“Time is the framework of events”, one of my most admired mentors taught me; we humans cannot understand life-in-action unless we wrap it with Time. Still, one further step into this enchanting concept makes us realize that Time does not only wrap the events of our lives, but also drives our behavior in one way or another.
“Time is the framework of events”, one of my most admired mentors taught me; we humans cannot understand life-in-action unless we wrap it with Time. Still, one further step into this enchanting concept makes us realize that Time does not only wrap the events of our lives, but also drives our behavior in one way or another.
Taking an average human being who is living a relatively stable and regular life as an example, and reflecting on his relationship with Time, one can notice that the majority of events in this person’s life are actually driven by the Clock hanging on the wall or the watch around his wrist! 6.00am, time to wake up; 6.30 am, time for breakfast, 7.20am, time to leave the house; 8.00am, time to punch in at work; 10.45am, time for a coffee break, 1.00pm, time for lunch break; 5.00pm, time for punching out, etc. All are behaviors that become triggered by time, less by a conscious decision.
One of such behaviors – mentioned above – is a behavior that relates to a specific hour; an hour in time that probably mobilizes the biggest number of people simultaneously all over the Globe; it’s 8.00am! Marking the beginning of ‘working days’ in Businesses, Schools, Governments, Markets, Courts, and others, 8.00am is the hour that sends hundreds of millions of people out of their homes rushing through a ferocious daily epic of traffic, congestions, and accidents to arrive on time – and in many instances late – to a Workplace that retires to be a bundles of extremely tense nerves!
I’ve always looked at 8.00am as a trouble maker, and today I wanted to grab the opportunity to put it to trial from a Business perspective. Why would private sector firms want to start their working days at 8.00am? What sense is there in such a decision? What made ‘8’ the queen of ‘Start your working day’? Is there a rationale behind it? I would not like to go into answering these questions, that is, if I can; rather I’m eager to highlight why it sounds significantly irrational for private Businesses to start their working days at 8.00am.
To draw the rules of the game, I am keen to clarify that I am aware of all the market and social dynamics that put 8.00am at the center of attention; Schools need to deliver 6 to 7 hours of teaching a day and kids need to be back home as early to prepare their studies and go to bed early; Banks, Governments, Armies all need to stick to a specific global discipline that runs the gears of national economy; Hospital, Hotels, and Factories mostly do not go to sleep, hence they refer to shifts and schedules.
Still, with all the above in mind, it continues to seem irrational that Businesses who are not directly affected by the above dynamics need to begin their days at 8.00!
8.00am (specifically during school time) means that one has to wake up at 6.00am get the kids ready for school get himself ready, put the kids on the Bus (that almost never misses), or otherwise drive the kids to school, then rush speeding to the office to be there before the HR Department’s clock starts deducting from his salary!
On the way to the office, both married and single employees go into a fusion of indefinite traffic that causes all types of tension and nervousness. Traffic and congestion are natural magnets for trouble; people in traffic become tenser, feel entrapped and helpless, get irritated by the thought that they will be late for work, or for an appointment, and will have to bear the consequences. All this builds into an accumulation of negative and defensive feelings that are ready to explode the moment it comes in contact with a stimulant. A car accident (even bumper to bumper accidents can lead to explosions), switching lanes, taking turns, landing on a parking space are all stimulants for morning explosions outside the office. If you do not buy me on this, ask an Industrial Psychologist!
Still, in the same context, what is more dangerous is that tension triggered by 8.00am might – and will probably – carry on to the workplace. Employees arrive to the office after a long fight among metal boxes their nervous system is alarmed, their neurons are exhausted out of excessive focus in the traffic jam, and their concentration needs a 30 minutes Yoga session to calm down, clear out, and become ready to produce; on certain days when the traffic dose if extremely high, you would be lucky if employees do not start a fight among each other or with a Client.
It is a very simple equation; assuming that a company with 100 employees loses an average of 50 hours a day for employees to settle down and regain their concentration and composure after traffic. That is equivalent to more than 6 working days each day (based on an 8-hours working day); i.e., every day this 100 employees company would be losing 1 working week of production, i.e.5 production weeks in 1 working week, i.e. more than 20 production weeks in 1 months!
Is that alarming enough? Wait until you add the cost of mediocre customer service and problems with clients due to early morning tension.
Bottom line, I do not mean to exaggerate this dimension of the working life; I do not mean to propose a direct solution as this is determined per the needs of each company; some might choose to refer to flex time, some might choose to start earlier than all other businesses, still, some might refer to more innovative techniques like working from home! Regardless of all this, what I’m just highlighting is that maybe it is time for businesses to start looking deeper into the impact of daily workplace rules – like starting at 8.00am – on their employees, yet, most important on their business productivity, costs, and other associated relational risks.
Just a thought!