Siesta: a business and society issue?
Renwick McLean, Spaniards Dare to Question the Way the Day Is Ordered, New
York Times, January 12, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/12/international/europe/12letter.html?hp
which is also at:
http://tinyurl.com/44n37
EXCERPT:
In Spanish, time doesn't fly; it "runs." Watches don't run; they "walk."
Morning lasts until 2 p.m., and 8:30 p.m. is still the afternoon.
The way Spaniards talk about time reflects a society where things move at a
different speed, and where the days can seem interminably long to a
foreigner.
For much of Spain's recent history, the siesta made the long days bearable.
A routine workday that begins at 9 a.m. and finishes at 8 p.m. can seem
somewhat rational if it is broken up by a good nap in the afternoon.
Today, long commutes make a trip home for a nap impractical, at least in the
major cities. But if the siesta is becoming a thing of the past, it has left
a legacy of idle afternoons that is still very much a part of Spanish life.
In a way, the siesta has not so much disappeared as it has morphed into an
epic lunch, often a two- or three-hour extravaganza that can last until 5.
Now some Spaniards are beginning to ask if a divided workday, with morning
and evening sessions straddling an afternoon of scarce productivity, is
compatible with the modern world and Spain's growing integration into
Europe.
The Fundación Independiente, a research organization in Madrid, has started
a campaign to do away with the marathon lunches and to align the Spanish
work schedule with the 9-to-5 routine common in the rest of the European
Union. "In a globalized world, we have to have schedules that are more
similar to those in the rest of the world so we can be better connected,"
said Ignacio Buqueras y Bach, the group's president. "These Spanish lunches
of two to three hours are very pleasant, but they are not very productive."
Change already appears to have taken root in some places. It is not hard to
find convenience stores and shopping centers here that stay open all day, a
contrast from 10 to 12 years ago. Perhaps more telling, it is not unusual to
see a boutique with a sign in the window saying, "We do not close at
midday."
But a long break in the afternoon is so ingrained in the Spanish psyche that
many wonder if it is possible, or even preferable, to get rid of it.
Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has said he has his doubts.
"That is very difficult to do in Spain," he said recently. "The work
schedule is what distinguishes Spaniards, but it is also what defines us."
Many of Mr. Zapatero's countrymen have shown little interest in changing
their habits. Storefronts across Madrid still board up each afternoon for
two or three hours. Calls to government offices after 2 p.m. are often
greeted with a request to call back at 5. Even in the private sector,
working hours tend to omit much of the afternoon.
Because of the long break at midday, many evening activities are pushed back
deep into the night. Dinner often starts at 10 p.m., as does prime-time
television. Several hours later, streets are still alive and Spaniards are
still busy.
"Midnight is early," said María Jesús Franco, a 30-year-old architect, as
she finished a multi-course lunch at 5:30 p.m. with some friends near
Madrid. "Children are asleep by then, but that's about it."
When the siesta was around to keep people going, the long days may have
seemed sensible. But without it, Spain has become a nation of sleepy souls
who wake early and go home late, but no longer stop to nap in between.
Spaniards sleep on average 40 fewer minutes per day than the typical
European, according to Mr. Buqueras of the Fundación Independiente. The lack
of sleep has serious health effects for Spanish society, he said, including
a greater incidence of physical and mental illness and higher rates of
traffic and workplace accidents.
Some doctors have taken to urging a return to the siesta, but Mr. Buqueras
says the best solution is to shorten the workday so people can get home
earlier and get to bed sooner.
....
Perhaps most important [a reduced work day] would enable parents to spend
more time with their children, he said. "Kids come home from school and they
are alone until 9 p.m. because parents are working," he said.
Some of the staunchest supporters of his initiative, in fact, are women's
groups who say that the current schedule makes it very difficult for working
mothers to juggle job and family demands.
Supporters also say that shortening the workday would pep up Spain's
economy. Spaniards work more hours per week than the average European,
according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, but
they accomplish less. "There is the law of diminishing returns," Mr.
Buqueras said. "You can work well for the first three to four hours, then
you slow down, and at the end of the day it's worse. The work schedule
should be set with productivity in mind."
Mr. Buqueras said many Spaniards mistakenly believed that a long break at
midday had always been a part of the Spanish lifestyle. "As late as 1930,
lunchtime was between 12 and 1, and dinnertime started at 7 or 8," he said.
"If you look at the newspapers or novels from the beginning of the century,
they all show it."
What is unclear, he said, is why habits changed. Some historians point to
the Spanish Civil War, which was fought from 1936 to 1939. It is possible,
Mr. Buqueras contended, that "the hunger that is always caused by wars
forced people to work two jobs to survive," one in the morning and one at
night. The midday break would have given them time to get from one job to
the other. "But there are no definite causes," he said.
The task of persuading Spaniards to go back to the prewar routine faces some
formidable obstacles, Mr. Buqueras said, but not insurmountable ones. "Three
years ago, there was general skepticism, even smiles, as if we were Quixote
going after windmills," he said. "But we think people are starting to
realize that we have a point."