VIEWPOINT 3/2020 Business Spotlight 37Fotos: privat; iStockphoto, william87/iStock.com
VIEWPOINT
IT’S PERSONAL“Britain’s long-hours
culture is nothing to be
proud of”
Sorgten arbeitsbedingte Störungen im Urlaub in den
1970er Jahren noch für Empörung, gilt ständige
Bereitschaft in der Freizeit heute oft als ganz normal –
sehr zu Lasten von Familie und Gesundheit.ADVANCEDPLUSalways-on
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, hier: immer online
bottom line
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, Unternehmens-
ergebnis, -erfolg
break [breIk]
, Pause
cottage
[(kQtIdZ]
, hier: Ferienhausintrude into sth.
[In(tru:d )Intu]
, etw. stören
literally [(lIt&rEli]
, im wahrsten Sinne des
Wortes, buchstäblich
macho
[(mÄtSEU]
, machohaft
no-brainer
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, etwas, worüber man
nicht lang nachdenken mussquote sb. [kwEUt]
, jmdn. zitieren
talking point
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, Gesprächsthema
trade union
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, Gewerkschaft
trading floor
[(treIdIN flO:]
, Börsenparkett
umbrella [Vm(brelE]
, hier: Dach-ELISABETH RIBBANS
is a British
journalist and
editorial
consultant.Á
Contact: eribbans@O gmail.com
n a family holiday in the 1970s,
my father received a call from
the office. I have no idea how
they reached him at our rented
cottage in Cornwall, but — ac-
cording to my mother, who was
not pleased — the event was
a talking point among their
friends for months afterwards. “Do you
know that they actually interrupted him
on HOLIDAY?!”
Today, for many, it would be remarkable
if work didn’t intrude into a vacation. Our
“always-on” culture means it takes great
discipline not to check emails or texts
in the evening, at the weekend or on the
beach. According to research carried out
by Microsoft UK published last October,
56 per cent of us have answered work calls
while out of the office.
Combine this with long working hours,
and the result is stress, home life under
pressure and the risk of burnout.
In the UK, full-time employees work
some of the longest hours in Europe — an
average of 42 hours a week. Yet, according
to a 2019 analysis by the TUC, the umbrel-
la organization for trade unions, the effort
is literally counterproductive. It found
employees in Germany worked 1.8 fewer
hours but were 14.6 per cent more pro-
ductive. In Denmark, which has the EU’s
shortest working week, productivity was
23.5 per cent higher than in the UK.
As the TUC general secretary, Frances
O’Grady, said: “Britain’s long-hours cul-
ture is nothing to be proud of.”Statistics may be subject to variables, but we all know people
who work far beyond what is good for them: the lawyer who
goes home only to sleep, or the nurse or doctor working 12-hour
shifts with nowhere to rest or buy food during breaks.
Concern over long working hours has reached that most ma-
cho of places: the trading floor. London’s Stock Exchange, like
many other exchanges in Europe, is open for eight hours a day,
with traders typically working several hours beforehand or af-
terwards. In the US, by contrast, exchanges are open for six and
a half hours, while in Japan it is just five.
The Investment Association and the Association for Finan-
cial Markets in Europe (AFME) are now urging European ex-
changes — including the Deutsche Börse — to reduce their
opening hours by 90 minutes. They believe it will help address
“significant mental health issues” and improve diversity. As
AFME’s April Day was quoted saying: “It’s hard to find childcare
at five o’clock in the morning.”
Knowing that long hours are bad for human health, happi-
ness, safety, talent and the bottom line should make change a
no-brainer. In response to the proposal to cut trading hours,
however, one market commentator told London’s City A.M.
newspaper: “If the heat in the kitchen is too hot, get out.”
Now, you can either see that as the perfect solution or a per-
fect illustration of the problem.+ PLUS
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