Search Here

Companies normally require employees and workers to render 8 hours of work five times a week. That has of course changed nowadays and does not include overtime work.

The working hours fluctuate, particularly for the ones holding higher positing in companies. Ideally, their minds are subject to extensive cognitive thinking which may have certain limits as far as efficiency is concerned.

With that in mind, do companies really draw out the best from employees by squeezing the ideas from their brains as often they can in a work week? If this study published at the Melbourne Institute Worker Paper series is to be believed, such may not necessarily hold true.

People who normally hold the managerial and higher positions are likely to be aged 40 and up though there are some who make their way up the corporate ladder due with outstanding performance. But the study offers an interesting take, particularly in the area of drawing out the best from people aged 40 and above.

Researchers claim to have found the optimal cognitive performance for the workers in that age bracket and the results were a three-day work week which technically categorizes them as part-time employees.

This was after about 3,000 men and 3,500 women were invited in Australia to participate in a series of cognitive tests as their work habits were analyzed.

In the end it was found that people aged 40 and above working 25 hours weekly did better compared to the ones working 55 hours a week. While companies are likely to scoff this claim, it could be something worth considering if the retirement age is raised at some point in the future.

According to Professor Colin McKenzie from Keio University, the retirement age could eventually be raised soon in certain countries in an effort to delay the turn to pension benefits. If so, such could see elder folks working until the later stages of their life – as long as they can and want to.

"The degree of intellectual stimulation may depend on working hours. Work can be a double-edged sword, in that it can stimulate brain activity, but at the same time long working hours can cause fatigue and stress, which potentially damage cognitive functions,” says McKenzie.

If so the three-day work week could be a possible recourse by companies though the age group where it could apply may be more than the 40-year-old mark.