Two hundred years ago, a device began to dominant the world of work. No, not the
steam engine--the gadget was the clock. With the arrival of the factoy, people were paid
on the basis of how many hours they worked, rather than their material output.
In the "putting out" system that prevailed before the factory era, merchants would deliver
cloth to be woven, spun, stitched or cut to a worker's home. Each worker would then be
paid for the items they profuced. That gave the wavers and spinners freedom to work
when it was convenient At the factory, in contrast, worker were required by the owner to
turn up for a set shift.
The tyranny of time was marked by a number of innovations. As few workers owned
watches or clocks in the 19th century, people known as "knocker-uppers" would roam the
streets rapping on doors and windows to wake workers at the right time. Later, factories
would use hooters and whistle to signal the start and end of shifts, and employee would
punch in and out using a time clock. Eventually, as workers moved farther away from their
place of employment, the power of the clock led to daily rush hour, as millions headed to
and from work. Often they paid a penalty in terms of time wasted in traffic jams or
awaiting delayed trains.
The clock's authoritarian rule may at last be weakening. Flexible working existed well
before the pandemic. But it only offered employees the ability to choose when in the day
they worked their allotted hours. Remote working has brought a greater degree of
freedom. A survey of 4700 home-workers across six countries commissioned by Slack, a
corportate-messaging firm, found that flexible working was viewed very positively,
improving both people's work-life balance and productivity. Flexible workers even scored
more highly on a sense of "belonging" to their organisation than those on a nine-to-five
schedule.
It is hardly surprising that workers prefer flexiblity. Working a rigid eight-hour
schedule incredibly restricting. Those are also the hours when most shops are open, when
doctors and dentists will take appointement, and when repairmen are willing to visit.
Parents on a conventional routine may able to take their children to school in the
morning but are unlikely to be able to pick them up in the afternoon. Many families find
themselves constantly juggling schedules and giving up precious holiday time to deal with
domestic emergencies.
On reflection, it is also not too shocking that home-workers feel they are more
productive. After all, few people have the ability to concentrate solidly for eight hours
at a strench. There are points in the day where people are tempted to stare out of the
window or go for a walk; these may be moments when they find inspiration or recharge
themselves for the next task. When they do this in an office, they risk the boss's
disapproval; at home, they can work when they are most motivated.
Remote working is not possible for everyone, of course. There is a long list of
industries, from emergency services to hospitality and retail, when people need to
turn up to their place of work. But for many office workers, remote working is perfectly
sensible. They may maintain some fixed points in the week (staff meetings, for example)
but perform many of their tasks at any time of the day--or night. Office workers can now
be paid for the tasks they complete rather than the time they spend (which firms would
have to monitor by spying on people at home).
What is striking about Slack's study is the widespread nature of support for home-working.
Overall, just 12% of the workers surveyed wanted to return to a normal office schedule.
In American black, Asian and Hispanic employees were even more enthusiastic than their
white colleagues. Women with children were generally keen, reporting an improvement in
their work-life balance--though a gap exists between discontended American women and
those in other countries, who are much happier (the availability of state-subsidised
child care helps explain the difference).
Of course, the new schedule carries danger: people may lose all separation between work
and home life, and succumb to stress. To inject some human contact, companies may embrace
a hybrid model in which workers go into the office for part of the week. But overall
office-workers' freedom from time's yoke is to welcomed. The clock was a cruel master and
many people will be happy to escape its dominion.