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Office hours don't guarantee productivity: How Albanian companies are moving away from the "8:00 to 5:00" model

2026-08-08 18:33:37Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
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The “8:00 to 5:00” model continues to be the norm for most of the Albanian labor market. But in sectors where results matter, physical presence is losing some weight. Being in the office does not always mean you have been productive. Human resource management experts say that for many professions, schedule and presence remain essential, but for some intellectual jobs, the yardstick is changing. Quality, impact and meeting objectives are taking on a higher weight than the number of hours at the desk. This does not mean that flexible work operates without rules. According to them, it requires clear processes, measurable objectives and accountability. In the end, the office is not disappearing, it is simply being used differently.

The work culture is increasingly divided between two sides. One continues to measure the employee by the time they come in and out, the other wants to know what they did during the day.

Technology, hybrid work, and the demand for flexibility are weakening the “8:00 to 5:00” model, but they are not uniformly replacing it. In professions where physical presence is part of the service, time remains the most practical metric.

In intellectual affairs, it is gradually losing weight in the face of results, quality, and impact.

The labor market is trying to function with two systems simultaneously: with a legal framework built on hours and with management models that increasingly reward productivity.

It is precisely in this gap that the decision No. 00-2022-4578 (582), dated December 22, 2022, of the Supreme Court, which is occasionally debated among experts for the standard it establishes, makes sense.

He questioned an attendance list created unilaterally by the employer. The issue is not just whether the employee was in the office, but whether their presence can be reliably proven and, more broadly, whether attendance is still the best measure of performance.

“The court's decision does not dispute the importance of working hours, it calls into question the reliability of a document produced in a one-sided manner,” says Erald Pashaj, Executive Director at EPPC Albania & Kosovo, one of the largest human resources companies in the country.

According to him, the list should record the employee's entry and exit physically or through a reliable electronic system. When the employer produces the document itself and presents only its version, the power of proof is weakened.

The decision does not herald the end of the timesheet. But it does make it a symbol of an increasingly important debate: should work continue to be measured primarily in hours, or is the economy shifting toward a culture where targets, quality, and productivity matter more?

The hour as the currency of labor, the situation in Albania

The “8:00 to 5:00” model is not just an organizational custom. It is the product of a long economic and legal history. Before industrialization, a farmer, craftsman, or merchant was usually paid for the product he delivered.

The Industrial Revolution changed this relationship, the worker began to sell part of his day to the owner.

“With industrialization, the employer began to buy the employee’s time,” says Mr. Pashaj. He adds that in the beginnings of this model, the workday could last 12 or 16 hours. Over time, legal limits, days off, and additional payments were established, but the principle remained the same: the basic unit of the relationship was the hour.

Even today, the Labor Code in Albania is built on this logic. It defines the 40-hour week, overtime pay, night work, and compensation for work on holidays. For a large part of the economy, this is still the most understandable and practical way of measuring.

A salesperson cannot provide service in a closed store. A waiter, plumber, cook, or counter worker produces value by being physically available. In these professions, time and output are closely linked.

The longer a store is open, the more opportunities there are for sales. The longer a counter operates, the more citizens it can serve.

At least that's what Mr. Pashaj argues, adding that Albania remains an economy where most of the work is not done in advanced finance, scientific research or innovative industries. Consequently, in a significant part of the private sector and administration, productivity continues to be linked to working hours.

On the other hand, Hergert Hoxha, Human Resources Manager at Deloitte Albania, sees the limit of this model precisely in the nature of work. According to him, the pandemic showed that in many professions, results can be achieved even without being physically in the office all day, although not every industry or role can function with the same level of flexibility.

The attendance register, in this sense, is not necessarily a relic of the industrial age. It remains a control and management instrument for roles where attendance is part of the service. The problem begins when it is used as the sole measure even for jobs where attendance says almost nothing about the quality of the result.

Presence is not performance, how the approach is evolving

A journalist can stay in the newsroom for eight hours and not write a worthwhile article. A programmer can solve a complex problem in two hours. A consultant can work out of the office and deliver a better project than a colleague who has been present all day.

It is in these professions that the link between time spent in the office and productivity becomes weaker. The rise of intellectual work and the spread of technology are pushing companies to look for other metrics.

Deloitte Albania is an example of this approach. The company quickly transitioned to online work during the pandemic, aided by previous investments in technology and digital processes.

Then it used the Deloitte Flex model, which combines remote work with office presence.

“Performance is not measured by the number of hours spent in the office, but by the results, the quality of work, the collaboration and the impact that each professional creates,” says Mr. Hoxha. According to him, flexibility allows employees to better organize their time, while the company aims for more motivated, productive and engaged teams.

But moving from the clock to the result doesn't eliminate control. It just shifts it. Instead of a timesheet, the organization should have clear objectives, well-defined expectations, deadlines, and ongoing monitoring mechanisms.

Mr. Hoxha explains that at Deloitte Albania, performance is assessed according to results and impact on the project and the team. Objectives are clear, expectations are well-defined, and progress is monitored through digital systems and platforms that enable remote collaboration.

This makes the new model less visible, but no less demanding. A manager can immediately see if an employee is sitting at a desk. It is much harder to determine whether their analysis was insightful, whether their advice to a client was helpful, or whether a project was completed to the right quality.

Even objectives have their limitations. Quantity is relatively easy to measure: the number of invoices, reports, items, or applications processed. Quality is more debatable. An employee can deliver a lot of products, but not necessarily good products.

“There is no system that guarantees 100 percent objectivity,” says Mr. Pashaj. According to him, the goal should be to reduce subjectivity through measurable objectives and comparable indicators.

Trust does not replace accountability.

The debate over flexible working is often presented as a clash between two cultures: employers seeking control and employees seeking trust. In practice, neither is sufficient on its own.

“There is no organization that is managed solely on trust,” says Mr. Pashaj, adding that organizations need clear processes, requirements, and expectations, especially when daily contact between employee and manager decreases.

Mr. Hoxha, on the other hand, emphasizes that organizations need to invest in processes, technology and management skills that build trust, while employees need to demonstrate autonomy, discipline and responsibility. “Trust does not replace accountability, it strengthens it,” says Mr. Hoxha.

Deloitte Albania's model is 3+2: three days of remote work and two days in the office. Mr. Hoxha explains that the days of physical presence are used mainly for activities where direct contact brings more value, such as brainstorming, mentoring, training and collaboration between teams.

This shows that the office is not disappearing. It is changing its function. In the traditional model, the office was the place where work was done. In the hybrid model, it is increasingly becoming the place where relationships, culture, and knowledge are built that are difficult to transmit through a screen.

Mr. Hoxha says that physical presence remains important for building relationships, professional development, spontaneous exchange of ideas, and strengthening a sense of belonging. For this reason, he considers the hybrid model as the most balanced solution between flexibility and organizational culture.

Mr. Pashaj also sets a clear boundary: not every role can be separated from physical presence. A salesperson, biller, or service worker produces results precisely by being available. For many professions, the time of presence and economic results remain directly linked.

So the question is not whether the “8:00 to 5:00” model will fade. It is more likely that the labor market will fragment. For some workers, the clock will continue to be the product they sell. For others, it will be just one of several indicators of contribution.

The Supreme Court’s decision does not resolve this debate. It merely reminds us that even when work is measured by time, the measurement must be reliable. A table filled out by one party is not necessarily enough to prove that the other party did not work. The era of the timesheet may not be over.

But the time when office presence was automatically taken as proof of productivity seems to be coming to an end. /Monitor


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