In Germany, the 8-hour shift is the standard on the labor market. An established model that continues to be very popular with employers. It is not up to date and certainly does not make sense in terms of the cost-benefit factor. We explain why in this article.
How productive are we really?
The industrial age is long gone. Digitalization has ushered in and sealed the end, moving us forward into the age of services.
This also means that the conditions under which the work is carried out are changing. Eight hours of continuous productivity was probably only a dream in the minds of employers 200 years ago. However, it is now clear that this is just an idea that does not correspond to reality.
According to a study conducted in the UK, we actually don’t even work productively for 3 hours a day. We spend the remaining 5 hours or so taking breaks, talking to colleagues or using social media. This also includes one or two activities that serve the job but are not productive.
In principle, 8 hours of productive working time is not feasible. People are not machines that carry out their work in a fixed cycle. People get tired, sick, are distracted, have better and weaker times throughout the day.
At the end of the day, only a fraction of the 8 hours is actually used productively. The “popularity” of the 8-hour shift therefore does not reflect the benefits.
Interestingly, this fact is largely ignored, although employers in particular should be interested in adapting working hours to more modern systems. After all, they are the ones paying the employees for the 8 hours, of which only a few were productive.
The problem with shift work
Ergonomics deals with the advantages and disadvantages of different working time models. This also includes the 8-hour shift.
The 8-hour shift poses certain problems from an ergonomic point of view. For example, it is difficult to implement the ergonomic recommendations for shift work.
Particular attention is paid to the start and end times of the respective shifts. Ergonomics recommends that the early shift should not start “too early” and that the night shift should end “as early as possible”. This already shows the problem that the 8-hour shift entails.
The direct transition between shifts means that there is a fixed time at which the night shift ends and the early shift begins. From an ergonomic point of view, this time is either too early for the early shift or too late for the end of the night shift.
As a rule, the shift system is organized in such a way that the shifts start and end at 6 a.m., 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. respectively. So the night shift ends late. If you were to move everything forward, the early shift would start very early. An unsolvable problem in the 8-hour shift.
The rest period problem
Another problem with shift work at 8 hours can be compliance with rest periods. By law, employees must have at least 11 hours of rest between each work shift. However, this is not always easy to reconcile with the 8-hour shift.
If the night shift lasts until 10 p.m. and the morning shift starts at 6 a.m., no direct shift change can be planned for an employer. So basically, one shift always has to be skipped in the planning or the weekend – if no work is done on it – has to be used for the transition. It can quickly become difficult to draw up a correct shift plan, especially when employees are absent due to illness. Or during the vacation season, when many employees are on vacation.
With an alternative working time model, these disadvantages could be avoided and planning made easier.
You can be sure that the timecard has the right system to enable you to record your employees’ working times even with a new working time model.
Conclusion
The 8-hour shift is no longer up to date in many sectors and should be replaced by a more modern model if possible. A changeover like this certainly doesn’t work overnight, but small steps can lead to success and a big step into the service age.
