Researchers of a new study found that shorter working hours don't increase overall happiness and life satisfaction among employees.
The new study is the first to look into how an external factor such as shortened working hours can affect a person's overall well-being and life satisfaction. Robert Rudolf of Korea University, Seoul, conducted the study after the recently introduced Five-Day Working Policy was implemented in South Korea. Though the policy was first introduced in 2004, the government recently re-enforced Saturday to be an official non-working day and working hours were brought down from 44 hours a week to 40 hours a week.
According to a Korean Labor Foundation report, the policy was implemented as an attempt to enhance living standards, boost the country's weak leisure industry and to reduce the negative effects of excessively long working hours, including low productivity and high rates of industrial injury.
In the new study, researchers found that working mothers and wives were generally more pleased with the reformative measures than working fathers and husbands. This was because working women also have house chores to do and shortened working hours and a non-working Saturday relives them of some of this stress. Despite full-time workers and women being grateful for shorter working hours, this new reform hasn't had much effect on their overall job and life satisfaction.
One of the reasons of this, Rudolf speculated, was because shorter working hours have increased work load during the week as well as increased the intensity of work demands from employers.
According to Rudolf, the findings of this new study could mean one of the two things - either the popular belief that longer working hours have negative impacts on a worker's happiness levels is baseless or that increased work intensity that accompanies shorter working hours overrides any and all benefits the move may have.
