A Brief Look At The Latest Way In Which Traditional Working Conditions And Workplaces Have Been Changed Completely ? From 9-5 to 5-9!
It is not long ago that going to work was a very simple activity and very little varied from one day to the next. In the post-war years of the late 40’s and 50’s the industries for which the UK is historically well-known were thriving and employed hundreds of thousands of workers. Industries such as shipbuilding, coal mining and manufacturing attracted lots of the available blue-collar workforce providing apprenticeships and promising “a job for life”. Similarly, in the white collar sector huge office blocks were built and filled with clerical, administrative and financial workers. It was an age of buoyant markets as the world recovered from the difficulties caused by World War Two.
Looking back, we are all aware that the situation has been transformed in the last 50 years. Coal mining is just about dead now and shipbuilding is a fraction of the industry it once was. While a lot of manufacturing is still happening in Great Britain, the kind of products being made has altered significantly and new technology continues to improve the efficiency of many industries. In the 1980s and ‘90s the creation of the World Wide Web and the pace at which communication technology was advancing started a process of change in traditional working practices. A small Internet Business could be launched and the owner could Work From Home while doing business with buyers all over the world. As the business developed it would generate Online Jobs where new workers could also Work From Home and the majority of communication would take place by telephone or e-mail. As the third millennium began new innovations in communication technology were being invented even more quickly than ever before and mobile telephones benefitted significantly. Pictures and e-mails could now be sent and received from almost anywhere in the world and the need for an office base was reduced even further for many members of staff.
Modern technology enabled many roles to be carried out much quicker than before and became a time-saving device for those workers who were keen to or needed to work less hours. For a lot of workers the ability to convert to part-time working and job sharing or to Work From Home was perfectly suited to their personal needs. For some it gave them the time to pursue hobbies and other popular leisure activities with the intention of achieving an improved work/life balance. For many others, however, it gave them the option to carry on working when they may have had to stop due to parenthood or the need to look after other dependents.
The latest step in this upheaval in traditional working practices is the creation of the “5-9 worker”. Excluding industries where shift work was required the typical working day has always been referred to as 9-5 or “nine-to-five”. However, the Internet Business is now flourishing among people who work in the evenings and at night, hence the name “5-9ers”. Thousands of workers with daytime jobs have set up their own online businesses and operate them mainly at night, often using social networking sites which are most active outside the normal working hours of nine to five. A percentage of these businesses will eventually grow to levels where the owners will have to give them their full attention and leave their normal jobs but in a recent survey by Staples, the business stationery company, 51 per cent of “5-9ers” do not intend to do so. Presumably, these owners will be able to keep their business at a level that suits the amount of time they wish to devote to it. The survey also revealed that 73 per cent of these businesses are not connected to the work that the owners do during the day.
Staples carried out the survey when they detected a rise in visitors around 5pm as workers left their day jobs. It would appear that the reversal in working practices is now complete for many workers who now leave their place of work to Work From Home doing their Online Jobs to establish an Internet Business.
