20-Hour Work Week - Want to work less?

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:45:00 GMT

www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2140512,00.aspEweek.com has an interesting article on the effects of generation gaps in today's workplace:

From Gartner: The 40-Hour Workweek Era Is Ending

"The additional pressures of an aging population and skills shortages will lead to the adoption of digital free agency and flexible work structures as social, political and business necessities."

The effect of these changes will be felt throughout the employment life cycle. Organizations will be forced to redefine existing roles as well as craft new ones based on what can be realistically achieved in half the traditional workweek.

The report suggests that rather than adopt a draconian measure of cutting in half the working hours of all employees, employers that create 20-hour job descriptions will be in the best place to attract and retain the most qualified workers.

"The 20-hour-per-week job description is a relatively simple way of addressing a growing problem without radically restructuring well-established management models," said Prentic.

I know this sounds very radical, especially if you are currently slogging through a death march project right now, putting in 60 or 70 hours a week. However, I do see Gartner's position on this fitting in well with the passing of defined benefit pension plans, one week vacation benefits, and five-year vesting in company benefits.

Ten or more years ago I saw the emergence of "flexible work" or "job sharing" targeted mostly at females with young children. Some companies pulled it off, but most managers were Traditionalists or Early Boomers and treated these workers as workers-lite, instead of valuable professionals who needed some other work model for their current situations.

As a business owner, I can't imagine only working 20 hours a week, but I could definitely see it as a pre-retirement or even life long retirement strategy. My current work model is to engage in a project, pour my entire life into for a few months or years, then take time off for my work-life balance. I can do that, though, because I have few daily family obligations.

In my work with organizations hoping to recruit and maintain a Gen M, X, or Y workforce, I could see the revision of standard work weeks as a key solution to the generation gap between those still stuck in 1975 and those entering the workforce in 2005. Life and work have changed... organizations haven't and they are paying for it with their younger, technical workforce.

Is your organizaton making changes to recruit and retain workers under the age of 35? Over the age of 55? Anyone else?

Karen Lopez: Musings on Data, Process, and Architecture

20-Hour Work Week - Want to work less?