On October 6th, Adecco Group’s new global CEO, Alain Dehaze, kicked off the Staffing Industry Analysts’ Executive Forum Europe conference with his keynote, “Towards Even Greater Success in the Staffing Industry.” Dehaze spoke about his vision for the future of Adecco as well as the staffing industry as whole, drawing from his insight into trends, threats and opportunities that will impact the industry over the next decade. Dehaze also identified the five key drivers that move Adecco forward as a company: economy, technology, demographics, sociology and regulation. Dehaze stated that, “At Adecco, we strive to be alongside in every phase of the professional lifecycle of our clients, candidates and associates. We guide our people towards the world of work and throughout their career.”
The six-hour workday
In his address, a major topic that Dehaze touched on was work/life balance. More and more, employees are opting to work for companies that offer roles with healthy distinctions between an individual’s professional and personal lives. Notable progress is being made in creating a better work/life balance in Sweden. For many countries, the eight-hour workday has remained a standard since it was first experimented with by Henry Ford. However, in Sweden, six-hour workdays are becoming more and more common in both the private and public sectors.
One of the main motivating factors behind the change for a number of companies was the perception that people value their time more so than they value money. The change has also made many workers more efficient and focused on their work. The shift to a shortened work day is certainly an approach that has potential to better stabilize work/life balance, and it will be interesting to see if the structure has continued success in Sweden and if it will be implemented around the world.
At Adecco, we have clients in every sector and every region of the country who have staff augmentation plans in place.