WHY the furrowed brows? It’s Sunday, a time for rest and family bonding.
A French author once said that Sundays are like confetti, “floating in the air in slow motion” and hoping it would float a little while longer.
It’s how most Malaysians spend their Sundays, wishing they would not end quickly. Work, in recent years, has dominated our lives so much so that Sundays have been reduced to a frenzied affair.
It is a mental struggle and requires tedious planning — what to do, where to go, weddings and reunions to attend.
A perfect weekend used to mean quality time with the family, watching a football match or an Avengers movie, or goofing with family and close friends. Not anymore.
Understandably, Malaysian work culture has morphed into a 24/7 concept. Still, it should not be just about work. But switching off from work completely is unthinkable, too, because one will still communicate with colleagues on phones or gadgets.
The NST Leader, last month, discussed setting the equation right and having a balanced work-life. An unhappy, overworked population equals a drop in productivity. Changing the concept of how Malaysians work is sorely needed.
Explore new ways of rostering routines. Perhaps an early start to a workday with shorter hours, say 7.30am to 3.30pm, to coincide with the end of a school day so parents and children can go home about the same time.
Although there will be those who fuss about work beyond the hours, but with shorter hours, work can continue from home. Children can hardly be expected to read voraciously if they have not seen parents reading in recent times. They will surely be inspired to see parents finishing work at home, with space to talk to them.
Has not technology made it pointless to detain employees for long hours? For professions with irregular working hours or breaks, encourage 15-minute coffee breaks in the mornings or afternoons.
Sweden’s coffee breaks, for example, are “serious business” — almost an institution.
In 2015, Sweden experimented with six-hour days — employees worked fewer hours on full pay. When the trial ended, it was discovered that shorter working hours logged less sick leave, better perceived health and boosted productivity.
Workers went home early, spent more time with the family, and were generally happier. The experiment created more jobs, reduced sick pay costs and fuelled global debates about work culture.
Today, practically everyone takes a summer vacation in Sweden and Swedish parents receive “16 months of paid leave after the birth of a newborn, extra tax credits to defray the cost of child-rearing, plus access to regulated, subsidised day-care facilities”.
Malaysians could do with a more enriching work-life balance. It’s about being more productive at work and home.
The extra time on our hands could be used for purposeful things, for the Muslim men, they might want to converge at the mosque for Subuh prayers near their workplaces — it’s called community building, or stemming the tide of hedonism to give one a chance to sermonise on a young generation about values and respect.
It would do well for Malaysians to remember that there is a time for everything — a time to relax, to be busy, to frolic, to labour; a time to begin and a time to finish, so says author and the Philosopher of Happiness, Jonathan Lockwood Huie.