The World Health Organization’s recent work study has gained the most attention worldwide of anything they’ve put out over the past year that’s not related to a virus. According to their findings, the average person who works in excess of 55 hours weekly is at an elevated risk of premature death. The most common way the long-hard work will kill you, stroke and what’s already the top killer, heart disease.
Now for most of us that regularly work in excess of 55 hours per week what’s our takeaway supposed to be? Are we just supposed to do less? Stop pursuing our dreams or excellence? Naturally, the WHO, which doesn't exactly embrace capitalist values or the American exceptionalism model would say yes. The WHO’s three recommendations were that governments can introduce, implement and enforce laws, regulations, and policies that ban mandatory overtime and ensure maximum limits on working time. Also, bipartite or collective bargaining agreements between employers and workers’ associations can arrange a working time to be more flexible, while at the same time agreeing on a maximum number of working hours. Lastly, employees could share working hours to ensure that the number of hours worked doesn't climb above 55 or more per week.
Ahh yes, predictably they suggest government mandates to limit work and secondarily the union model for limited workloads. I’d expect nothing less. Notice how there’s no recommendation that is applicable to entrepreneurs or business owners? Rather than giving up your dreams or simply sacrificing your health, there could be another path forward.
I've always been a big believer in playing to one's strengths. There's endless research demonstrating that one's time and energy are best spent on doing what you're best at doing rather than attempting to work harder to compensate for your weaknesses. That's a no-brainer once you structure your business with people of complementary strengths. It's also motivation for employees who aren't able to employ their talent in their jobs. Working smarter rather longer may be the key to achieving the closest many of us will get to balance.
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