Thanks for all the great comments on my last post on The Cult of Overwork.
It’s clear from the comments that:
- The Cult of Overwork is alive and well. Waaaay too many businesses still equate number of hours worked with productivity.
- This is hurting people!
In one comment, Jorge Bernal linked to a great presentation titled The Rules of Productivity, which you absolutely must read. Not only is it clear and concise, it also cemented my belief that overwork is generally bad for productivity. With graphs! I love graphs!
A few of my favorite takeaways from the presentation:
- Crunch weeks deliver a brief increase in productivity but you need recovery time right after or productivity plummets.
- When overwork becomes the norm, people think they’re more productive. They aren’t.
- Knowledge workers should only work 35 hours/week.
- There is plenty of empirical data from research into productivity.
- One of the main proponents of the 40-hour work week was Kellogg’s. Not out of idealism but because it increased productivity for them.
- Graphs!
Go check out The Rules of Productivity presentation. Now :o)
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