Picking Your Work Hours Could Pick Up Your Spirits
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iStock/Thinkstock(LOUGHBOROUGH, England) — Choosing your occupation is one thing. Choosing the number of hours you work is an entirely different matter altogether, which may not be in your power.
However, Andy Charlwood, a professor of human resource management at Loughborough University, says if workers did get to pick the amount of hours they spent on the job weekly, it would improve their spirits and probably their performance.
In studying the working-time patterns of 20,000 adults over 18 years, Charlwood and his team discovered that over half of those working 50 hours or more weekly and 40 more percent working 40-to-49 hours preferred to put in fewer hours.
The obvious drawbacks of being overworked, according to Charlwood, are deterioration of life satisfaction as well as added stress.
Ultimately, he says that “government and employer policies need to give workers greater flexibility to choose the hours that they work.”
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