If you don't already know, you may be interested to learn that the day of Immaculate Conception, 8 December, marks the traditional start of the nativity scene-making season. It's not official, as you can get cracking on the manger and the animals whenever you fancy, but tradition - and don't we know it - has its place in Mallorcan and Spanish society and also in the calendar. Hence, 8 December is really when the nativity figurines need to be dragged out of the attic and dusted down for another festive season, one which lasts until ... . Well, when does it really stop? It may not be the same across the rest of the country but in Mallorca, no sooner have the Kings been and delivered their presents, than the natives are building bonfires and preparing to roar around the streets, setting fire to the place. The saints Anthony and Sebastian have a great deal to commend them but they do rather get in the way.
It does of course depend upon your perspective and also has something to do with where you live. Not everywhere downs tools because of Tony and Seb's feast days, but even where they don't, there are still fiestas to be had. And what's more, it's only a couple of weeks before everyone's out on the streets again, this time shunning their demons' outfits in favour of lavish costumes for Carnival.
The Christmas festivities, let's call them winter festivities in order to get to their lengthy essence, straddle some two months - longer if Carnival is later - and then, once the final sardine has been buried at Carnival, it's a case of soon be Easter.
It is tempting to conclude that no one is, therefore, working over all this time. It is an erroneous conclusion. There are, after all, the short-contract shop employees who are brought in for the Christmas season and then winter sales. Others are hard at it, such as the legal profession, charged with overseeing the future of the King's sister. Footballers are footballing, except when they have their week off and can catch a cheeky Christmas mince pie and glass of ginger wine.
Stereotyping is a trap that is easily fallen into, and apparent idleness is one that Mallorca and Spain shares with other parts of the Mediterranean. As the German newspaper "Bild" once demanded of the Greeks: "get up early and work all day", just like the Germans. But the winter festivities highlight not so much a reluctance to work as a mentality issue that surrounds the "puente" bridge weekend, of which there are potentially various ones throughout the year.
"The Wall Street Journal", in looking at the bridge-weekend phenomenon, made an assessment which led it to suggest that it is possible, what with paid time off as well, to have fifty days off a year. It also discovered that, apparently, employees needed bridge weekends as these were escape valves from the pressures of work. It has been said that the Spanish do in fact, and in general, work longer hours than most other Europeans. By the same token, however, there have been surveys to suggest that they don't. You pays your money ... .
At the heart of all this are concerns regarding productivity and competitiveness. If there is a stereotyping, then it is one that the Spanish government (currently acting government) shares. The move to alter public holidays so that if they fall on, for example, a Tuesday, they are taken instead on a Monday was a deliberate attempt to put an end to the extended bridge weekend. If the Tuesday is a holiday, then so is the Monday (and possibly the rest of the week), and there has long been a temptation, so it has been said, to indeed consider this to be a week off.
The government doesn't seem to have gone ahead with this. Immaculate Conception will fall on a Thursday this year, two days after Constitution Day. There goes a week for you, and a whole bridge week not assisted by the apparent daftness of having two national holidays within the space of three days. In truth, most of these public holidays don't lend themselves to be being moved. They are so much part of the calendar, whether for religious or secular reasons.
Might a change in government be more insistent on moving these days? If it turns out to be one influenced by anti-religious sentiment, then perhaps so, but any politician needs to be wary with tampering with the holiday love affair and so therefore upsetting the citizens.
The bridges and the extended winter festivities seem unlikely to disappear any time soon, and the tourism/travel industry will hope to goodness that they don't: bridge weekends are good business. Still, there are always those for whom these holidays are all but irrelevant. Like those who work for newspapers. Day off? What's that?
Showing posts with label Productivity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Productivity. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Wednesday, March 04, 2015
The Un-Working Day: Siesta and telly
I have a confession to make. I am writing this article having just woken up from a siesta. This might not sound like much of a confession but it is for someone who has long eschewed the daytime snooze, however much there does seem sense in taking a "power nap"; and when it's called a power nap, it has the virtue of sounding as if it will lead to one's productivity being enhanced.
I'm excusing myself on account of having been one of the many who has succumbed to the Mallorcan flu and who is still recovering from it. In the circumstances, being knackered by the afternoon is not perhaps so unusual. But were it not for this enduring malady, given as it is March and not a time for hot weather (despite the most unexpected 27 degrees on Monday), there would - or should - be no excuse at all.
I am well aware of the theory that the Spanish working man (and sometimes woman) was so impoverished and poorly treated that more than one job was needed and that a consequence of this was the requirement for an afternoon kip in between lousily paid toils. The weather theory, though, is that much more persuasive (and true), and it is not as if Spain was the only Mediterranean country where the practice of a siesta and its equivalent was developed. Yes, in the heat of summer, there was and is much to be said for having a short burst of shuteye in a cooled, shutter-tight room. But at other times of the year ...?
The afternoon break, which doesn't necessarily entail sleeping, is a cultural habit. It is said that it is one that has become less ingrained into society, especially in places dominated by commerce; the larger towns and cities, therefore. Palma qualifies as one of these, and yet the bizarre phenomenon of four rush hours in one day continues. Additional pollution and greater spend on petrol (the most expensive in Spain as it is) are thus added to productive downsides of the afternoon break.
This break, siesta, call it what you will is just one element of the working day that academics, business associations and some politicians wish to amend. And joining their ranks is the national broadcaster; RTVE is bringing evening prime-time programming forward by an hour. In an act of unselfish altruism aimed at getting the Spaniard to turn in earlier, its nightly top shows (such as they are) will start at 10.15. Yes, you have read this correctly. A quarter past ten. And it will mean that going to bed will be around 2am rather than 3am. It shouldn't be so late but it can be because prime-time TV is prime-time advertising time. Slots for this are like programmes in their own right. On, on and on they go. So long are they that on one occasion when watching "The Shawshank Redemption" (in Spanish), it felt as though I had spent as long watching it as Tim Robbins had in digging his tunnel.
Different solutions to the working day have been advanced. The national commission for its rationalisation has been beating the drum for several years for a conformity with a norm of nine-to-five, insofar as this is the norm in other countries. Its principal concern is productivity, an aspect of which is the fact that Spaniards, as a rule, work longer hours than European counterparts. But these longer hours do not equate to being more productive. Parkinson's Law might have been developed with Spain in mind - work expands to fill the time available. Plus the time that is added on to take account of a lengthy afternoon break, which is a necessity if you have been watching telly into the wee small hours as much as it is a cultural habit.
Then there is the Greenwich Mean Time solution, one that has a great deal of logic given that the Meridian passes through Spain, that GMT was once upon a time used and that Portugal and the Canary Islands operate according to it. Such logic, though, runs up against cultural habit. The commission would like everyone to be working by 9am at the latest, to have finished work by 6pm at the latest, to not have had an extended breakfast break and to not have had a siesta. If they all finished by 6pm, then RTVE could presumably make its prime-time programming start very much earlier. But there is still one flaw in this plan. Dinner. Still, if there were a readjustment of the working day, then dinner might no longer be taken at the same time as the evening's main telly shows will be starting.
Might this ever happen? Somehow, you would doubt it. Cultural habits die hard, while maybe there is something to be said for thumbing a nose at generally-accepted working-day convention.
I'm excusing myself on account of having been one of the many who has succumbed to the Mallorcan flu and who is still recovering from it. In the circumstances, being knackered by the afternoon is not perhaps so unusual. But were it not for this enduring malady, given as it is March and not a time for hot weather (despite the most unexpected 27 degrees on Monday), there would - or should - be no excuse at all.
I am well aware of the theory that the Spanish working man (and sometimes woman) was so impoverished and poorly treated that more than one job was needed and that a consequence of this was the requirement for an afternoon kip in between lousily paid toils. The weather theory, though, is that much more persuasive (and true), and it is not as if Spain was the only Mediterranean country where the practice of a siesta and its equivalent was developed. Yes, in the heat of summer, there was and is much to be said for having a short burst of shuteye in a cooled, shutter-tight room. But at other times of the year ...?
The afternoon break, which doesn't necessarily entail sleeping, is a cultural habit. It is said that it is one that has become less ingrained into society, especially in places dominated by commerce; the larger towns and cities, therefore. Palma qualifies as one of these, and yet the bizarre phenomenon of four rush hours in one day continues. Additional pollution and greater spend on petrol (the most expensive in Spain as it is) are thus added to productive downsides of the afternoon break.
This break, siesta, call it what you will is just one element of the working day that academics, business associations and some politicians wish to amend. And joining their ranks is the national broadcaster; RTVE is bringing evening prime-time programming forward by an hour. In an act of unselfish altruism aimed at getting the Spaniard to turn in earlier, its nightly top shows (such as they are) will start at 10.15. Yes, you have read this correctly. A quarter past ten. And it will mean that going to bed will be around 2am rather than 3am. It shouldn't be so late but it can be because prime-time TV is prime-time advertising time. Slots for this are like programmes in their own right. On, on and on they go. So long are they that on one occasion when watching "The Shawshank Redemption" (in Spanish), it felt as though I had spent as long watching it as Tim Robbins had in digging his tunnel.
Different solutions to the working day have been advanced. The national commission for its rationalisation has been beating the drum for several years for a conformity with a norm of nine-to-five, insofar as this is the norm in other countries. Its principal concern is productivity, an aspect of which is the fact that Spaniards, as a rule, work longer hours than European counterparts. But these longer hours do not equate to being more productive. Parkinson's Law might have been developed with Spain in mind - work expands to fill the time available. Plus the time that is added on to take account of a lengthy afternoon break, which is a necessity if you have been watching telly into the wee small hours as much as it is a cultural habit.
Then there is the Greenwich Mean Time solution, one that has a great deal of logic given that the Meridian passes through Spain, that GMT was once upon a time used and that Portugal and the Canary Islands operate according to it. Such logic, though, runs up against cultural habit. The commission would like everyone to be working by 9am at the latest, to have finished work by 6pm at the latest, to not have had an extended breakfast break and to not have had a siesta. If they all finished by 6pm, then RTVE could presumably make its prime-time programming start very much earlier. But there is still one flaw in this plan. Dinner. Still, if there were a readjustment of the working day, then dinner might no longer be taken at the same time as the evening's main telly shows will be starting.
Might this ever happen? Somehow, you would doubt it. Cultural habits die hard, while maybe there is something to be said for thumbing a nose at generally-accepted working-day convention.
Thursday, March 01, 2012
Multiplying By Zero: Recession and tourism
You say recession, we say growth. The Centre for Economic Research (Centre de Recerca Econòmica, CRE) is the "you", the Balearic Government is the "we". Forecasts that the Balearics will fall back into recession in the third quarter of this year have been countered by the government. No recession, it says; there will be slight growth. And as ever, the slight growth will come because of tourism, or so the government would hope.
The eternal optimism that flows from tourism coming to the rescue is not, however, one that is shared by the CRE. Serious attention should be paid to what the CRE is saying, because if a myth being debunked can be said to have a sound, then there is an awful lot of noise coming from the CRE.
It says that the multiplier effect of tourism on the Balearic economy has been shrinking. And this means? In basic terms, the multiplier effect refers to how an increase in spending results in an increase in the income of a country (or a region, in the case of the Balearics) that is greater than the increase in spending (hence the multiplier). Essentially, if there is a strong multiplier effect, then there will be decent growth. The problem arises when the spending doesn't increase.
And this - spending - is just the problem that the Balearics have. Spending by tourists, that is.
Intuitively, anyone can tell you that tourism spending has been declining. At least, this has been the experience for many businesses right in the front line - bars, restaurants and so on. Counter-intuitively, statistics related to tourism spending, stays and arrivals that the government trots out ad nauseam show increases in spending. They haven't always but generally they have. The CRE says that government figures are misleading. You bet they are.
The CRE's report is damning. The multiplier effect of tourism has been shrinking not since the economic crisis started but since the turn of the century. It is an industry that has, says the CRE, lost productivity and competitiveness. In other words, it is not maximising returns on its resources, and one reason why is because Balearic tourism simply doesn't spend enough. The CRE argues that, in order to activate genuine growth (and growth that might be sustainable), there has to be a focus on more profitable tourism.
I don't like to say that I told you so, but if you have followed what I have written over the years about local tourism, then you will know that I have told you. For example, I have referred to key research from the early 1990s which proved that a percentage (approximately 10%) of tourism equated to a net loss. This percentage has to have increased since the onset of market change of low-grade all-inclusive tourism from around the mid-1990s. Another example: tourism spend statistics are misleading, as a good chunk of the spend is not spend that finds its way into the local economy as the statistics include spend made to tour operators and airlines.
The productivity return on resources is inevitably going to be less than it might be when there are so many resources unemployed for such a lengthy period of time. These are not just the human resources of the dole queues, they are also the physical resources of hotels; vast amounts of expensive real estate that inflates the price of property in general but which is unused for anything up to six months of the year.
The obscenity of this unused resource contributes, in turn, to an inhibitor to growth because of the high costs associated with residential property which lead to a lowering of disposable consumer spend. Furthermore, low wages, as are paid to many within the tourism sector that is meant to drive economic growth, mean a lack of competitiveness.
At the same time as there is renewed talk of recession (or not), the government has been forced to backtrack on one element of its new tourism law, that of stipulating that hotels which convert to condos would have to be open eight months a year. The eight months are now back to six. The best intentions of government to try and address the lack of hotel productivity have been undermined.
The CRE's report might just be thought of as another piece of economic blah-blah, but it should not be dismissed as such. In a nutshell, it has exposed the fundamental problem of the Balearics economy, one that is so reliant on tourism, and one which - and this is the only conclusion that can be drawn - will not achieve sustainable growth unless there is a rethinking of tourism strategy.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The eternal optimism that flows from tourism coming to the rescue is not, however, one that is shared by the CRE. Serious attention should be paid to what the CRE is saying, because if a myth being debunked can be said to have a sound, then there is an awful lot of noise coming from the CRE.
It says that the multiplier effect of tourism on the Balearic economy has been shrinking. And this means? In basic terms, the multiplier effect refers to how an increase in spending results in an increase in the income of a country (or a region, in the case of the Balearics) that is greater than the increase in spending (hence the multiplier). Essentially, if there is a strong multiplier effect, then there will be decent growth. The problem arises when the spending doesn't increase.
And this - spending - is just the problem that the Balearics have. Spending by tourists, that is.
Intuitively, anyone can tell you that tourism spending has been declining. At least, this has been the experience for many businesses right in the front line - bars, restaurants and so on. Counter-intuitively, statistics related to tourism spending, stays and arrivals that the government trots out ad nauseam show increases in spending. They haven't always but generally they have. The CRE says that government figures are misleading. You bet they are.
The CRE's report is damning. The multiplier effect of tourism has been shrinking not since the economic crisis started but since the turn of the century. It is an industry that has, says the CRE, lost productivity and competitiveness. In other words, it is not maximising returns on its resources, and one reason why is because Balearic tourism simply doesn't spend enough. The CRE argues that, in order to activate genuine growth (and growth that might be sustainable), there has to be a focus on more profitable tourism.
I don't like to say that I told you so, but if you have followed what I have written over the years about local tourism, then you will know that I have told you. For example, I have referred to key research from the early 1990s which proved that a percentage (approximately 10%) of tourism equated to a net loss. This percentage has to have increased since the onset of market change of low-grade all-inclusive tourism from around the mid-1990s. Another example: tourism spend statistics are misleading, as a good chunk of the spend is not spend that finds its way into the local economy as the statistics include spend made to tour operators and airlines.
The productivity return on resources is inevitably going to be less than it might be when there are so many resources unemployed for such a lengthy period of time. These are not just the human resources of the dole queues, they are also the physical resources of hotels; vast amounts of expensive real estate that inflates the price of property in general but which is unused for anything up to six months of the year.
The obscenity of this unused resource contributes, in turn, to an inhibitor to growth because of the high costs associated with residential property which lead to a lowering of disposable consumer spend. Furthermore, low wages, as are paid to many within the tourism sector that is meant to drive economic growth, mean a lack of competitiveness.
At the same time as there is renewed talk of recession (or not), the government has been forced to backtrack on one element of its new tourism law, that of stipulating that hotels which convert to condos would have to be open eight months a year. The eight months are now back to six. The best intentions of government to try and address the lack of hotel productivity have been undermined.
The CRE's report might just be thought of as another piece of economic blah-blah, but it should not be dismissed as such. In a nutshell, it has exposed the fundamental problem of the Balearics economy, one that is so reliant on tourism, and one which - and this is the only conclusion that can be drawn - will not achieve sustainable growth unless there is a rethinking of tourism strategy.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Any Old Iron: The triathlon
"You look neat. Talk about a treat. You look so dapper from your napper to your feet."
The words of Harry Champion's music hall song, "Any Old Iron". There will be any old number of athletes looking neat, from their nappers to their feet, in their helmets, vests, speedos, shorts and shoes when three thousand of them take to the waters and streets of Alcúdia and other parts of northern Majorca in just over a week's time. The first Ironman 70.3 triathlon will be staged on 14 May.
Three thousand participants, 1500 helpers, 20,000 visitors. Of these, perhaps only the first will be accurate. They are having trouble attracting helpers, and as for the visitors. Well, possibly. But if there are 20,000, where will they come from? Day-trippers from elsewhere on the island, one imagines. Assuming they can get anywhere near the place.
The triathlon will last from eight in the morning till five in the evening. The professionals will not need anything like this length of time, but some will. As a result, for much of the day the town and resort of Alcúdia will be in virtual lockdown. The main roads will be closed, as will be the back streets of residential areas. Very little will be able to move unless it has two feet or a bike and looks dapper in its any old Ironman attire.
For a week leading up to the event, one part of the main carretera into the port of Alcúdia will also be shut. They need to prepare, in order to house the athletes and their bikes, in order to put up temporary structures, such as showers. Getting around Alcúdia in the lead-up to the day and on the day itself is going to be difficult, which is putting it mildly. And on the day, with so many roads closed, how are these visitors meant to make their way in?
The Ironman is a huge boost for Alcúdia, not necessarily because of tourists coming to watch the event itself, as these, in any number, would seem unlikely, but more because it puts the resort on the map of sports tourism, an ambition the town, together with adjoining resorts on the bay of Alcúdia, has harboured for some time. In terms of publicity alone, it is a thoroughly worthwhile event.
The downside of it is the level of disruption and inconvenience. But does this matter? It's only one day, after all, unless you include that bit of the main road that is affected for several days.
In the scale of sporting events that require some streets, the Ironman is a drop in the bay of Alcúdia. It is hardly a London Marathon or a Monaco Grand Prix. But complaints there will be and complaints there are.
In strictly productive terms, any disruption to road systems is negative. When you have a town to all intents and purposes shut for a whole day, even if it is a Saturday, then there is a loss of productivity. Whether gains will be made from those visitors who do manage to break through the cordons and which compensate for any losses, real or imagined, we will find out. But the moaning is less rational than this. It is just a case of being put out.
The Ironman is not the only sporting event to disrupt local traffic. Two cycling races in the space of three weeks caused roads to be closed. But not for long. The delays were perhaps half an hour at most. An inconvenience, yes, but unless it's a matter of life or death (and there is admittedly an issue with this), it should be tolerable in the wider scheme of things.
Alcúdia, Playa de Muro and other resorts want the type of sports tourism that Ironman brings. If they want it, then there has to be an acceptance that there will be some disruption. You can't have it both ways.
The key issue, though, is whether such tourism does in fact translate into more business for local bars and restaurants in addition to hotels which will accommodate athletes. And there will be plenty who will say that it doesn't. For the longer term, however, the first Ironman could be the start of future opportunities that will be real enough. Then they might be talking about a treat.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The words of Harry Champion's music hall song, "Any Old Iron". There will be any old number of athletes looking neat, from their nappers to their feet, in their helmets, vests, speedos, shorts and shoes when three thousand of them take to the waters and streets of Alcúdia and other parts of northern Majorca in just over a week's time. The first Ironman 70.3 triathlon will be staged on 14 May.
Three thousand participants, 1500 helpers, 20,000 visitors. Of these, perhaps only the first will be accurate. They are having trouble attracting helpers, and as for the visitors. Well, possibly. But if there are 20,000, where will they come from? Day-trippers from elsewhere on the island, one imagines. Assuming they can get anywhere near the place.
The triathlon will last from eight in the morning till five in the evening. The professionals will not need anything like this length of time, but some will. As a result, for much of the day the town and resort of Alcúdia will be in virtual lockdown. The main roads will be closed, as will be the back streets of residential areas. Very little will be able to move unless it has two feet or a bike and looks dapper in its any old Ironman attire.
For a week leading up to the event, one part of the main carretera into the port of Alcúdia will also be shut. They need to prepare, in order to house the athletes and their bikes, in order to put up temporary structures, such as showers. Getting around Alcúdia in the lead-up to the day and on the day itself is going to be difficult, which is putting it mildly. And on the day, with so many roads closed, how are these visitors meant to make their way in?
The Ironman is a huge boost for Alcúdia, not necessarily because of tourists coming to watch the event itself, as these, in any number, would seem unlikely, but more because it puts the resort on the map of sports tourism, an ambition the town, together with adjoining resorts on the bay of Alcúdia, has harboured for some time. In terms of publicity alone, it is a thoroughly worthwhile event.
The downside of it is the level of disruption and inconvenience. But does this matter? It's only one day, after all, unless you include that bit of the main road that is affected for several days.
In the scale of sporting events that require some streets, the Ironman is a drop in the bay of Alcúdia. It is hardly a London Marathon or a Monaco Grand Prix. But complaints there will be and complaints there are.
In strictly productive terms, any disruption to road systems is negative. When you have a town to all intents and purposes shut for a whole day, even if it is a Saturday, then there is a loss of productivity. Whether gains will be made from those visitors who do manage to break through the cordons and which compensate for any losses, real or imagined, we will find out. But the moaning is less rational than this. It is just a case of being put out.
The Ironman is not the only sporting event to disrupt local traffic. Two cycling races in the space of three weeks caused roads to be closed. But not for long. The delays were perhaps half an hour at most. An inconvenience, yes, but unless it's a matter of life or death (and there is admittedly an issue with this), it should be tolerable in the wider scheme of things.
Alcúdia, Playa de Muro and other resorts want the type of sports tourism that Ironman brings. If they want it, then there has to be an acceptance that there will be some disruption. You can't have it both ways.
The key issue, though, is whether such tourism does in fact translate into more business for local bars and restaurants in addition to hotels which will accommodate athletes. And there will be plenty who will say that it doesn't. For the longer term, however, the first Ironman could be the start of future opportunities that will be real enough. Then they might be talking about a treat.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
The Time Of Day: Working hours and productivity
Did you know that there is a national commission in Spain dedicated to the rationalisation of timetables (Comisión Nacional para la Racionalización de los Horarios Españoles)? Well, you do now.
The title is a bit misleading. This commission isn't concerned with the "horarios" of buses or trains but with working hours. It wants, among other things, to bring the Spanish working day into line with most of Europe. In other words, the siesta would go.
The commission does not seek to make working days longer (the Spaniards already, contrary to what might be thought, tend to work longer than most Europeans). What it does seek is greater productivity, and Spain's productivity is one of Europe's lowest. Longer hours do not mean more productivity, as anyone, bar the most macho of managers, can tell you.
If it has its way, the commission would apply greater conformity to the working day, with 9-5 becoming more of the norm insofar as it can be said to be the norm anywhere nowadays. It would also like Spain to switch back to Greenwich Mean Time (some sixty years after abandoning it), a move, it reckons, that would aid productivity. Not that it does in Portugal where productivity is lower still.
There are a number of reasons for low productivity, not all of them to do with the siesta and the afternoon break, but some specifically are - phone calls not being taken; erratic schedules for appointments to fit around the break; too much commuting (in effect, four rush hours a day); too much food and potentially too much sleep.
To these can be added more general problems of higher levels of absenteeism than in other countries; lack of punctuality; too much time spent on meetings which aren't necessarily meetings just excuses for a chat and often in a café; and too little sleep (although some might nod off into a deep sleep in the afternoon, which is not a good idea, most don't but also don't sleep enough at night).
While there may once have been a sound reason for the siesta, and still is for those engaged in farming or labouring, there is less justification for it in what is now an advanced economy. Within the public sector there has been some attempt to move towards a 9-5 regime; the Ministry of Public Administration, for instance, has encouraged these hours. But there has been only limited success, and there is also the fact that many public offices which close at one or two o'clock then don't re-open later.
Coming into line with how business operates in other European countries would not be the only advantage for a realignment of the working day. Another would be that it would meet the demands of changing lifestyles. It isn't only the British, the Germans and other northern Europeans who get frustrated by the afternoon break, so also do increasing numbers of Spaniards. A further advantage would be to attack what is still something of a bureaucratic culture within business, as opposed to an entrepreneurial one.
Playing around with hours and time is, however, something of a challenge for a society that treats time with such disregard. This is no more than the case than with "mediodía". Just as lunch is literally a movable feast - any time you want it to be really - so also is midday. The vagueness of Mallorcan and Spanish time is probably the greatest culture clash that a northern European has to contend with. Midday is hardly ever twelve o'clock, but an appointment may be made for "mediodía", the exact time of which is anyone's guess. And whether the appointment is actually met is another matter; often it will not be because one man's one o'clock is another man's two-thirty.
This vagueness also leads to the almost unknown concept of punctuality. The word exists - "puntualidad" - but few have ever learnt what it means. I once turned up for an appointment bang on nine in the evening, as had been the arrangement. "Muy puntual," was the surprised comment. "I am English," I responded only half-jokingly.
For nine to five to become normal practice would require a pretty major shift in behaviour and culture, and, as with everything else, there is a tradition to be preserved, the siesta most obviously.
The commission for timetables faces opposition, such as that from the National Association of Friends of the Siesta. And yes, there really is one, and in October last year it held its first siesta championship. Seriously, there was a competition to judge the best siesta-ist. The commission may want to rationalise hours, but it will never be able to rationalise the irrational.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The title is a bit misleading. This commission isn't concerned with the "horarios" of buses or trains but with working hours. It wants, among other things, to bring the Spanish working day into line with most of Europe. In other words, the siesta would go.
The commission does not seek to make working days longer (the Spaniards already, contrary to what might be thought, tend to work longer than most Europeans). What it does seek is greater productivity, and Spain's productivity is one of Europe's lowest. Longer hours do not mean more productivity, as anyone, bar the most macho of managers, can tell you.
If it has its way, the commission would apply greater conformity to the working day, with 9-5 becoming more of the norm insofar as it can be said to be the norm anywhere nowadays. It would also like Spain to switch back to Greenwich Mean Time (some sixty years after abandoning it), a move, it reckons, that would aid productivity. Not that it does in Portugal where productivity is lower still.
There are a number of reasons for low productivity, not all of them to do with the siesta and the afternoon break, but some specifically are - phone calls not being taken; erratic schedules for appointments to fit around the break; too much commuting (in effect, four rush hours a day); too much food and potentially too much sleep.
To these can be added more general problems of higher levels of absenteeism than in other countries; lack of punctuality; too much time spent on meetings which aren't necessarily meetings just excuses for a chat and often in a café; and too little sleep (although some might nod off into a deep sleep in the afternoon, which is not a good idea, most don't but also don't sleep enough at night).
While there may once have been a sound reason for the siesta, and still is for those engaged in farming or labouring, there is less justification for it in what is now an advanced economy. Within the public sector there has been some attempt to move towards a 9-5 regime; the Ministry of Public Administration, for instance, has encouraged these hours. But there has been only limited success, and there is also the fact that many public offices which close at one or two o'clock then don't re-open later.
Coming into line with how business operates in other European countries would not be the only advantage for a realignment of the working day. Another would be that it would meet the demands of changing lifestyles. It isn't only the British, the Germans and other northern Europeans who get frustrated by the afternoon break, so also do increasing numbers of Spaniards. A further advantage would be to attack what is still something of a bureaucratic culture within business, as opposed to an entrepreneurial one.
Playing around with hours and time is, however, something of a challenge for a society that treats time with such disregard. This is no more than the case than with "mediodía". Just as lunch is literally a movable feast - any time you want it to be really - so also is midday. The vagueness of Mallorcan and Spanish time is probably the greatest culture clash that a northern European has to contend with. Midday is hardly ever twelve o'clock, but an appointment may be made for "mediodía", the exact time of which is anyone's guess. And whether the appointment is actually met is another matter; often it will not be because one man's one o'clock is another man's two-thirty.
This vagueness also leads to the almost unknown concept of punctuality. The word exists - "puntualidad" - but few have ever learnt what it means. I once turned up for an appointment bang on nine in the evening, as had been the arrangement. "Muy puntual," was the surprised comment. "I am English," I responded only half-jokingly.
For nine to five to become normal practice would require a pretty major shift in behaviour and culture, and, as with everything else, there is a tradition to be preserved, the siesta most obviously.
The commission for timetables faces opposition, such as that from the National Association of Friends of the Siesta. And yes, there really is one, and in October last year it held its first siesta championship. Seriously, there was a competition to judge the best siesta-ist. The commission may want to rationalise hours, but it will never be able to rationalise the irrational.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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