Fewer Work Hours - Happy Employees??

In the wake of mounting wage and hour lawsuits and a recent fatality in the industry, Goldman Sachs recently announced the formation of a junior banker task force.  One of the first orders of business was requiring these interns to work saner and "more humane" hours.  These junior bankers are not allowed to enter Goldman Sachs buildings for 36 hours on the weekends (from 9pm on Friday through 9am on Sunday).  The task force, reportedly is also monitoring remote logins to determine wither these junior bankers are working through their weekends or enjoying them (or trying to figure out how to get a competitive edge over their fellow junior bankers).  Goldman Sachs is reducing the hours to make the organization more attractive top college graduates.   

This was considered a revolutionary step for Wall Street and the finance industry.  Even if you’re not a Wall Street firm, there are some real upsides to monitoring the hours worked by interns and junior professionals, trainees in your business as well.  

Let’s Review:

• Work-Life Balance – the overall thinking is that a well-rounded employee is a happier employee.  Happier employees are more productive and more likely to stay with their employers.
• Expand the Talent Pool - Attract Top (perhaps nontraditional) Talent – Many talented prospective employees might not want to work for a business where long work hours are regularly expected or required.  By establishing a culture that values leisure time, you might attract candidates with different backgrounds, experience and training to your organization.  That could lead to its own efficiency and innovation. 
• Control Overtime  costs – assuming that your interns are paid and nonexempt, you will pay overtime for those extensive hours in the office.  Limiting the hours, will limit your costs.
• Minimize Exposure to Wage/Hour Violations – Most interns, junior professional or training positions are non-exempt, i.e., entitled to overtime for weekly hours worked in excess of 40.  Monitoring these hours gives you the opportunity to review the classifications of these individuals and compensate appropriately.

Downsides (few but real)

The decision to control work hours speaks to the culture of the workplace.  The message has to be clear and consistently applied to the identified class of employees.  If managers haven’t bought in, aren’t good communicators or effective implementers, this well-intentioned position might have negative impact on the work environment.  

As you change expectations regarding hours, you should consider changing expectations of results and outputs.  Employees working fewer hours might be less productive.  If you expect employees to work fewer hours but still deliver the same results, you might be dealing with productivity issues not work-life balance and the other concerns mentioned above.  If that’s the case, a different conversation around these adjustments may be necessary.    

What to do

If you’re considering a similar change in work culture, communicate with your managers about your expectations and rationale for this change.  Your managers must communicate clearly with employees and apply these changes consistently.   

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