In 2013, Oxford University employees predicted that 47% of jobs would be automated over the next 10 years. In 2019, unemployment in most developed countries reached a record low, and experts started talking about a shift in trends towards providing people with “good” jobs. This, in turn, raises concerns that now the welfare of the workforce will be determined by zero labor contracts, according to which the employer will not give employees any guarantees regarding their permanent employment.
Experts examine the impact of working week duration on a person’s mental state
A person with a job has some psychological advantages over an unemployed person. His self-esteem rises, he participates in social life. But the question arises: "Is there a limit when these benefits are depreciated?" Should we have a “good” job, or is it better to do any job?
A new study by the University of Cambridge aimed to determine if there is a minimum number of hours at which the advantage of having a job materializes.
Benefits of having a job
The experts examined data from a long-term study of households in the UK, the purpose of which was to determine the effect of the number of hours people spend at work on their mental health and overall satisfaction with life. Between 2009 and 2018, more than 70 thousand inhabitants of Great Britain took part in the experiment. As a result, it was found that the presence of work directly affects the improvement of a person’s mental health.
Even if a person works less than hours a week, he is 30% less likely to have mental health problems. It is curious that there is no big difference between the levels of satisfaction with their lives for those who spend 8 hours a week at work and those who have a 40-hour work week. Thus, the authors of the study believe that from the point of view of ensuring a normal psychological state, it is enough for a person to work 8 hours a week.
Researchers say: “We have detailed guidelines for dosing everything from vitamin C to hours of sleep to make you feel good. We know that unemployment causes enormous damage to mental health, adversely affects character, ability to manage free time and a sense of collectivism. Now, in addition to this, we have an idea of how much time you need to be in paid work in order to get psychosocial benefits from this. "
Work is a matter of choice
Many people have an incredibly long work week. This, in fact, does not increase productivity. This information poses the challenge for researchers to determine the optimal working period in terms of primarily labor productivity.
A longer working week has a number of negative consequences for human health. This is an increased risk of heart disease, and stress, and anxiety. A legitimate question arises: how useful or harmful to health is this level of workload that we are experiencing today?
The famous British economist John Maynard Keynes said that in the future we will have enough free time, and work will be more a matter of choice, rather than necessity.
Cambridge researchers actively support the idea of reducing working hours: “In the near future, we will all become witnesses that artificial intelligence, huge data arrays and robots will replace most of the work done by people. If there is not enough work for everyone who wants to work full time, we will be forced to review the current standards. This means that working time will be redistributed in such a way that each of us can benefit from our mental health, even if everyone in the aggregate has to work less. ”
Short work week
What will the general state of affairs look like when everyone will work much less per week? The researchers proposed a number of political ideas as an answer to this question: from a work week with 5 days off to a significant increase in the number and duration of vacations. For example, for each month of work, two months of vacation may be provided.
Not surprisingly, researchers see the balance between work and personal life, increased labor productivity and reduced traffic flow to and from work as the benefits of this approach.
At the same time, there are certain risks. First of all, they are associated with a huge difference in income for those who work full time and those for whom it is reduced. According to researchers, for this reason, the issue of reducing working hours should be prescribed at the legislative level.