Health Benefits Of Reduced Working Hours At Individual Level

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Abstract

Despite the fact that we are living in a fast-paced world with cutthroat competition in the corporate sector, it is imperative that businesses adopt best-practices which can help them take care of the needs of the employees and that of the organization by extension. This research established that part-time employment enables employees strike a balance between working and having a social life. Such social life has both mental and physical health benefits which ultimately translate to high productivity per hour.

Health Benefits of Reduced Working Hours at Individual Level

Introduction

In the fast-paced corporate world where competition is becoming tighter with each passing day and financial and operational pressures continue to mount at an ever increasing rate, business entities find it increasingly pushed to the wall to keep up with the challenges, survive and stay relevant. Being able to compete effectively and sustainably is the lifeline of any business. With the increasing customer demands which are becoming more and more complex with each passing day, companies must expand their production to meet these demands. Moreover, the complexity demands that companies go an extra mile in product research, design and development. Therefore, there is a temptation for companies to stretch their workforce with the hope that they will increase their productivity and meet their customers’ demands but most importantly, remain competitive. On the same value, such an approach may seem sensible and plausible. The assumption is that working for more hours ultimately translates to increased productivity and that is why many companies presumably prefer full-time employees to part-time employees. Full time employees ideally work for long hours and this can translate to high productivity. However, there is more to high productivity at the workplace than just staying behind the office desk for at least eight hours a day. There is a difference between staying at work the whole day and actually being productive. Moreover, the effect of such extended office time on the health of the employees must be evaluated (White et al. 2003; van Emmerik & Sanders, 2005).

The definition of part-time and fulltime varies across geopolitical areas and also between companies. What may be considered as part-time in the United States may not constitutionally be defined as so in Australia or even the United Kingdom. The same also goes for fulltime employment whose definition is dependent on the geopolitical area; it may even vary depending on the policies of companies sharing the same geopolitical zone. However, the International Labor Organization (ILO) considers being employed to work for less than between 30 to 35 hours a week as part-time while working full-time is ideally working for at least 35 hours a week. But in countries such as the United States with strong labor laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) leaves the definition of full-time employment in limbo; an ambiguous labor relations issue who definition is derived from the definition of part-time employment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the benchmark for the definition of working part-time to working between 1 to 35 hours a week. It is from this that inferences can be made and the definition extrapolated to define full-time employment. However, full-time or part-time, ILO laws and conventions demand that all employees are treated equal. But it must be noted that each type of employment come with different benefits with full-time employees enjoying greater benefits compared to their part-time counterparts. Moreover, either type can be for various reasons with productivity levels being one of the defining factors.

Health Benefits of Part-Time Employment

While it can be tempting to increase the working hours considering the production needs of the company, there is little guarantee that this will lead to high productivity. And with the corporate world adopting a more participatory and partnership based approach towards human resource management, the welfare of the human capital has become a very critical issue towards organizational success. At the forefront of every successful human resource management and development is the health of the employees. The working conditions and hours must not in any way put the life of the employees in danger. Healthy employees are more productive and more cost effective to manage compared to unhealthy. It is a costly affair to the organization, in the form of litigations, and to the employees alike. And this is why many organizations and employees have opted for part-time employment. It aims at molding the employment model around the employees’ lifestyle or needs. It is a corporate management that has been employed by small and large businesses either on a consistent basis or deepening on various factors including production needs of the company, customer demands or even the financial position of the organization (Weeden, 2005).

One of the most prevalent lifestyle diseases affecting workplace productivity and the global society in general is obesity and overweight. One of the primary causes of obesity and overweight is living an inactive or sedentary lifestyle with little or no time for physical exercise. Extended work-time with little free time to engage in physical exercise is one of predisposing factors to obesity and being overweight (WHO, 2013). By and large, human beings are social animals and give time and space, most of them socialize. Such space and time can only be given to within a part-time work system where they can have ample time away from work and engage in productive social activities including physical exercises which can go a long way in improving their health lifestyle. Employees working on a part-time basis are better placed to find time to socialize even during the week as opposed to their full-time counterparts who primarily look forward to weekends or even leave time to socialize. Socialization goes a long way in improving not only improving physical health but also the mental health of the employees. Part-time employees can let off steam almost on a daily basis; they have low mental and physical fatigue levels. Lonnie Golden, in a research paper prepared for the ILO on labor conditions and settings, notes that shorter working hours have “physiological benefits(less physical or mental fatigue)” which might ultimately “spark productivity-led growth” as such good physiological health translates to “more [productivity] per hour” (Golden 2011, p. 6).

Golden (2011) further notes that shorter working hours aims at helping the employees strike a balance between their personal and professional life. Having a balanced life especially for employees with families is imperative for the development of interpersonal skills of the employees. Moreover, it gives them a peace of mind that is required to be productive. Essentially, this means that part-time employees are less distracted by their personal lives which tend to intrude into professional life. An employee with more stable family life is bound to have good health as he or she is free from stress, depression and anxiety which are some of the causes of obesity and other health conditions. Moreover, they are less likely to be engaged in drug and alcohol abuse which may cause serious health problems other than leading to low productivity (Tucker & Rutherford, 2005). In conclusion, part-time employment has a wide ranging health benefits to the individual employees. It helps them strike the much needed balance between their personal and professional lives which is a key step towards having a healthy social lifestyle while also building a healthy environment around them in this fast-paced world.

References

Golden, L. (2011). “The effects of working time on productivity and firm performance: a research synthesis paper.” International Labor Office: Geneva. Conditions of Work and Employment Series No. 33.

White, M. et al. (2003). “’High-performance’ Management Practices, Working Hours and Work-Life Balance”. British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 175-195.

Weeden, K.A. (2005). “Is there a flexiglass ceiling? Flexible work arrangements and wages in the United States”. Social Science Research, Vol. 34, pp. 454-482.

van Emmerik, I.J.H. & Sanders, K. (2005). “Mismatch in Working Hours and Effective Commitment”. Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 20, No. 8, pp. 712-726.

WHO. (2013).“Obesity. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/topics/obesity/en/

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (n.d.p.). “Labor force characteristics: Full- or part-time status.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Division of Labor Force Statistics.

ILO. (n.p.d.). “Part-Time Work Information Sheet.”International Labour Organization

Tucker, P. & Rutherford, C. (2005). “Moderators of the relationship between long work hours and health”. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 465-476.