The Eagle Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Sweden is moving to a six-hour working day in a bid to increase productivity and make people happier. Employers across the country have already made the change, according to the Science Alert website, which said the aim was to get more done in a shorter amount of time and ensure people had the energy to enjoy their private lives. Toyota centres in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city, made the switch 13 years ago, with the company reporting happier staff, a lower turnover rate, and an increase in profits in that time. Filimundus, an app developer based in the capital Stockholm, introduced the six-hour day last year. "To stay focused on a specific work task for eight hours is a huge challenge. In order to cope, we mix in things and pauses to make the work day more endurable. At the same time, we are having it hard to manage our private life outside of work." [...] Full article here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-introduces-six-hour-work-day-a6674646.html Here in Germany 7 and 7.5 hour work days (with full time pay) are not uncommon and since unlike in the UK here even for normal office jobs time spent at work is recorded (by clocking in and out) any overtime accumulated can be used for hours or days off in lieu. This means you really only work the hours you are being paid for, unlike in the UK where most people in office jobs do loads of unpaid overtime. I don't know how they do this is Sweden but if it's similar to how it's done in Germany then 6 hour work days really will mean 6 hour work days, not 6 hours plus loads of unpaid overtime like it is apparently in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 So they can get all that extra praying done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Eagle Posted August 16, 2016 Author Share Posted August 16, 2016 So they can get all that extra praying done? Wrong thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spunko2010 Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 If you want to work longer hours are you allowed? I find in winter working more keeps me sane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gardener Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 6 hour day. I'm in the office longer than that but I only do about 2 hours actual work most days. The rest of the time I do personal stuff like admin, researching stuff on the internet, shopping, showering, exercising, even napping, oh and drinking lots of tea. I usually come in an hour late and nip off 15 minutes early. I'm certainly not tripling my working hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Eagle Posted August 16, 2016 Author Share Posted August 16, 2016 I'm in the office longer than that but I only do about 2 hours actual work most days. Sounds like a dream job if you get away with that easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gardener Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Sounds like a dream job if you get away with that easily. 15 years and counting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Sounds like a dream job if you get away with that easily. I am sure there are lots of people who are tied to a desk that are not 100% productive all of the time they spend there.....I would not like that at all and would prefer to work 110% and go home early.......nothing worse that being tied to a place with nothing to do knowing that there is so much work I could be doing in other places.....what a waste of time/life. Very many work very hard, just they are not paid in money.....nevertheless they are still rewarded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gardener Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I am sure there are lots of people who are tied to a desk that are not 100% productive all of the time they spend there.....I would not like that at all and would prefer to work 110% and go home early.......nothing worse that being tied to a place with nothing to do knowing that there is so much work I could be doing in other places.....what a waste of time/life. Very many work very hard, just they are not paid in money.....nevertheless they are still rewarded. You are right, however it pays the bills (which I do in work time). I also eat breakfast at work, often shower at work, do most of my online shopping (and actual shopping), by being late and going early I effectively commute in work hours too. Essentially I try to fill my day with the stuff I would normally have to do in my own time at home.Today I am WFH and will be spending some time doing some plumbing as I've an outside tap to fix. Might head down the allotment later with my mifi device and fit in a bit of weeding/harvesting too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig_ Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I am sure there are lots of people who are tied to a desk that are not 100% productive all of the time they spend there.....I would not like that at all and would prefer to work 110% and go home early.......nothing worse that being tied to a place with nothing to do knowing that there is so much work I could be doing in other places.....what a waste of time/life. Very many work very hard, just they are not paid in money.....nevertheless they are still rewarded. Such as 95% of people who post on here during weekdays?* *myself included... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Such as 95% of people who post on here during weekdays?* *myself included... I don't do that. But today I have a day off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 6 hour day. I'm in the office longer than that but I only do about 2 hours actual work most days. The rest of the time I do personal stuff like admin, researching stuff on the internet, shopping, showering, exercising, even napping, oh and drinking lots of tea. I usually come in an hour late and nip off 15 minutes early. I'm certainly not tripling my working hours. Are you me ? Thing is - the people that pay me handsomely - seem to think I do a great job. I have come to the conclusion that most people that work in offices doing the sort of stuff I do must be ******ing useless at their jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Are you me ? Thing is - the people that pay me handsomely - seem to think I do a great job. I have come to the conclusion that most people that work in offices doing the sort of stuff I do must be ******ing useless at their jobs. Most people are merely adequate at their jobs and content to be so. It always baffles me, for example, that people spend thousands of hours using Excel and still can't use it properly. I think that there is a general "just enough" approach which means that people don't get any better, partly because there is no immediate incentive to do so. They are going to be at work however many hours a week and if they get more efficient they won't be able to home any earlier. Now short term that looks like a perfectly rational approach. Longer term though it means you don't get any better and will be stuck at that level for forty years. If you're lucky. Any kind of restructuring and the plodder who adds no value will be on the exit list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Most people are merely adequate at their jobs and content to be so. It always baffles me, for example, that people spend thousands of hours using Excel and still can't use it properly. I think that there is a general "just enough" approach which means that people don't get any better, partly because there is no immediate incentive to do so. They are going to be at work however many hours a week and if they get more efficient they won't be able to home any earlier. Now short term that looks like a perfectly rational approach. Longer term though it means you don't get any better and will be stuck at that level for forty years. If you're lucky. Any kind of restructuring and the plodder who adds no value will be on the exit list. Yep - I quite like to fiddle with excel and any other stuff I need to work with. Means I end up being seen as a bit of an expert in them - when I'm really not compared to people that can use them to their full potential. Does enough though - and I get a pretty cruisy life. Few weeks back boss of team and another bod were sitting getting very frustrated with a pivot table view that they just could not sort out. Asked me over and I realised they just needed to change it to tabular format and remove subtotals to give them the nice simple view that wanted to copy in to some senior manager pack. Probably would have taken them an hour easy to faff about with it and extract it out - format it and all. So I suppose I was very useful in that situation. Did only take me about 10 seconds though !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Mr CCC is an Excel miracle, despite being (allegedly) ginger and bald. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Mr CCC is an Excel miracle, despite being (allegedly) ginger and bald. The perfect combination !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Yep - I quite like to fiddle with excel and any other stuff I need to work with. Means I end up being seen as a bit of an expert in them - when I'm really not compared to people that can use them to their full potential. Does enough though - and I get a pretty cruisy life. Few weeks back boss of team and another bod were sitting getting very frustrated with a pivot table view that they just could not sort out. Asked me over and I realised they just needed to change it to tabular format and remove subtotals to give them the nice simple view that wanted to copy in to some senior manager pack. Probably would have taken them an hour easy to faff about with it and extract it out - format it and all. So I suppose I was very useful in that situation. Did only take me about 10 seconds though !! Though from their point of view that would have been a hour very well spent. It's only by the faffing around that we learn. My expectation with Excel is always "well it ought to be able to do that" so I poke about on the assumption that there is a way of doing it which is a far better way of learning than a day's course. This is far different to Word which, as well as being the devil's creation, is best taught on a course. I really didn't get paragraph and table formatting and don't think I would have done by just messing about with it. The other thing I often get given to help with is reports. People seem to have great difficulty with producing readable written English when describing financial outcomes and just descend into the pit of "a is broadly in line with budget, b is higher then budget due to overspend"; there doesn't seem to be any attempt to make it readable and possibly there is an incapability. I put it down to people not reading decent books anymore so not intuitively knowing how to structure sentences, bring in variety of language or even punctuate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CunningPlan Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Mr CCC is an Excel miracle, despite being (allegedly) ginger and bald. I have just managed to crack pie charts in Lotus 1-2-3 Can't get on with this new-fangled stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mooncat69 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I have just managed to crack pie charts in Lotus 1-2-3 Can't get on with this new-fangled stuff. 1-2-3 v 2.02 was the best version ever. I still have the original floppies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Such as 95% of people who post on here during weekdays?* *myself included... I am here less when it's sunny as I have an allotment to go and skive on too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spunko2010 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I took the afternoon off to sit in the garden. Such is the wonder of outsourcing to the third world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spunko2010 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Did try to get an allotment but all the decent ones are booked up or too far. I tried lying about where I live but they did a credit check! For an allotment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gardener Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Did try to get an allotment but all the decent ones are booked up or too far. I tried lying about where I live but they did a credit check! For an allotment!If you get one that's far away then you won't go often enough to look after it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Did try to get an allotment but all the decent ones are booked up or too far. I tried lying about where I live but they did a credit check! For an allotment! Fooking hell! How do they get away with that? There are virtually no waiting lists around here now even on the good sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Most people are merely adequate at their jobs and content to be so. It always baffles me, for example, that people spend thousands of hours using Excel and still can't use it properly. I think that there is a general "just enough" approach which means that people don't get any better, partly because there is no immediate incentive to do so. They are going to be at work however many hours a week and if they get more efficient they won't be able to home any earlier. Now short term that looks like a perfectly rational approach. Longer term though it means you don't get any better and will be stuck at that level for forty years. If you're lucky. Any kind of restructuring and the plodder who adds no value will be on the exit list. Not sure I fully agree with that. I've seen people who are crap get put onto other jobs, because someone else can do it faster; yet they can only do it faster as they've been doing it for years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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