Working hours, productivity – and gender

A really interesting paper by Briony Harris from the World Economic Forum shows how reducing working hours can lead to increased productivity.  The first point that struck me is that the will-writing company that forms the initial case study employs 200 people - just how many wills do Kiwis need written?  The second, more significant, point is that the company simply chopped a day off the staff's working week without reducing pay or conditions and got the same results from them, with far higher levels of job satisfaction and staff commitment. The paper goes on to look at the relationship between working hours and productivity across a whole range of countries.  It notes…
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