Debunking 9 to 5 -- 30 is the new 40


Does anyone remember the Ronco rotisserie grill? You put a massive piece of meat inside, set the button, and hours later - presto - your food is cooked to juicy perfection while you carried on with your life for hours outside the kitchen. I like to live my life like the Ronco grill  - set it and forget it. Don't get me wrong, I can handle change, and I think of myself as very adaptable. Heck, I lived abroad at age 19 for my junior year of college. However, now that I'm married with kids and have a full-time job, I like the day-to-day things to be on cruise control. I like to set it and forget it.

Well this week threw me for a whammy just as the start of the back to school routine started to marinate. I received an alarming message from work. The CEO of my company announced a change to the standard work week hours. Beginning November 1, all salaried employees will adopt a standard 40-hour work week. Now, for all you busy full-timers, you may be thinking, "so what" or "I don't get it" because, well, don't all full-time jobs assume 40 hours? Yes and No. My company has operated on a 35-hour week since, well, forever and now they want to align more with industry standards.

So what's the issue? I already work about 40 hours a week, but not all those hours are clocked in at the office. As a busy mom who commutes into a large metropolis every day, it's nearly impossible to be physically in the office for the standard workday hours every day, which currently is 9 to 5. Adding five hours a week, which is one additional hour a day, means leaving my house at 7 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. when everyone is asleep (yep, my kids are sleepers, lucky me). I don't understand the old school mentality of requiring employees to be present at work for 40 hours. Didn't amazon recently adopt a cutting edge flexible work arrangement, even (gasp) suggesting 30 hours a week as standard? Requiring someone to be physically present at work for 8 hours does not always equate to full productivity. Why can't I be partially present and fully productive?





As I am digesting this news, I started to discuss with co-workers who share my angst. We are smart, driven mothers with over 20-years of experience under our spiffy, leopard print belts.
We have kids to pick up and we get our work done. We deliver the goods and bring home the bacon. We multi-task to perfection. We can operate a Ronco. I would love to say to Mr. CEO, "How will you know this new standard is effective? Are the droves of millennials cramming into the elevators at 5:30 p.m. rather than 5 p.m. making a real, measured difference, or did they just gain an extra half hour of facebook and texting on company time?" So, only time will tell how this power play pans out. At least I am not alone at the grill.






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