New York Times asks if Spain should 'reset the clock' and change working hours to improve efficiency
Friday, February 21, 2014 @ 10:02 AM
AN ARTICLE on everyday Spanish customs in The New York Times asks whether now is a good moment for the country to rethink its working hours and prime-time TV slots, if not actually to return to GMT – a time-lag it was in before World War II.
Spain, Land of 10pm dinners, asks if it's time to reset the clock describes a group of young adults in a bar in Madrid sitting down to watch a football match whilst evening meal orders are being taken around them at 22.00hrs at night.
It highlights how programmes on the television aimed at capturing the highest viewer ratings do not finish until around 01.00hrs and that according to surveys, a quarter of Spaniards are still watching TV at this time of night on weekdays.
The reporter speaks to one of the football-watchers, who has to get up the next morning to start his bank job at 08.00hrs, and does not find the late dinner and match anything unusual, calling it 'the Spanish identity'.
Following this, the article questions whether part of the reason for Spain's ongoing economic crisis is that its working hours are 'inefficient' and not conducive to productivity, which may change if it 'adopted a more regular schedule' which was 'more in sync with the rest of Europe'.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com