Here's why Singapore firms should not reward people for putting in more hours

By Michael Podolinsky

Productivity is pretty simple to improve. Do more in less time with fewer resources and you are being more productive. To please those who love complexity, "Productivity is a ratio between output volume (value of what is made) and input volume (labour plus capital expended)."

Unfortunately, understanding the simplicity of productivity is beyond the minds of many bosses. For some reason, they believe if they can just get their people to work longer and harder, productivity will increase.

They give them the workload of two or three people, expect them to be on the handphone when not at work (maybe even on vacation), have late night conference calls before or after work and then are amazed when productivity DROPS.

Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in 2015 reported Singapore's productivity is "well below" many developed countries. Yet Singaporeans put in more hours than workers in other countries in Asia... and the rest of the world!

Question: Does putting in more hours translate to increased productivity?
Answer: RARELY!

A myriad of studies teach us that putting in MORE HOURS rarely equates to ACHIEVING more.

Lessons from antiquity: The industrial revolution gave the world a 70-hour work week. Six days of 12-hour shifts left one out of every 11 workers at Carnegie Steel DEAD at work.

Henry Ford and other manufacturers began experimenting with work hours and productivity. After much research, they reduced the work week to 40 hours a week. They were not being benevolent.

Key lessons for today:
Well rested and happy employees:

work harder
make fewer mistakes
RARELY if EVER die at work.

So why does the average Singaporean work a 46-hour work week, with managers working 52 to 58 hours a week and C-Suite / Directors clocking in 60 to 100 hours a week? Simple: A combination of kiasu and kiasi syndromes. A 2011 Robert Walters study showed only 1/3 of Singaporeans take all their annual leave. The rest forfeit the leave for fear of 'falling behind' or being 'passed over' for a promotion.

Remember 2007 and 2008 when so many lost their jobs and those remaining had to do the work of two or three people? Most did so with NO increment and often a reduction in pay. Many got a promise that 'when things get better', they would be given more pay for doing the extra work. Did they? I've not seen a follow-up study but speaking candidly to 10,000+ seminar participants per year, 90%+ say emphatically, "NO!" How would you define 'stealing'?

A slew of recent studies concur: The 40-hour work week is the most productive for most jobs... not all. If a job requires a great deal of creativity, a 35-hour work week is more ideal. (Architects, designers, writers need muse... and should visit museums, hike nature reserves, stop and watch the ocean, etc.)

Let's look at how work hours correlates to productivity:

Singaporeans work 2409 hours per worker per year. Norwegians only work 1427 hours per worker per year. Then why is Norway's GDP per capita US$97,363 and Singapore's GDP per capita just US$56,286?

I'm not saying GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita is the same as 'productivity'. It's just interesting how a country that puts in 982 fewer hours per worker per year can attain $41,077 more in GDP per person.

After 26 years in Singapore, I see how hard Singaporeans and expats work here, how bright and well educated they are, AND how stressed. Then why do they lag behind? Simple. We will always lag behind when we are dragging our behinds to work dog-tired from working non-stop.

Want to boost productivity at work and have the BEST workers queue up to work for you? Follow these 3 simple rules:

Work 40 hours a week. There IS life... after work.
Take your vacation time (mandatory). Rested minds and bodies tend to produce more.
Measure and reward productivity within this system. Don't reward people for putting in more hours. If someone can put in 40 hours and do more than those putting in 80 hours, reward the productivity... not the hours.

Data Sources:
1. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD
2. https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ANHRS#
3. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OECD_Productivity_levels_2007.svg

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