More Hours = Less Work
This law in South Korea will reduce the maximum hours per week worked from 68 to 52. Businesses are concerned this will decrease their competitiveness.
However, research shows the returns of working longer hours aren’t linear, and, in fact, past a certain point, people become less productive and effective than if they worked fewer hours. In addition, workers who have better work-life balance are more satisfied with their jobs, and satisfaction leads to greater productivity. In all, this is a win-win.
How many hours a week are you expecting from your people? What about during “crunch times”? (Did you know that after two weeks of crunch time, productivity actually shrinks? In fact, your workers will become less productive than they were before the longer working hours. And, if you continue to not acknowledge the hardship, you will push your workers away – either to new jobs or to “quit and stay”, where they allow you to keep paying them while they work less and put less effort into their work.)
Your teams are about more than their jobs with you. Find out what drives them and what their dreams are. This will help motivate them – and give you more productivity – than assigning longer working hours.
In fact, how can you decrease their working hours? What would be their ideals for a better life-work balance? You may be able to afford it through maintained productivity/output during those shorter hours or through pay cuts. (Yes, some people would take a pay cut in order to stay with you and work fewer hours!)