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Reduce working hours 'to boost productivity'
HR News |
13/01/2012
As the UK aims to tackle high rates of unemployment, business leaders and the government should consider reducing working hours, it has been claimed.
Juliet Schor, professor of Sociology at Boston College, said many western economies including the UK are going to be "out of balance" for a long time.
"We are in situations of chronic unemployment and under-employment and I don’t think we are going to be able to get out of it by old fashioned Keynesian pump priming," she stated.
Prof Schor said austerity economics are making the situation worse, meaning there is a need to consider alternative methods to reduce joblessness.
She claimed that working hour reductions have "a long history" of successfully leading to lower rates of unemployment.
"What progressive reductions in working hours financed by productivity do is allow a society to take some or all, depending on its choices, of its economic dividend of the productivity growth that it generates, and use it to give people more leisure time rather than more income," Prof Schor added.
She described this as "growth of a different sort", noting that nations within the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development have been doing this for 150 years.
Starting from today, employers should consider progressively reducing working hours, the expert said.
She cited the example of the Netherlands, where such a policy was implemented in 1980.
The Dutch began a 15-year project to alter the look of the working week, long enough to have a limited, if any, impact on real wages.
"They used their productivity growth to reduce hours of work," Prof Schor noted.
"The country ended up with highest labour productivity in Europe, very low unemployment and very high quality of life. That’s the way you do it."
According to Hilary Jeanes, leadership coach and human resources consultant at PurpleLine Consulting, employers may also be able to improve productivity by establishing clear and open lines of communication with staff members.
She noted that business leaders need to recognise the different needs and expectations of individual employees, and tailor their management approach accordingly.
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