Employee feelings about their work output and the actual work done: Do shorter work hours and exercise make a difference?
What the study is about: This study wanted to find out if making employees work a bit less every week and encouraging them to exercise would make them more productive at work.
How they did it:
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They picked six places where people work in dental health care (like dentist offices).
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These places were divided into three groups:
- PE: People worked 2.5 hours less every week and HAD to exercise during that time.
- RWH: People worked 2.5 hours less every week but didn't have to exercise.
- Referents: These places didn't change anything.
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They asked the employees (all 177 of them) how productive they felt (like if they thought they were doing more work, felt more able to work, or were taking fewer sick days).
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They also checked how many patients these workplaces treated to see if they were really being more productive.
What they found:
- All the dental places treated more patients than before, which is great!
- The RWH group (the ones who just worked less but didn't have to exercise) treated the most patients.
- But, the PE group (those who worked less and exercised) felt like they were doing more work, felt more able to do their jobs, and took fewer sick days.
Conclusion: By allowing employees to work fewer hours, they might have more energy and feel better, which could help them work better. Even if they use some of that free time to exercise, they might still be just as productive, if not more. This means the same work gets done (or even more work) in less time!
In short: Letting employees work a bit less and encouraging them to exercise can make them feel more productive and actually get more work done, even in less time! So, fewer hours doesn't always mean less work done.