The New Work Normal: Breaking Free from the 9-to-5 Constraints

The days of employees continuing in their same field, frequently at the same employer, until retirement are long gone. Living the ideal nowadays means more than just retiring after thirty years; it means figuring out how to work forty hours a week, becoming an influencer and earning a commission, or using a laptop and Wi-Fi hotspot to log in from the beach.

A large majority (81%) of professionals in the Glassdoor community said “they would be more productive if their company implemented a four-day workweek, while only 19% disagreed”. Today’s workers are reimagining a new way of work rather than a mundane way of work. Some believe that it is important to work less than a 40-hour week, and some believe that it’s about working differently.

How it started and progress

While instances of the eight-hour workday can be traced back to the American Civil War, Henry Ford is mostly acknowledged for having popularized the idea. Ford introduced the eight-hour workday in his plants in 1914, paying employees $5 for an eight-hour shift. In 1926, he solidified the five-day, forty-hour workweek as a cornerstone of Ford culture.

Several industries found success with the 9–5 workweek for a long while, but the internet marked the beginning of the end. A 24-hour cycle was required of businesses due to the widespread availability of internet access. For instance, newspapers used to be printed once or twice a day. Reporters may have rushed out in the middle of the night to cover breaking news, but their work was not required to be published until the next print deadline. There is now a never-ending competition to find who can report something first. Similar to this, retailers are pursuing round-the-clock fulfillment and customer care to satisfy client demand.

What are the factors that affect the 9–5?

To carry on working outside the office before the Internet, employees would need to make phone calls to one another. These days, the idea of after-hours is entirely hazy since teams can instantly share ideas via text, email, or apps like Slack, eliminating the awkward social awkwardness associated with phone calls. Covid-19 was, for a lot of workers, the last straw. Working from home whenever and wherever possible has become essential due to the pandemic. This technique has also resulted in record profits for the largest corporations. Further, it shatters the misconception that workers must be in an office together.

Monitoring outcomes rather than hours

If working forty hours a week isn’t a guarantee of success, then what else is there? Conclusions. The results-first strategy was used in 2008 by the Dallas-based tax firm Ryan. This implies that some employees work fewer than twenty hours a week and that they are free to begin their days whenever and wherever they choose. In every way, the transfer has proven successful. After Ryan made the switch to a more adaptable structure, his income increased, customer happiness skyrocketed, and turnover fell. This showcases that adapting some mandatory changes will lead to more productivity for employees.

Final thought: There are always different amounts of employees that work better in the morning. Some are night owls and some work with their family around. The work and productivity are more important than the specific period to showcase employee dedication and work ethics. If an employee can work better than the 9-5 paradigm then the company should provide such opportunities to them. It definitely led to some wonderful work.