees with all the terms of the full-time transfer).

The boss has no right to force a subordinate to work full time. The employed must express his written consent to 8 hours of work per day.

The order on the introduction of an 8-hour working day must contain information about the beginning and end of working hours

In what cases can the 8-hour working day be reduced

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides a certain circle of workers with the opportunity to work less than 40 hours a week. There are two possibilities to reduce the length of the working day and week:

reduce working hours;
enter part-time work.

A shorter working day is mandatory for a certain circle of people. Work is paid as in a normal work schedule (except for minors).

Table: list of persons eligible for a reduced work schedule

Category of workers	Working time
Persons under the age of majority	The following number of hours is established depending on age: from 12 to 24 hours a week if the employee is under 16; 17.5 to 35 hours per week if age 16 to 18.
Workers with disabilities	Working hours should not exceed 35 hours per week.
Citizens working in conditions that are recognized as harmful and dangerous	The duration of the working week is no more than 36 hours.
teachers	They work no more than 36 hours a week.
Workers in the medical field	Labor does not exceed 39 hours per week.
Students on part-time and part-time forms of education	They can work 33 hours a week in the following cases: before starting execution graduation project(work); before taking state exams.

Part time

Part-time work or a week is entitled to work:

pregnant women;
one of the parents (guardian, trustee) who has a child under the age of 14 or a child with a disability under the age of 18;
caregivers of a sick family member.

As a rule, a document confirming such a need is attached to an application for granting the right to work part-time

In case of part-time work, the salary will be calculated in accordance with the hours worked.

Breaks during the 8-hour working day

During the day, the organization's staff can count on certain breaks in the labor process. They are necessary to restore the strength of subordinates and increase their performance. Only a portion of these breaks count as working time and are paid.

According to the law, the manager must provide employees with the following breaks:

special breaks for heating and rest;
periods intended for feeding the child (after 3 hours for 30 minutes);
breaks due to the nature of work (for example, for professional computer users).

The lunch break is not part of the working time, so payment for this period is not made. It is understood that the employee is free to use such a pause in the labor process at his own discretion.

If the specifics of production do not allow time for lunch, such a break is included in working time.

Breaks during the 8-hour working day total population should not exceed 2 hours. The employer has the right to independently decide when exactly the employee can go on a break. All the nuances of the suspension of the work process are recorded in the internal documents of the organization.

Advantages and disadvantages of the 8-hour workday

The benefits of an 8 hour workday include:

work and leisure are easy to plan - everything is scheduled by the days of the week;
it is easier for the body to devote 8 hours to work than, for example, 12;
guaranteed rest on weekends and holidays;
it is easy for employers to exercise control over subordinates;
according to the standard 8 hours, it is easier to keep records for personnel officers and accountants;
there is no undue attention from the labor inspectorate.

The disadvantages include the following:

some subordinates employed in heavy production do not find it easy to work for such an amount of time;
if you need a personal presence in the office every working day, you need to spend time and money on the road;
8 hours of a standard working day most often coincides with reception hours in official institutions, therefore, in order to obtain various certificates, you have to agree with the management about time off;
if the nature of the work does not imply the possibility of postponing the unfinished process for the next day, there will be overtime (for the employer, these are additional costs, and for subordinates - a reason for dissatisfaction);
such a schedule, as a rule, does not suit creative people.

Since the times of the USSR, many organizations in our country have had an 8-hour working day. Scientists believe that this is the number of hours a day a person can work most efficiently and without harm to their health. A working day with such a duration is fixed in the internal documents of the organization. When establishing an 8-hour working day, management should proceed from the specifics of the area in which it operates. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the advantages and disadvantages of a standardized working day.

In a Swedish government-initiated nursing home, they conducted an experiment to get reliable data on how reducing working hours affects productivity. So, the nurses of this institution during the year worked instead of 8 hours a day - 6, receiving the same salary. The results showed that their productivity increased (one of the metrics - the number of activities with the wards - increased by 64%), they became more energetic, better care for the sick and, more predictably, their level of happiness increased by 20%.

The trend towards shorter working hours in Sweden extends not only to public institutions, but also to the private sector. The 6-hour working day is introduced here by both technology startups and representative offices of the largest international companies with a history, such as the Toyota service center in Gothenburg.

The Swedish baton is picked up in other European countries. So, a two-month experiment to reduce the working day was conducted at the British marketing agency Agent in early 2016, and here they also got positive results. And a British executive survey in April 2016 found that 6 out of 10 respondents believe that the introduction of a shorter working day will result in increased productivity.

The standard working week in Russia is 40 hours (with an 8-hour working day). The exception is some areas in which they work 4-6 hours a day, and this norm is enshrined in law.

1. Teachers, educators and university professors. The duration of the working day of teachers - no more than 6 hours, and weeks - no more than 36 (and for senior educators, except preschool institutions, - no more than 30). Such norms were established in connection with the strong nervous and mental stress of those who work with children.

2. Veterinarians. The working day lasts the longest for veterinarians who examine animals (6.5 hours), and the shortest, 5 hours, is set for those who disinfect and dispose of animal corpses, and for those who work at zoo plants, collecting poison from snake.

3. Doctors. A health worker must work a maximum of 39 hours per week. Some specialists work even less. For example, orthopedic dentists - 33 hours, doctors at blood transfusion stations - 36 hours, and in tuberculosis centers - only 30 hours.

4. Workers in the food and textile industries. Employees engaged in the textile industry, dressing cotton seeds, disinfecting raw hides, washing wool, work no more than 6 hours a day. Livestock processing workers who receive bitter almond oils, rock salt miners, as well as producers of shag and some other products also work only 6 hours a day.

5. Workers in the extractive industry. Those working in the mountains and mines, oil and gas producers and those involved in some other industries also have a reduced 6-hour working day. For metallurgists, in most cases, the working day also lasts 6 hours (for example, in the production of lead or gold, in smelters), but for some workers who come into contact with mercury, only 4 hours.

6. Builders. Working with asbestos, fiberglass, in damp tunnels, building the subway, a 6-hour working day is laid.

7. Working in hazardous industries. In the production of glucose, glass, batteries, thermometers, paper and in many other areas where you have to deal with substances harmful to humans, the working day will not last more than 6 hours.

8. Power industry. Those involved in cleaning boilers, loading fuel and insulating work need to perform these difficult duties for no more than 6 hours a day.

9. Transport. Many employees working for railway, on ships and in aviation, work lasts 6 hours a day, and for most subway workers (escalator handrail repairman, storekeeper, trackman, tunnel worker) - only 5 hours.

10 Chemists. In chemical industries, conditions are especially dangerous for human health, so for most specialists there is a 6-hour working day. But if you decide to work with yellow phosphorus, mercury, purification Wastewater or produce ethyl liquid, it will take only 4 hours a day.

At the end of the 18th century, in order to bring maximum benefit, factories had to work almost non-stop. Therefore, people worked 10-16 hours a day. But a man named Robert Owen started the 8 o'clock movement. His motto was:

8 hours of work, 8 hours of recovery, 8 hours of rest.

It didn't take long for Henry Ford to actually introduce the 8-hour day and change the standards.

Ford Motor Company in 1914 not only cut the working day in half (to 8 hours), but also doubled wages. And, oddly enough, in two years the profits of the Ford Motor Company also doubled. Therefore, other companies decided to follow the example of the car manufacturer. So we got an 8-hour working day.

In general, it's not about scientific facts and experiments, but about profit.

How to Manage Energy with Ultradian Rhythms

It doesn't matter how many hours you put into work. What matters is how you manage your energy.

The Energy Project founder and CEO Tony Schwartz explains that humans have four types of energy:

Physical. How healthy are we?
Emotional. How happy are we?
Mental. How well can we focus on a task?
Spiritual. What is our goal? Why are we doing this?

And we constantly forget that we are very different from machines. Cars move in a linear fashion, while people move in cycles.

Therefore, a really effective working day should correspond to ultradian rhythms.

Ultradian rhythms are rhythms that last less than a day. Examples: concentration of attention, changes in sensitivity, sleep phases.

The basic idea is that our brain can be focused on one task for 90-120 minutes, after which we need a break of 20-30 minutes. This break allows you to renew energy reserves for the effective implementation of tasks.

Don't ask yourself what you can do in 8 hours. Ask the right question: “What can I do in 90 minutes?”.

If we know that we can work productively for 90-120 minutes, and after that we need a rest, we can build our work on a new schedule.

The basis of a productive day is focus on the task

It is equally important to understand how long we can focus on a task. Scientists have found that concentration has two stages:

Increased sensitivity. This means that you see the big picture or all the information that is given to you. Then you focus on what needs your attention, that is, brush aside everything superfluous.
effective selection. And now you are considering the task in more detail, highlighting individual segments in it. And that allows you to enter what is called the flow state.

Figure A shows a brain working on a single task. We can separate what distracts us (the blue triangle) from what is really important (the yellow triangle).

Figure B shows how our brain works in mode. In this case, it is easier to distract us, and important tasks are mixed with those that just came to hand.

In general, in order to work really effectively, we must do one task at a time and, if possible, remove everything that can distract us.

How to increase productivity

You can start with four simple changes that will allow you to structure your workday and improve your results:

Increase the urgency of the task. Many find it difficult to focus on a task, especially when time permits. But the speed and quality of work increase if a person limits himself to certain deadlines and indicates a reward for the result.
Divide your work day into chunks of 90 minutes. Do not think how much you will have time to do before 18:00. Think about how many working segments you will need to solve a particular task. As a result, it may turn out that to complete the standard amount of work, it takes not 10, but 5 hours.
Make sure you actually rest during your breaks. Often we are so busy planning the working day that we completely forget to add to the schedule. During breaks, you should completely disconnect from work! You can have a snack, take a nap, do light exercises, relax and listen to music, meditate. Do whatever you want, just don't switch to another work task.
Turn off notifications. This is a rather interesting step that can really help, if not improve performance, then at least remove irritants. Turn off all notifications about new messages and letters, not only on the computer, but also on the phone. Stop worrying and fussing. If you're waiting for a letter from work, you'll be checking your mail anyway. If it doesn't matter to you right now, why bother?

That, in fact, is all. Only four simple advice which are not that hard to follow. And after that, you may find that your time is rubber, and tasks that used to take 5-6 hours now fit well into 4 hours.

Let's start with the lessons of history. At the end of XVIII - early XIX century, the working day in enterprises ranged from 14 to 16 hours. Moreover, both children and adults worked in this mode, and plants and factories worked around the clock. This is the time of the industrial revolution. It was then that Robert Owen, an educator and philosopher, began to actively promote the restriction on the use of child labor, and then he came up with the idea of an 8-hour working day, motivating this approach by the uniform distribution of the time of day: 8 hours for work, 8 hours for sleep, 8 hours for recovery, i.e. rest. It should be noted that his idea of distribution did not receive, as well as support from employers. It is not difficult to explain this: the benefit was primary, and upon closer examination of the rationalization proposal, it turned out that people would work less, which means that the profitability of the business would fall. Even Owen's apparently successful experiments did not save the situation, confirming the advantages of his proposal.

Owen's 8/8/8 idea was applied in 1914 by Henry Ford at his Ford Motors factories. The innovation was very risky. In fact, Ford reduced the number of working hours, while maintaining wages, which in practice meant doubling it. But at the same time, he was able to double the profit of the enterprise!

Today, one can admire Henry Ford's concern for his employees, but in fact, he was not driven by philanthropy at all. In 1926, Ford, in an interview with World's Work magazine, explained the real reasons for abandoning the old system and moving to a five-day, 40-hour work week. He said that in a growing market, it is necessary to give people free time and the financial ability to buy and use consumer goods, which included the cars it produced. In fact, part of the money was automatically returned to his own enterprise.

It should be noted that this approach to organizing the workflow has also become a huge competitive advantage for Ford as an employer. The best workers went to get a job with him.

Such clear success of Ford Motors became a model for other industries, which also began to introduce the 8-hour work day. Gradually it became the standard. In Russia, this standard was introduced by one of the first decrees of the Soviet government.

So, there are no explanations for the 8-hour working day from the point of view of science, by and large there are no biorhythms. Unless, of course, one does not count Owen's experiments a century and a half ago. Maybe it is worth revising the accepted standards in terms of efficiency? Moreover, the changing economic realities are clearly pushing for this.

Efficiency and time

Work longer or work more efficiently? This is not a dilemma. There are different types of work activities that require, accordingly, a different approach. It is obvious that, for example, for a night watchman or a concierge, the main parameter of efficiency is "serving" the necessary time at the workplace, that is, a banal presence at work. But most specialties require completely different competencies, and the effectiveness of the staff is measured by the tasks performed.

I must say that literally 20 years ago, the workflow was seriously different from the current one. The development of the Internet and software has made its own adjustments to the effectiveness and speed of work. Some actions either completely lost their meaning, or began to take many times less time. E-mail, communication of computers over the intracompany network, mobile communications, the availability of information on the Internet, the availability of data processing programs have eliminated the need for offline contacts between people, moving around the city, and even business trips. As a result, there was a separation of departments and structures within the company.

Let's take an example. If earlier reporting, information, planned calculations were transferred between departments and subdivisions of the company exclusively on paper, now it has been reduced to pressing a button to send an electronic message or entering data into electronic databases. Thus, a huge amount of time and human energy was released while maintaining the length of the working day! It remains an open question whether the volume of human work tasks has been significantly increased?

If we compare the work of a machine and human activity, there is one significant difference. The machine works linearly, the man - cyclically. For a process when a person observes and controls the operation of a machine, a mechanism, an 8-hour working day is quite good. The car does not get tired, does not switch attention, does not depend on biorhythms. And the man? Often, when an employer tries to increase the productivity of a subordinate, he automatically, without hesitation, bets on lengthening his working day. But numerous studies have already confirmed that the amount of work done in 8 and 10 hours does not differ significantly, however, as well as the number of tasks solved in 6 and 8 hours. So what is the efficiency of the worker?

Human biorhythms

It's no secret that people have different biorhythms. Opposite types are called "larks" and "owls".

At the same time, it is believed that any “owl” can be converted to comply with accepted standards. From childhood, "owls" are raised in Kindergarten, then to school, and then they have to adjust to a standard working day. "Owls" sway around noon, after which their business and brain activity peaks. Do you think this “disease” can be cured with a regular daily routine? Unfortunately, most often not.

The division of people into "larks" and "owls" is genetic. The discovery of the "internal clock gene" was made relatively recently, in the last decade. At the same time, in "larks" the internal day lasts 24 hours and even a little less, in "owls" they are 25-26 hours ("delayed phase of sleep", in scientific terms), this is the reason for the differences between periods of sleep and wakefulness. It is for this cycle that the above gene is responsible.

"Larks" easily wake up in the morning before the alarm goes off, they never wake up at the beginning of the working day, but they are completely unable to stay awake in the evening. This type of behavior is called "hereditary extended sleep phase syndrome."

Table 1 describes internal biological clock"larks". If we are talking about “owls”, then you will have to shift all time parameters by 3 or even 5 hours ahead.

Table 1

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The standard requirements of the modern working day are adjusted to the typical "larks", for them working from 8.00 to 17.00 (or from 10.00 to 19.00) is comfortable and, in principle, they could even come to work before 8.00.

“Owls”, on the other hand, when they come to the office by the beginning of the working day, they remain half-asleep for several hours, pumping themselves up with coffee. That is, it is not necessary to talk about their effective work. Meanwhile, according to statistics, 44% of women and 37% of men are exactly “owls”! This means that almost half of the company's staff, having come to work at the required time, spend a few more hours (or, to be more precise, up to a third of the entire working day) not at all on solving problems, but on a senseless struggle with their own biorhythms. At the same time, most of the "owls" are accused of laziness only because they are not able to concentrate during those hours when "the business world is active." However, the point here, as you already understand, is not laziness.

Owls are often much more efficient workers than early risers. After ten hours of wakefulness, the concentration of attention in the "larks" sharply decreases, in the "owls", after a similar period without sleep, it remains for quite a long time. high level. That is, the productivity of these two types differs precisely in terms of activity in different time days.

The modern approach to planning the working day of the office, unfortunately, does not take into account such a feature. different people. At the same time, the efficiency of solving problems sharply decreases.

Ultradian rhythms

Let us recall the cyclical nature of human life, including working capacity. Rhythms lasting less than a day are called ultradians. The most studied rhythm that forms the structure of sleep is the alternation of REM and non-REM sleep. But absolutely the same rhythm is subject to fluctuations in the working capacity of a person during the period of wakefulness. The cycle of such fluctuations is from 90 to 100 minutes. What does it say? On one task, the human brain can be focused from 90 to (maximum) 120 minutes. Then you need 20-30 minutes to rest or change the type of activity.

If you use this feature of the brain correctly, you can significantly increase the efficiency of work. There is another significant point. When solving any issue, it is desirable to avoid multitasking. Maximum productivity achieved with:

solving one problem within 90-120 minutes,
then switching to 20-30 minutes for less important issues,
and then re-inclusion in the previous task, or switching to a new volumetric problem.

In such a rhythm, the abilities of the brain are used to the fullest extent. If, however, the biorhythms of the individual are also taken into account, then this is an ideal organization of management by goals.

"List of Happiness"

By the way, there are studies that track the level of happiness of an individual. Here is what makes a person happy every day:

a small number of work questions,
the opportunity to work on an important task for the company,
enough time to sleep
creative tasks,
focused work
time to spend with family and friends,
sports,
healthy food.

Agree that the management of short tasks in accordance with ultradians and biorhythms is fully consistent with this “happiness list”.

Short tasks and long-term goals

Carrying out management by long-term goals and planned indicators, we are trying to ask ourselves the question of how long an employee is actually able to solve a particular problem. But as the famous joke says, "I will solve this issue in two hours within two weeks."

Most workers have no desire to increase their productivity, so they “prolong the fun” and instead of starting work right away, they put it off until later or take too long. This is due to many factors, including mental traps of consciousness, the presence of other important things, the inability to plan, fatigue, multitasking. This is exactly what the principle of management by short tasks struggles with. Let's explain its essence.

The manager sets short tasks for subordinates, the solution of which takes about 90-120 minutes, respectively, the subordinate solves 3-4 such tasks per day, for which he reports. Mail browsing, tea drinking and smoking breaks fall into 20-minute periods between 100-minute periods. It can be argued that not all departments of the company can implement such a principle, however, if you analyze it more closely, it turns out that in most activities it is more than realistic.

Adjusting to a new rhythm takes some time, but the efficiency is worth it!

Six or eight?

Recent studies by physiologists and psychologists show that with the maximum increase in the efficiency of using working time, a person is able to work productively 5-6 hours a day. For example, in Sweden and some other European countries, companies are actively moving to a 6-hour working day while maintaining wages and the amount of work performed. At the same time, the efficiency of the enterprise itself not only does not decrease, but even increases.

According to the proponents of this approach, a person is not able to focus on completing tasks for 8 hours. He begins to intersperse work with other activities, often meaningless and even more tiring.

All leaders of organizations that have implemented a 6-hour working day system note an increase in employee enthusiasm. This is due to the fact that they leave work not “squeezed out like a lemon”, and therefore the next day they go to work with more motivation. There is also a decrease in the number of conflicts in the workplace and an increase in the level of life satisfaction in general.

As in the case of Henry Ford's innovative proposal for its time, the 6-hour work day is a competitive advantage over other employers. Employees who feel an increase in free time do not want to change jobs.

So, the advantages of a 6-hour working day include an increase in concentration on the work performed, an increase in motivation, an improvement in the climate in the team, and a progressive performance.

And for employers in difficult economic realities, this may be a reason for a proportional reduction in salary. Only it cannot be reduced along with the length of the working day for those who are used to getting and working more. It is better to start applying this approach to newly hired workers. Those who wish will be found! Because family circumstances are different for everyone, and this mode of work better allows you to combine personal life with a career. Then the mode of working hours for the organization will remain the same, and for the “experimented individuals” its specifics can be prescribed in the employment contract. Such a smooth transition will help you save on the payroll, while maintaining or even increasing the efficiency of your activities, and at the same time find the “pros” and “cons” of this approach, the possibility of docking “standard” workers with those who have a shorter working day.

Biorhythmic work day

So, the 8-hour working day does not meet the criteria of economic and personal efficiency in the new conditions. What are the options for getting out of this situation? Their mass, it is possible, for example, to combine management of short tasks with a biorhythmic working day.

To understand which biorhythmic type an employee belongs to, relevant questions should be included in the job interview plan. It also becomes necessary to fill out tests for belonging to "owls" or "larks".

The working day is divided into 3 different modes. For departments dominated by internal work processes, 2 shifts of 6 hours are being introduced:

the first mode for "larks" - from 7.00 to 13.00 without a break for lunch. At the same time, workflows are divided into tasks: from 7.00 to 9.00 - one internal task plus a 20-minute coffee break, from 9.00 to 13.00 two more tasks (internal or external) with a break between them. Thus, during the working day, the employee solves 3 short tasks;
the second mode for "owls" - from 13.00 to 19.00 without a break for lunch. From 13.00 to 15.00 (lunch time in most companies) - one internal task and a 20-minute break, from 15.00 to 19.00 - two more tasks and a break.

The third mode is designed for departments that are dominated by external workflows, communication with other organizations tied to a standard working day. They remain the same, 8-hour mode.

Significant "pros"

Now about the advantages of this system. The first everyday stress of any resident of a metropolis is the way from home to work in traffic jams or in crowded public transport. Even before the start of the working day, a person receives not only stress, but also significantly spends the emotional, mental, physical energy that he could spend on work. Far fewer people go to work by 7.00 than by 9.00. And this means no traffic jams and crowding in public transport, saving nerves and reducing the likelihood of being late.

Adjusting to biorhythms guarantees an increase in labor efficiency, but among other things, in the period from 7.00 to 9.00, you can achieve complete monotasking, since distractions are minimized at this time (the phone will not be distracting, and email notifications can easily be ignored). Thus, during the most productive hours for the “lark”, he will work, and not stand in a multi-kilometer traffic jam.

For "owls" also there are many advantages. They don't have to overcome the morning stress of waking up. They come to work in an active state and perform tasks at the most productive time for themselves, and then, at the end of the working day, they can afford dinner, going to a night session in the cinema, or any other comfortable nighttime pastime (the possibility of a long morning sleep allows this).

With an 8-hour work day, having a mid-lunch break “pulls out” additional productive hours of work. In addition to a whole hour for lunch, you need to take into account the decrease in efficiency before the break (at least 10 or even 30 minutes before the start, employees begin to prepare for it), and then the same period after - to be included in the work. Thus, in fact, it takes not an hour for lunch, but 1.5-2 hours, which are paid by the employer. Wouldn't it be easier to officially reduce working hours by 2 hours, while receiving a decent amount of bonuses in efficiency?

In addition, the use of multi-mode (two shifts of 6 hours) allows, by reducing the working day of individual employees, to increase the time of the enterprise as a whole. If, with an eight-hour working day, the company operates from 8.00 to 17.00 or from 10.00 to 19.00, then with two shifts of 6 hours, this time can be increased to a 12-hour working day. It should be noted that this scheme is very convenient when working with clients from cities located in a different time zone. With this approach, the competitive advantages of the company increase significantly.

For those who think the 6-hour day is new modern society Let's say that at the time when Henry Ford introduced the 8-hour working day, Will Kellogg introduced 4 shifts of 6 hours at his enterprises, keeping wages at the same level. Thus, the company worked around the clock, and Kellogg created many new jobs and reduced costs. By the way, it was 1930.

Another advantage of this system is that employees have to a minimum the need to take time off from work to resolve personal issues, whether it's going to the doctor or visiting government organizations. The presence of almost half of the working day as free time allows the employee to dispose of it at his own discretion.

It is impossible not to note the benefits in terms of finding employees. The 6-hour working day is convenient for families with small children. This is an opportunity to spend more time with the child, take him to various sections and circles, and do homework together.

An indisputable advantage for a person is the fact that he finds part of the daylight hours (whereas with a standard 8-hour working day, he spends daylight hours in the office). It has been proven that a lack of sunlight leads not only to depression, decreased immunity, but also to weight gain and even diabetes (with disruptions in sleep and wakefulness). For the head of the new mode of operation will mean a reduction in the number of paid sick leave.

By the way, if we talk about the biorhythmic mode of operation (recall that this is not only a division into “owls” and “larks”, but also ultradian rhythms), then it has a positive effect on health, increases the overall emotional background, and restores working capacity.

If an innovative working day is introduced at the enterprise, it is ideal to combine it with management by objectives. To do this, management will have to revise the goal-setting system in the company, streamlining short tasks to ultradian rhythms, and set KPIs for these goals. A one-time reformatting of work processes to biorhythms will significantly increase the productivity of the staff. In addition, the freed time can be recommended to employees to use for training and improving competence.

Any turning point in the economies of countries is a requirement to be more flexible and abandon the classic business schemes. New time aims at customizing relationships with both clients and own employees to increase efficiency, motivation and, ultimately, business profitability. The incentive for managers to apply the biorhythmic work system is to use the maximum potential of the employee at the peak of his activity, as well as to reduce costs and downtime.

I remember exactly that in LiveJournal there was already a post on this topic in the TOP and you probably know the answer, how and why we now have an 8-hour working day. But today I was asked such a question, but I really could not remember the circumstances of this.

I started searching the Internet for information about this and suddenly found that half of the sources mention a completely wrong version. And I just remembered that she is completely well-known and probably you know her as popular.

Let's take a look at this issue in more detail, and you will check yourself if you were not trapped in a fake ...

If you start googling this topic, the most popular version will be something like this:

"8 hours of labor per day for the first time in the history of mankind in 1914 was offered to his workers by Henry Ford, the founder of the automobile industry in the United States of America. Other industrialists considered such an act madness and believed that Ford's mind was clouded. However, time has shown - the brilliant entrepreneur Henry Ford did not lose here either - the profit of his company doubled with the new working hours! Employees got the opportunity to have more rest, which automatically added strength to them for more effective work. Ford's example became contagious - the standard of the 8-hour working day spread throughout the world."(proof)

Not? Do you know this version?

And now here's how it really happened.

To the universal reduction of the working week to 40 hours, we all owe, first of all, to the socialist movement in Great Britain, so hated by British politicians and industrialists to this day.

The development of industry in England required a large number workers as labor productivity remained low. Therefore, at the end of the 18th century, not only men and women worked in English enterprises, but also children - parents preferred to send the child to the factory so that he would bring at least some income than go to school in vain. The work shift lasted 10-16 hours a day, and working conditions and wages were equally low.

In 1810, the famous English socialist Robert Owen established a ten-hour working day for employees at his New Lanark plant. Seven years later, he went to a new reduction in the working day - up to 8 hours. Owen even came up with a special slogan: "8 hours of work, 8 hours of fun and 8 hours of rest."

A series of socialist (later - trade union) strikes in Great Britain and France, which swept through these countries and their enterprises in the first half of the 19th century, forced the authorities and industrialists to agree to a reduction in work shifts - up to 8-12 hours for English children and women (1833) and up to 12 hours for all French workers (1848).

In his work Das Kapital, the ideologue of socialism Karl Marx wrote - "Excessively long working hours in capitalist production not only impair the productivity of workers, depriving them of the very possibility of normal moral and physical development, but also cause premature exhaustion and death of these same workers."

By the way, Labor Day and May Day, celebrated in many countries of the world, are dedicated to the long-term and successful struggle of workers for an eight-hour working day. May 1, 1886 was declared by the Federation of Organized Trade and Trade Unions as the first eight-hour working day. Of course, the authorities and industrialists were not going to introduce an 8-hour shift - the trade unions responded to this with a large-scale demonstration, in which more than 350 thousand workers took part simultaneously in several cities in the USA and Canada. Despite the active attempts of the authorities to suppress mass demonstrations of workers, strikes and demonstrations continued throughout the following years until the introduction of an eight-hour shift.

In Asia, the first country to legally establish a 40-hour work week and an 8-hour work day is India. The eight-hour clock has been operating in this state since 1912.

The first country on the European mainland to legally establish an eight-hour working day for all professions was Soviet Russia. In 1917, only four days after October revolution, the corresponding Decree was issued Soviet government. In most European countries, the 8-hour work shift was established in 1919 - after a series of multi-day trade union strikes that paralyzed the economy, in which hundreds of thousands of workers participated at the same time.

Group black-and-white photograph of the labor collective of one of the Soviet enterprises. Original. Good condition, corners slightly worn. The photo was taken presumably in the first half of 1928 on the occasion of the transition of the organization to a 7-hour working day, as evidenced by the corresponding inscription on the wall. The artifact can be considered unique - they tried not to advertise such photographs after Stalin returned the country an 8-hour working day and a seven-day working week in the summer of 1940.

In the US, the struggle of the working class for the eight-hour shift lasted especially long. The US Congress, under pressure from workers and employees, in 1868 passed a draft law on eight hours for employees of federal services, but President Andrew Jones first imposed his veto on the bill, and later, when his veto was overturned, agreed to sign it only on the condition of a 20% reduction in wages wages of workers - they will work less.

At the beginning of the 20th century, some American trade unions - mining, construction and printing industries, achieved for their members the reduction of the work shift to 8 hours while maintaining wages. But millions of other US workers and employees still worked 9-10 hours a day.

In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt actively used the slogan "an eight-hour day for all Americans" in his campaign, but he "forgot" about his promise shortly after moving to the Oval Office of the White House.

An unexpected step was taken by Henry Ford, founder and owner of the Ford Motor Company. On January 5, 1914, he changed the labor agreement with the staff of his company, reducing the working day from 9 to 8 hours and, which was generally unthinkable by the standards of any American industrialist, at the same time raised wages from 3 to 5 dollars per shift. Ford was ridiculed by automakers, but time proved him right - experienced mechanics from all over the country went to work at the Ford Motor Company, which allowed him to dramatically increase productivity and double his profits in just two years.

In 1915, another wave of strikes swept through the cities of the United States demanding an eight-hour day of work. In 1916, the Adamson Act was passed in the United States, establishing an eight-hour day with overtime pay, but only for railroad workers. It was not until 1937 that the United States passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which adopted an 8-hour work shift (40 hour week) with overtime bonuses.

The last civilized continent to adopt an eight-hour day is Australia. Local unions were able to secure the adoption of a new labor law only in 1947, with its entry into force on January 1, 1948.

So why eight?

It's no secret that a person's sleep and wake patterns change not only under the influence of external factors (such as the same annoying alarm clock or sunlight breaking through the curtains), but also due to the work of the suprachiasmatic nucleus - a cluster of neurons in the hypothalamus, which, in its turn, stimulates the production of hormones by the pineal gland, another brain structure. The coordinated work of this system allows us to alternate between activity and sleep modes, even in conditions where it is impossible to determine what time it is on the clock. For example, when conducting scientific experiments or in extreme conditions, when people were cut off from the outside world, they continued to go to bed and wake up approximately according to the same schedule as in ordinary life: the duration of the “individual” day only slightly lengthened, reaching 30, sometimes up to 36 hours. However, about 8-10 hours were still allotted for sleep: the body did not need more. If the orientation in the change of day and night was simplified due to the ability to observe sunrises and sunsets, most adults went to bed 4-5 hours after sunset, and woke up 1-2 hours after sunrise, thereby approaching the usual mode for all of us. : getting up around 7-8 in the morning, going to bed - at 11-12 in the evening.

Of course, let's not forget about chronotypes: individual predisposition to physical and intellectual activity in different parts of the day. However, “owls” and “larks” are not a personality characteristic, but a physiological feature that can change throughout life. So, children and the elderly usually wake up easier in the morning than adults. And those who, due to the nature of their work, have to get up early or go to bed late for many years, often retain this habit even after the need for a strict schedule disappears.

However, modern scientists are not sure that the working day should necessarily begin at 9 am and continue for the entire prescribed period with a single lunch break in the middle. As mentioned above, as they grow older, the peak of working capacity shifts to the evening hours, therefore, in accordance with the latest recommendations of experts, a delayed start of labor activity is optimal: for example, from 10-11 am. You also need to remember about ultradian rhythms: unlike circadian rhythms, they are responsible for short-term physiological changes, which include changes in concentration during the day. It is for this reason that none of us is able to work with the same productivity for several hours in a row.

Hence, all sorts of progressive techniques that return us to school timetable: 45 minutes of work followed by 10 minutes of rest (or a ratio of 90 to 20 minutes). Moreover, it is important that the rest takes place away from the "machine" - be it a computer, a car steering wheel or a microscope. Of course, if you are a surgeon or an opera singer, then interrupting in the midst of the work process will be problematic, but for most of us, the schedule allows for some changes.

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