WE AREN'T BUILT FOR A 9-5
The workday we inherited was inherited was designed for an industrial age. The question is whether it still makes sense for the way we live and work now.
It had to come from somewhere
The 9-5 wasn't always the norm. Before the modern workweek, industrial workers routinely worked extremely long hours. The eight-hour day emerged through decades of labour movements, legislation and changing industrial practices. Then in 1926, Ford introduced a five-day, 40-hour workweek. By 1938, the US had legally established a 40-hour threshold for many workers. A solution to the industrial age became the template for modern work.
1 Schedule 4 Everyone
Today, the 40-hour week is treated as the default regardless of the job. But a factory worker, a designer, a software engineer and a consultant don't produce value in the same way. Some work needs constant availability. Some needs deep concentration. Some needs collaboration. Some doesn't care where you are. So why should they all be organized around the same clock?
Then Cov*d changed the rules
Suddenly, the office wasn't the only option. COV*D forced hundreds of millions of workers to work from home. And it revealed something important: For many jobs, being physically present from 9 to 5 wasn't actually necessary to get the work done. Remote and hybrid work didn't disappear when lockdowns ended. They became part of the way many organizations operate. The workplace changed faster than the workweek did.
We’re not all wired for the same hours
Your body has a clock too. Our circadian rhythms influence sleep, alertness and cognitive performance. And people differ in their natural timing. Some people reach peak alertness earlier. Others later. That doesn't mean everyone should work whenever they feel like it. It means "8am is optimal" isn't a biological fact. The clock on the wall and the clock in your body aren't necessarily the same.
So what else is there?
The alternative isn't "never work." It's having more ways to work.
FLEXIBLE HOURS
Work around periods of high energy and focus.
HYBRID
Use the office when being together actually adds value.
COMPRESSED WEEKS
Redistribute hours across fewer days.
ASYNC WORK
Collaborate without everyone being online simultaneously.
RESULTS-BASED WORK
Measure what gets done, not just how long someone sits at a desk.
Different work requires different systems.
Because more ≠ more
Eight hours at work doesn't mean eight hours of productivity. Research reviewed by the OECD shows that productivity tends to decline as working hours become excessive, with fatigue playing an important role. And experiments with greater control over working time have found improvements in productivity. The point isn't that working fewer hours automatically makes you better. It's that time spent working and value created aren't the same measurement.
Maybe we’re asking the wrong question
Instead of:
"How many hours should everyone work?"
We could ask:
"What does this work actually require?"
Some jobs need fixed schedules.
Some don't.
The 9-5 isn't a law of nature. It's a system we inherited. And systems can change.