Many of us, entrepreneur and hired hand alike, add up the excessive hours we work and display them as a quasi-badge of honor. True, employers often demand more than the eight hour day from their employees. Moreover, if you own your own business, you know that there is always something more you can do, more time you can spend.
Yet, do hours worked equate to accomplishment?
I dug a little bit into recent statistics on productivity, both in the United States, and in various European countries. I found the numbers thought-provoking (okay, I am a bit of a geek). Various tables tell us the number of hours worked by the average worker, and the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, a commonly used productivity metric. When combining these statistics, a fascinating tale is told.
In the US, we are middle of the pack with respect to the average number of hours an employee works per year. We toil 1788 hours per annum. In Europe, you can find countries where this number is as much as 400 higher or lower.
Our domestic workers produce a lot, measured in GDP. The average US worker adds $25.53 per hour to our country’s gross domestic product. This is on par with an average employee in Germany, who cranks away at $25.73. But compare this with a worker employed in Norway. Here, the production tallies at $33.55 per hour. And, the average employee in Norway works 1408 hours per year, 380 less than his or her American counterpart. Yet, our Scandinavian friends produce 31% more per hour.
Further scanning the charts, we find countries in Europe where the work year totals 1900 to 2000+ hours. Surprisingly, employees here create a gross domestic product per capita, calculated per hour, that ranges 1/3 to 1/2 of that produced by Norway, Germany, or the US.
So what do these numbers tell us? As many are fond of saying, statistics can be used, or misused, to justify many ends. Furthermore, unemployment rates, and the percentage of a population that works or seeks to, skews the data a bit. But what we can demonstrate from these numbers is that you do not become more productive simply by working more hours. In fact, what we might postulate by digging into these statistics is that productivity is more directly related to access to good infrastructure, state-of-the-art technology, and other tools that allow for more efficient output of goods or services. Accomplishment may also be more germane to time spent away from work rather than nose to the grindstone feats.
Moral of thIs story is that efficiency and the ability to wisely use tools that are available to you are important components to getting the highest return for your time spent. As an entrepreneur, ruthless efficiency remains a key concept. You are not necessarily going to maximize your success by working longer hours. Focus on working smarter, not necessarily harder. Concentrate on systems, strategies, and procedures that allow you perform better, faster, and in a cost-effective way. Also be sure to allow yourself the down time necessary to recharge the batteries. Work-life balance is not merely a platitude. To sustain success as a small-business owner, you cannot afford to neglect your firm’s most valuable asset — you.
Sources:
Countries of the World http://www.photius.com/rankings/economy/gdp_per_capita_2014_0.html
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode%3DANHRS