Does anyone really want to work 9 to 5 anymore? Let’s be honest if you are in a managerial position it's actually like 7 to 7 more often than not. As an old boss used to tell me, "We only expect you to work a half day here. Whichever half you pick is up to you." One of us always laughed after he said that. It wasn't me.
Old habits die hard. Like kids getting the summer off from school to work in the fields, business hours were set during a manufacturing age when line employees had to work the same times in order to keep the process running. Essentially we are no longer an agricultural society (should kids go to school year round?) and each day we are becoming less and less of a manufacturing country, so why have rigidly structured hours for your employees?
One size never fit all
Even though everyone punched the clock at the same time, people were not ready to work at the same time. That will never change as long as we are individually human. What are you more concerned with? How well your employee performs or how many hours they log? If you have structured your jobs correctly, set expectations accurately, and establish an expected time line for work to be completed, does it really matter how many hours they work? In fact, could you actually be breeding low performance by telling people they have to work a certain number of hours, and if they finish early you just give them more to do.
If you are doing your job as a leader and correctly set the parameters of the job, you will actually get more efficient work by allowing employees to work at their own pace and bonus themselves what amounts to paid time off.
Playing cat and mouse
When you set up an hour structure without enforceable expectations employees will fill the time most often with something from the internet. Employers know this so they set policy and restrictions on internet usage, mobile phone activity and programs allowed on the computer.
For some employees this is now the new game: how many tweets a day they can post without the boss noticing, and how many back doors and work-arounds can they discover to get around such policies. I know some social media addicts who enjoy the cat and mouse game more than what they used to do to kill time. When you prohibit your employees from brain break activites you are sending a loud message you don't trust them. Your distrust then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Develop hour-flexibility for your employees where possible. Life is much more complicated than ever before and frequently having employees who are better rested, and less angry because now they can handle a personal issue without the boss giving them heck for being late, will create greater trust and more efficient work. In the end, the company will benefit the most.
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