Cyclope-Series Team Blog

Many businesses are cutting back their employees’ work hours because of the economic recession. Some businesses are having all employees take one paid day off every pay schedule; others are working a Monday-Thursday schedule and still others are shortening the work day. Whatever the method, the end result is that there are fewer hours in the week to get things done in the office. This is having an interesting impact on the productivity at many offices. While some productivity is lost because of fewer working hours and because of the negative working environment that this creates, many businesses may discover that productivity during working hours is higher than before the cuts were made.

There are two core reasons that business productivity may be higher as a result of decreased hours in the work place. The first reason is that employees perceive that they have much less time available to them to complete the same amount of work as they did before. This means that they will put in an extra effort to get everything done, possibly working harder than they had in the past. Additionally, there is the motivation of fear; many people are worried that the cutbacks are just a start and that layoffs are to follow. In the interest of keeping their jobs, these people will work harder than before to prove their worth in the office.

Unfortunately, both of these motivating factors may be short-term situations. As workers adapt to the shorter work week, their stress levels will decrease in regards to their perceived amount of time to get the job done. They will naturally resume taking their old coffee breaks and surfing the web instead of working. At the same time, fear can only motivate employees for so long before it turns the working environment into one that is highly negative. Negativity in the office place tends to decrease productivity.

Some businesses may already be seeing signs of that as a result of the cutbacks in hours. Employees may be spending time at the proverbial water cooler griping about the fact that they don’t have enough money because of the cutbacks. This negativity causes people in that environment to stop wanting to contribute to the overall good of the business and therefore decreases productivity. When fear stops motivating these employees, the result will be lower productivity in the office space.

Businesses that find themselves in the position of needing to cut back hours to keep employees will want to be aware of these issues. It is important to maintain a positive working environment. Keep the lines of communication open. Make sure that you’re giving positive feedback to employees who maintain productivity. Try to create a situation in which everyone feels that they’re working together to get through these tough times rather than fighting each other for the hours that are left. This should allow the business to get through the recession without losing productivity.

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