Rethinking work

We have spent months discussing “changing the productive model”. We hear it on the radio, on the television, we read it in the press, we say it time and again in our blogs… I’m not sure if from so much talking I am clear on what we want to change so I will try to be less ambitious and limit myself to (re)consider some aspects of work, beyond the dream of working for google.

• Working day: Practically all positions in existence and on offer talk about an 8 hour day. Is this necessary? Is it the same to spend 8 hours a day doing physical and intellectual work? Don’t they have different fatigue elements (physical some and intellectual others)? If each job is a world, the days should not always last the same amount.
• Productivity: Moving on from the hours, do all employees work with the same intensity? If one worker is capable of doing X work in a day and another is capable if 2X, shouldn’t the second worker work half as long to produce what is required, that is, X?
• Timetable: Due to conformity (I assume) we have decided that all companies, businesses and therefore all employees arrive and leave at practically the same time. This causes, especially in large cities, huge traffic jams on roads making us travel squashed up by train or bus. It is true that public transport can be greatly improved but is it necessary for the whole world to have the same timetable? I’m not talking about all companies but surely some of them could for example, start at 10-10.30a.m. At that time of day, circulation is relatively fluid and their employees save time and money. Also, if many people did it, traffic jams would also be reduced.

Read more of this article (in Spanish) here!