Working shorter hours could make you more stressed
THE STUDY FOUND THAT A REDUCTION IN WORKING HOURS HAD NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON OVERALL JOB AND LIFE SATISFACTION
Even the thought of working overtime is enough to send most people’s stress levels into orbit, but unlikely new findings claim your boss could be doing your health a favour by increasing your hours.
Scientists claim that people who work a short working week could suffer more stress than colleagues who toil for longer.
The study found that a reduction in working hours had no significant impact on overall job and life satisfaction
Researchers in Korea looked at happiness levels among individuals and families who worked different number of hours.
It followed South Korea’s recently introduced fiveday working policy, which banned work on Saturdays and reduced the official working week from 44 to 40 hours.
The policy was brought in to enhance living standards, boost the country’s weak leisure industry and reduce the negative effects of excessively long working hours, which had increasingly lead to low productivity and high rates of industrial injuries. Researchers said the natural experimental setting of the five-day working policy provided an unbiased look into how working hours influenced the wellbeing of workers.
They claimed it was the first study of its kind to assess the impact of a reduction in working hours on the wellbeing of individuals and families.
Study author Dr Robert Rudolf found that working wives and mothers are generally more pleased with the reformative measures than their male counterparts. This is because women face higher work-family role conflicts within the traditional Korean society and suffer more from long overtime hours.
Even though full-time workers, and women in particular, are generally thankful that their work week was cut by four hours on average, it has had no significant impact on their overall job and life satisfaction. This is because much of the positive spin-offs gained from fewer working hours are often offset by rising work intensity demands set by employers, while some firms tend to give less holiday time.