Goodbye working nine to five, hello productivity

What if we could turn up to the office when we wanted and leave when we wished, but still produce the same amount of work as we do now? It may seem impossible – and it probably is for many industries – but some companies are offering flexible working hours in a bid to increase productivity.

One company throwing out the traditional nine to five model is web development agency Potato which, with no fixed working hours drawn up in staff contracts, allows staff to turn up and leave work whatever time they like – as long as the work gets done.

“At Potato we work on the basis that creative, complex work just doesn’t fit nicely into the nine to five mould, and the same is true for the 40-hour work week,” says its chief executive Jason Cartwright.

“Instead, we give our teams the responsibility of managing their time, believing that they are the best judges of the time that needs to be put in to achieve the best result on a project. By opening up the working day, we can cater to people’s workplace idiosyncrasies to let them do what feels right rather than what a company policy says is right. For example, not everyone is a morning person, but they might work well late into the night. In a nine to five model we’d lose at least half of their most productive hours.”

This argument is supported by Dr Simon Archer, reader in sleep genetics at the University of Surrey, who says that part of the population are morning people and some are evening depending on their internal body clock.

“In a way society is worse for evening people as they don’t want to go to bed early but they might have to get up early for their jobs. So what’s happening is they’re not getting enough sleep,” says Archer.

“They’re not lazy, it’s just their biology is shifted to a different time – and if they’re tired, they’ll be less productive. Everyone is different so there’s no single solution but flexible working hours is one good way to approach this, although that’s not always possible.”

The majority (94%) of UK organisations offer staff some form of flexible working, according to a report from the Institute of Leadership and Management.

New working models are being tested across the globe. In Tokyo, fashion chain Uniqlo’s parent company Fast Retailing is trialling a four-day week for some of its employees, enabling some staff to work 10 hours per day across four days in seven. Closer to home, Sweden hit the headlines after nursing home in Gothenburg moved to a six-hour day.

Back in the UK, Bristol-based communications agency Conversation Creation has been testing six-hour days over five days a week and eight-hour days across a four-day week for the past two months.

“I am absolutely convinced that we let work stretch out to fill the entire week at the moment but that actually we can juggle work around and condense it,” says owner Sam Espensen, who finds she’s most productive between 7am-2pm. “What we do know is that we really can work harder for shorter periods of time if we know there is a big fat carrot of an extra day off.”

There’s growing evidence that reducing working hours can have a positive impact on productivity, while Brits have said they would be more productive if they worked less hours. In a survey by YouGov, 56% of Brits said they would be most productive working up to seven hours a day. (The average working day is 8.6 hours based on a five-day week).

Ian Price, a business psychologist who wrote The Activity Illusion: Why we live to work in the 21st Century – and how to work to live instead, and director of team development consultancy Sales-Mind, believes the nine to five working day is out of date, but says there are pros and cons to moving it. “It’s healthy to have boundaries to compartmentalise work, but it doesn’t have to be nine to five; that’s something we’ve inherited from the manufacturing industry.” Price advocates a four-day week as long as it “doesn’t bleed into personal time” and advises workers to try and take regular breaks every 45 minutes or so.

“That way you’re able to stay in focus and just do one thing at a time. It allows you to concentrate more and avoid feeling fatigued and stressed.” He recommends the Pomodoro Technique, which involves setting a timer to break down work into short intervals followed by a break.

Anna Coote, associate director of social policy at independent thinktank the New Economics Foundation, advocates a move to a 30-hour week, believing a shortened week can have a positive social, environmental and economic impact. “On the social side, it can play a major role in gender inequality, not just women but also for men. It releases time for caring for elderly relatives and frees time for community action. Economically it can make people more loyal at work.”

However, Dr Christine Grant, associate academic head for psychological, social and behavioural sciences at Coventry University, believes that a shorter working day could be detrimental to some employees.

“Everyone has a different way of working,” she says. “For example, someone could be a conscientious worker who takes ages answering one email. It would help with work-life balance, but for those that struggle to manage their time and for roles that don’t have autonomy, it would be too restrictive.”

However much some of us may crave a shorter working day, Grant says for some companies it’s operationally difficult to offer flexible working. “Core business hours and certain roles do not lend themselves to it.”

But over at Potato, where there’s a sleeping pod and a hammock for naps, Cartwright says by striking a balance between freedom and guidance, “productivity is likely to improve, as people take advantage of the space they’re given in their respective roles and take greater personal responsibility for the success of a project.”

With a staff turnover rate of less than 5% (compared to the national average rate of 15%), Potato is arguably reaping the rewards of offering a rather unusual – yet innovative – approach.

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