Document: WM-005                                                 P. Webb
Category: Life                                                2017.01.25

            The appeal of the Swiss and Swedish work life

Abstract

   Living to work versus working to live.

Body

   I recently read an article[1] about Sweden’s six-hour work day and
   was fascinated by it because here in the States, it’s more about the
   quantity of hours you put in, it’s not about the quality of the
   work you put in (FWIW, that seems to be changing in start-up land).
   Henry Ford famously tested the eight-hour work day with his factory
   employees, but it’s 2017 now. Do we really need to continue
   the trend?

   To quote[2] Magnus Bråth of Brath, a tech company in Sweden
   (emphasis mine):


   We also believe that once you’ve gotten used to having time for
   the family, picking up the kids at day care, spending time training
   for a race or simply just cooking good food at home, you don’t want
   to lose that again. We believe that this is a good reason to stay
   with us and not only because of the actual impact longer hours
   would make in your life but for the reason behind our shorter days.
   That we have shorter days is not the main reason people stay with
   us, they are the symptom of the reason. The reason is that we
   actually care about our employees, *we care enough to prioritize
   their time with the family, cooking or doing something else they
   love doing*.
   
   A third huge reason for shorter days is that we all feel more
   rested. Obviously we too have to stay late at times, obviously we
   too are stressed at times but it’s from a better base line. Working
   late at our two offices often mean staying for 8 hours, or 7.
   Think about it, when mom comes home late, she comes home at 5.



   In the linked article at the top of this post, the six-hour work day
   experiment ended because it was too expensive for the nursing home it
   was tested in. Nurses were more alert and as a result, *care and
   happiness amongst those being cared for increased* drastically.
   However, more nurses were hired to provide overlap for shifts. As
   countries become more wealthy, I think the benefits will outweigh
   the costs.

   I look forward to implementing a similar system when I am able to
   hire people for Ideas Never Cease[3]. Better maternity / paternity /
   grief leave as well! A previous employer didn’t seem to give a damn
   while I was grieving over my miscarried daughter Zoe Elise and that
   added to the hurt, immensely. I don’t ever want to make someone
   else feel the way I felt, it sucked. My grief was getting in the way
   of your false deadline on a project for your still breathing
   family member? Whoops, my bad. 🙄 But I digress.

   Chantal Panozzo wrote a great article for Vox[4] detailing her life
   in Switzerland and the amazing adjustment from American work life.
   Here are a few choice quotes:


   In Switzerland, you don’t arrive to a meeting late, but you also
   don’t leave for your lunch break a second past noon. If it’s
   summer, jumping into the lake to swim with the swans is an
   acceptable way to spend your lunch hour. If you eat a sandwich at
   your desk, people will scold you.
   
   Lunchtime is sacred time in Switzerland. When I was on maternity
   leave, my husband came home for lunch to help me care for our
   daughter. This strengthened our marriage. Many families still
   reunite during weekdays over the lunch hour.
   
   Swiss law mandates a 14-week maternity leave at a minimum of 80
   percent pay.
   
   People in Europe took vacation seriously. Once, when I only took
   10 days for a trip to Spain, my colleagues chastised me for taking
   so little time off. I learned to take vacation chunks in two-week
   intervals. Well rested, I noticed that I felt more productive and
   creative when I returned to work. Recent American research[5]
   confirms what I was feeling: Relaxing can make you
   more productive[6].



   I could continue, but you get the gist.

   With self-imposed deadlines, I find that I am more creative in my
   problem-solving and often find better solutions than if I was working
   on problems without a time-sensitive goal attached. I believe the
   same thing would be applied to a shorter work day. A six-hour work
   day would also discourage long meetings without focus (well, long
   meetings period). I don’t see big American companies making these
   quote drastic changes but startups? Hell yeah, definitely. Instead of
   focusing on "perks" like beer on tap, foosball tables, and game
   systems, &c, why not focus on improving the lives of your employees
   so they can make dope shit?

   Happy employees will reward you with their absolute best work.
   Simple. 🕸