Swedish People May Only Work 6 Hours Per Day

Swedish companies stated that there were only positive outcomes from a 6-hour workday, and that they may implement this practice nationwide.

Brath, a Swedish company specialized in SEO changed the working hours from eight to six for its 22 employees about three years ago.

After tracking the company’s productivity, they found that the employees were a lot more productive than in other tech start-ups. Maria Bråth, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Brath wrote on her blog that people need to spend more with their families, or just need some spare time for themselves, and that is why Barth offers shorter programs in order to show its appreciation for the employees.

“I think the eight-hour workday is not as effective as one would think. To stay focused on a specific work task for eight hours is a huge challenge,” stated Linus Feldt, CEO of the app developer Filimundus in Stockholm, Sweden.

Feldt says that with the new working program not much has changed in the way that people work, except for the fact that they are asked to avoid personal distraction, stay off of social media platforms, and take shorter pauses.

In Gothenburg, Sweden, employees at the Toyota Service Centres went from working nine hours per day, to working only six hours a day. This decision was taken about thirteen years ago. The employees continue to receive full salaries, the only difference being that the break times have been cut short. Before the change the Toyota Service Centres used to get a lot of complaints from unhappy customers, but that seized to happen after they changed the working hours.

A new study shows that nurses who work six hour a day can provide better care for the people in retirement homes, because the nurses get less exhausted when working for only 6 hours. Even though the costs are higher, many believe that it is worth the price.

In the past century, Sweden managed to reduce the working hours, let people retire earlier, and increase the holidays. Roland Paulsen, a business researcher at Lund University stated that even though all of these measures have been taken, the productivity has not dropped a bit. It has actually doubled over the past 40 years.

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