The 9 to 5 Workday is Dead. Here's What to Do Instead

The future of work will be defined by flexible schedules and ways of working – say goodbye to the one-size-fits-all approach.

Evgeniy Shvets/Stocksy

Companies are struggling to convince employees to return to the office full-time or partially. The problem is that they’re trying to recreate the 9-to-5 workday instead of embracing the benefits of a hybrid, flexible work environment.

Since Henry Ford adopted the 40-hour workweek in 1926, organizations have operated under a one-size-fits-all approach to work schedules. Even after the pandemic disruption, many want to go back to normal, keeping old ways and rigid policies.

In this post, I explain why organizations need to get rid of the strict workweek and adopt the benefits of flexibility. I’ll share the barriers and challenges of a flexible workplace and insights from research from my book on how to overcome them.

The 9-to-5 Workday Is So Last Century

Building workplaces that are more human is not a linear path. It is normal to feel pessimistic considering recent events, such as mass layoffs or people forced back into the office. However, history shows that, in the …