On a family holiday in the 1970s, my father received a call from the office. I have no idea how they reached him at our rented cottage in Cornwall, but — according to my mother, who was not pleased — the event was a talking point among their friends for months afterwards. “Do you know that they actually interrupted him on HOLIDAY?!”
Today, for many, it would be remarkable if work didn’t intrude into a vacation. Our “always-on” culture means it takes great discipline not to check emails or texts in the evening, at the weekend or on the beach. According to research carried out by Microsoft UK published last October, 56 per cent of us have answered work calls while out of the office.
Combine this with long working hours, and the result is stress, home life under pressure and the risk of burnout.
In the UK, full-time employees work some of the longest hours in Europe — an average of 42 hours a week. Yet, according to a 2019 analysis by the TUC, the umbrella organization for trade unions, the effort is literally counterproductive. It found employees in Germany worked 1.8 fewer hours but were 14.6 per cent more productive. In Denmark, which has the EU’s shortest working week, productivity was 23.5 per cent higher than in the UK.
As the TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said: “Britain’s long-hours culture is nothing to be proud of.”
Statistics may be subject to variables, but we all know people who work far beyond what is good for them: the lawyer who goes home only to sleep, or the nurse or doctor working 12-hour shifts with nowhere to rest or buy food during breaks.
Concern over long working hours has reached that most macho of places: the trading floor. London’s Stock Exchange, like many other exchanges in Europe, is open for eight hours a day, with traders typically working several hours beforehand or afterwards. In the US, by contrast, exchanges are open for six and a half hours, while in Japan it is just five.
The Investment Association and the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) are now urging European exchanges — including the Deutsche Börse — to reduce their opening hours by 90 minutes. They believe it will help address “significant mental health issues” and improve diversity. As AFME’s April Day was quoted saying: “It’s hard to find childcare at five o’clock in the morning.”
Knowing that long hours are bad for human health, happiness, safety, talent and the bottom line should make change a no-brainer. In response to the proposal to cut trading hours, however, one market commentator told London’s City A.M. newspaper: “If the heat in the kitchen is too hot, get out.”
Now, you can either see that as the perfect solution or a perfect illustration of the problem.