Why The 9-To-5 Workday Is Going Extinct
The 9-to-5 workday routine started as far back as 1926, thanks to Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, and the U.S. labor unions (via Advisorpedia). Prior to that, factory workers would work as much as 16 hours a day for a minimum of 6 days a week, per Entrepreneur. Back then, most jobs were manually done; hence the need for those long hours. The 9-to-5 schedules was later introduced to reduce the number of hours people worked daily to avoid wearing them out and improve work productivity.
Interestingly, even the regular 9-to-5 workday is now being seen as a delimiter of the productivity of employees (via Lifehack). According to a Microsoft work trend report, the 9-to-5 workday is well on its way to extinction. Although these predictions have been making the rounds for years, it wasn't until the COVID-19 pandemic that a good number of organizations realized just how possible and effective it was for their employees to be productive without necessarily working within a certain timeframe, per Forbes.
Matter of fact, reports have shown that since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, working remotely has made employees work longer hours than working 9 to 5, per Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Employees haven't had to dress up to go to work during the pandemic or endure stressful commutes to and from work. Thankfully, technology has aided this transition to remote work.
Technology is putting an end to a 9-to-5 work routine
Before Henry Ford started the 9-to-5 workday tradition, factory workers would work insanely-long hours because of the manual nature of most jobs back then, per Forbes. They were more or less human machines.
Fast forward almost a century and we are in 2022 where there's been massive technological developments that have made manual labor almost completely obsolete, per Lifehack. In a 2018 Virgin publication, Richard Branson, founder of the company, said, "One of the biggest barriers to employment in the coming years will be the rise of technology. But there is a middle ground to be found, which will end the 9-to-5."
He then further stated that "ideas such as driverless cars and more advanced drones are becoming a reality. Machines will be used for more and more jobs in the future." Also, thanks to technological advancements, a lot of online platforms and messaging channels have been designed to make workplace communication more effective and easier. So, employees no longer have to be onsite for eight hours every day to keep workflow going.