The traditional 9-5 working day will be a thing of the past by 2020, a new study has predicted.
Research conducted by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) surveyed 750 business leaders on their thoughts on how office culture is likely to change before the end of the decade.
Over half (59 per cent) of respondents revealed that they expected what are presently considered to be normal working hours to disappear, with 54 per cent believing that this will be down to the line between home life and work life becoming increasingly blurred.
Flexible working is certainly likely to play its part should this forecast be realised. The ability of companies to allow employees to structure their jobs around their personal lives certainly lends itself to the demise of the nine-to-five, with some staff already able to tailor their hours around childcare needs and other things like doctor’s appointments.
CMI chief executive Ann Francke warned managers that they should now focus on familiarising themselves with the benefits of technology like the virtual office that helps workers become more mobile, so that they can plan in advance how it can help benefit their own operations.
“Managers should be starting 2014 with real determination to get future fit, so they can lead the changes that are going to transform how we work over the rest of this decade,” she said.
Leaders are already being urged to focus more on coaching instead of controlling their staff, introducing policies that emphasise the importance of employee wellbeing and developing a culture of trust between employer and employee. CMI advises that this could go a long way in ensuring staff production levels do not dip if the time does come when they may be left to their own devices to manage their workload.
However, the survey also revealed that 57 per cent of respondents believed that another trend would see businesses monitor their staff more closely, using people metrics to measure individual performance on a regular basis.
