Gone are the days

The rise of the inner clock

The days when everyone was present and available at work have become few and far between… But this isn’t so much due to working hours as a disparity in work rhythm. Here’s why.

One morning, around 9 o’clock, two colleagues have the following discussion :

-I’m knackered… I feel like I’m working seven days a week.

-The key word here is feel. You might be stressed out about work seven days a week, but that doesn’t mean you actually work seven days a week.

-Well, I need to keep up to date with what’s going on, keep an eye on the competition, discuss things with colleagues…

-You mean browse through the press review and spend hours in idle chit-chat? Let’s be honest: we both work in sales, and we know that the only thing that matters is the client, right? So when do you call yours?

-With France’s 35-hour work week, it’s almost impossible to get hold of anyone before 9:30 am or after 5:30 pm. And you can forget about calling them between 12 o’clock and 3 pm: most of the country is off to lunch at 12, and in big cities like Paris, no-one gets back to the office before 3 pm…

-Ok, so we’re down to five useful hours per day. But then the days of the week vary, don’t they…

-Monday is never a good time. Everyone is caught up in meetings or busy answering a backlog of emails.

-But you’ve still got the rest of the week…

-You can forget about Friday. You’ve got all these people taking the day off to go on long weekends, and those who stay are mentally elsewhere… Come to think of it, Wednesday isn’t great either: parents are busy looking after their kids, since they still have the day off school in most places.

-So we’re left with Tuesday and Friday.

-Yes but funnily enough, the worst day in the week traffic-wise is Tuesday — non-stop traffic jams and road rage… If you want to catch your client on a good day, when he’s relaxed and willing to listen, never call him on a Tuesday.

-So we agree: the only really useful day is Thursday!

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