Constant availability, job performance, and the loss of professional autonomy
In the Martin Scorcese movie Goodfellas, Henry Hill explains how people interact with the big Mafia boss, Paul Cicero. He got all his calls second hand. Then you’d
The value of flexibility: What workers will pay for different kinds of flexible working arrangements
If you ask people if they like flexibility in their jobs, they generally say, yes. But do they like it more than, say, stability or benefits? Would they trade
“Science demands a lot of its disciples, so scientists should take control, not be controlled”
This piece about scientists' working hours was written from last year, but it recently came to my attention after Jennifer Polk tweeted it out. (Of course I'm not
Interview in HR Magazine
Earlier this month I was interviewed in HR Magazine, published by the Society for Human Resource Management. In addition to covering the basic ideas behind deliberate rest, we
Gender and the benefits of flexible working hours
Flexible working hours are good, right? The give you a greater degree of control over your own schedule, so you can take time off to pick up the
When doing nothing at your job is disciplined– and profitable
My son on the Utah-Nevada border. His t-shirt reads, "I'm not lazy, I'm energy efficient" The Wall Street Journal has been running a series on the rise of
On rap, aerials, and the value of “creative side gigs”
Another Fast Company link, to an article explaining "Why These Two Working Moms Won't Compromise On Pursuing Their Creative Side Gigs." It focuses on Lindsay White, founder of
Avoiding busyness while being productive: How people manage it
When I was writing REST, one of the surprising things that emerged from my research was that people who have a lot of leisure are really well-organized and spend some of
“We would all become wealthy entrepreneurs like Richard Branson. What a cruel joke that turned out to be.”
The great Peter Fleming has a piece in The Guardian on "The way to a better work-life balance? Unions, not self-help:" Overwork has become an epidemic in the
To fight climate change, institute a four-day workweek
Just in time for Columbus Day, Alex Williams, coauthor of Inventing the Future, has a piece in Quartz explaining how we could fight climate change by shifting to