Just 200 years after British factory owner Robert Owen proposed his workers’ day should involve “eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest”, a new theory advocates reducing the working day to just six hours. The Swedish city of Gothenburg adopted this last year, citing the improved health and happiness of its workforce.
Our columnist, Fatima Al Shamsi, is just one of those who says it would also pay dividends here. As an Emirati who grew up amid the frenetic pace of New York City, she says adopting a shorter working day would make people more focused and efficient while reducing the risk of vocational burnout through having a better work-life balance. Many agree.
But one wonders whether the number of working hours is really the key factor. Sixty years after Cyril Northcote Parkinson proposed his eponymous law – that work expands to fill the time allotted to it – the real goal needs to be efficiency rather than the number of hours spent at the task. Especially as technology does more of the heavy lifting, working smarter and more productively seems a more likely path to secure a prosperous future.
Command%20Z
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3ESteven%20Soderbergh%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EMichael%20Cera%2C%20Liev%20Schreiber%2C%20Chloe%20Radcliffe%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%C2%A03%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
