Sometimes you get surprised

Sometimes your instinctive feel is just wrong. Sometimes things are counter-intuitive.

For example, in Bahrain, they have introduced a ban on outside work between noon and 4pm in the months of July & August. The ban was introduced in 2010 and repeated this year.

Not surprisingly, employers - especially those in construction - complained, saying it would lower productivity.

However, there has been almost total compliance and the government is claiming that workers have been performing better - more productively. A government spokesman says that several employers have indicated productivity increased after the rule was introduced.

Healthier and safer working often does mean higher productivity ... it looks as though this is the case here.