Study the text and do the exercises below.

Joanna Sobierska-Paczesny The New Working Reality

A

As the world changes, develops, and throws at us challenges such as the global pandemic, our workplaces are changing with it, physically and ideologically. The basic question on everyone’s lips today is what kind of working conditionsworking conditionsworking conditions will yield highest productivityyield highest productivityyield highest productivity and employee engagementemployee engagementemployee engagement? Does a 40 hour workweek40‑hour workweek40 hour workweek spent in the office make sense in this new reality? Many studies seem to indicate that the answer is „No”. The countries with the longest working week do not have the highest productivity. So what’s the future of workplaces?

B

One answer to this is flexitimeflexitimeflexitime. Productivity resulting from the pandemic lockdowns busted the mythsbusted the myths [bust a myth]busted the myths about the ineffectivenessineffectivenessineffectiveness of working from home. As a result, many companies happily adjusted to remote workingremote workingremote working. The employees can now clock in and outclock in and outclock in and out (metaphorically speaking) during hours that suitsuitsuit their rhythm, which is fantastic for family life and work‑life balancework‑life balancework‑life balance, but has its downsides as well.

C

Surprisingly, for many, remote work created not the problem of less, but more work. Because work can now be done basically anywhere and at any time, people find it difficult to disconnectdisconnectdisconnect and put work away. Clearly, there’s an urgent need for safety regulationssafety regulationssafety regulations that would prevent people from becoming overworkedoverworkedoverworked or developing certain occupational diseasesoccupational diseaseoccupational diseases such as eye straineye straineye strain or backachesbackaches [backache]backaches from spending too many hours a day in front of a screen. There’s also the issue of organising company meetings when everyone works a different schedule, so evidently some regulations are called forare called for [be called for]are called for.

D

Another solution that many countries from Japan to Spain are experimenting with is a 32 hour workweek. Whether that means a three day weekend or shortened workdaysshortened workdayshortened workdays varies, but the idea is the same. Naturally, less hours should not translate into wage cutswage cuts [wage cut]wage cuts. Spain decided to subsidisesubsidisesubsidise workers and pay them the missing 20% in their pilot program that’s supposed to check the validityvalidityvalidity of such a schemeschemescheme. However, most of the time it just means that the work that used to take 40 hours is now compressed intocompressed intocompressed into 32, which leads to more hectic and tighter scheduleshectic and tight schedules [hectic and tight schedule]hectic and tighter schedules and possibly even more competitive workplacescompetitive workplacecompetitive workplaces.

E

Naturally, there are many opponentsopponents [opponent]opponents to these ideas, who believe that only if employees are at the office and all at the same time can the manager make sure they do what they’re supposed to and the teams share ideas effectivelyshare ideas effectively [share an idea]share ideas effectively. Their numbers, however, are decreasing. Proponentsproponents [proponent]Proponents of changes point out that when trade unionstrade unions [trade union]trade unions succeeded in their struggle and a 40 hour week was introduced over a century ago, it also raised a lot of questionsraised a lot of questions [raise a question]raised a lot of questions. Not to mention the fact that it was created for a totally different world, so how can it suit today’s employers’ and employees’ needsneeds [need]needs?

1 Źródło: Joanna Sobierska-Paczesny, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.