ARE WE WORKING OURSELVES SICK?
The way we work is constantly in the news, and the emerging picture isn’t positive; our hours, approach and even the layout of our offices is damaging our emotional and physical health. Is it time for an appraisal?
WORDS LAURA POTTER
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
WORK LIFE
British employees claim the most sick leave in the world – 23.3 million days a year, that’s 15 days each, with stress, depression or anxiety accounting for 9.9 million days. But interestingly, our best performing sectors, like tech, average just 3.4 duvet days. Almost all trendy tech companies offer flexible working, boast swanky offices with gyms, pool tables and free food, and put on regular social events for staff. So should they be the business blueprint?
One hotly debated aspect is the number of hours we put in; the average UK working week is 43.6 hours, which is eight hours and 40 minutes a day. When Swedish researchers reduced the working day to six hours, without cutting pay, employees were happier, more productive and profits rose (partly thanks to fewer sick days). Here in the UK, the Faculty of Public Health have said a four-day week would combat the rising tide of stress, while the think-tank New Economics Foundation (NEF) suggested that a 20-hour week would be optimum. Anna Coote of NEF, says: ‘We need to think again about what constitutes economic success: Are we just living to work, and working to earn, and earning to consume? There’s no evidence that making shorter working hours as the norm leads to a less successful economy: quite the reverse.’