It's Time for the Four-Day Work Week
A four-day workweek is the next logical step in creating a more flexible and sustainable work culture.
We know what our relatives are going to say about this next week when we meet around the table for another Holy Week holiday.
“Four-day work week? People don’t want to work already!”
After knocking down the sweeping generalization about people “not wanting to work,” proceed to the facts about the movement gaining ground with the potential to revolutionize the working world in an age of Chat GPT, remote work, record-breaking corporate profits, and an increasingly strengthening labor movement.
Recently, companies like Microsoft Japan and Perpetual Guardian in New Zealand have experimented with a four-day workweek with positive results.
Cutting meeting times and consuming fewer office resources, Microsoft experienced a 40-percent per-employee spike in sales. Nearly all employees expressed satisfaction with the change, in part because many were given Friday off and received their normal five-day pay.
In 2018, trust management company Perpetual Guardian boasted a 20- percent gain in employee productivity and 45-percent increase in work-life balance after a trial that was so successful, the company decided to make it permanent. Company founder Andrew Barnes said, “There’s no downside for us.”
An Ernst & Young survey last year about the future of work revealed 40 percent of companies surveyed admitting already have a four-day work week or working toward one.
The largest experiment occurred in Great Britain, where 61 British businesses from banks and fast-food restaurants to marketing firms granted 2,900 workers a paid day off per week to test if they could accomplish as efficiently working less. The results were promising: workers reported sleeping better, being more productive for their companies, and having more time to spend with their families.
Where did the current eight-hour, five-day work week come from, and what is so magical about working 40 hours over five days with a two-day weekend?
To answer that, we have to go all the way back a century.
In 1928, progressive economist John Maynard Keynes predicted workers would eventually only have to work 15-hour weeks, or two-days, due to increased technological advancements.
Ten years later, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Fair Labor Standards Act, which required overtime pay for many employees who worked more than 40 hours.
While it was not universal (farm workers, for example, were exempt), it was the product of over a century of hard-fought labor battles against often arbitrary work schedules. It was “an attempt to gain time back,” according to University of Rhode Island history professor Erik Loomis.
Unfortunately, things haven’t improved much since then.
According to a Gallup survey:
Adults employed full time in the U.S. report working an average of 47 hours per week, almost a full workday longer than what a standard five-day, 9-to-5 schedule entails. In fact, half of all full-time workers indicate they typically work more than 40 hours, and nearly four in 10 say they work at least 50 hours.
25 percent work more than 60 hours.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot, including what it means to “go to work.” With many professional jobs being relegated to the home, the pandemic actually caused working hours to increase.
But with the proliferation of productivity-centered technology comes a rethinking of the century-old work-a-day model. As management professor Scott Dust stated, “Thanks to technology, the eight-hour, ‘9-to-5’ workday is a mirage.”
This is exactly what Vt. Sen. Bernie Sanders cited earlier this year when he tweeted:
Supporting the four-day work week, the former Chair of the Senate Budget Committee and current chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee, Sanders stated:
We’re talking about a transformational moment throughout the world and the United States. I want working people to be involved. If there is a technology that can increase worker productivity, who benefits from that? Just the guy who owns the company? Or does the worker benefit? So if we can reduce the workweek, is that a bad thing? It’s a good thing. But I don’t want to see the people on top simply be the only beneficiaries of this revolution in technology.
Getting back to that relative who cynically argues, “people will just sit around doing drugs” or whatever, here are the facts.
When employees have an extra day off, they return to work feeling more refreshed and energized. This, in turn, leads to better focus, creativity, and performance on the job. Additionally, with fewer working days, employees are forced to prioritize tasks and manage their time more efficiently.
An American Journal of Epidemiology study found “those who worked 55 hours a week performed more poorly on some mental tasks than those who worked 40 hours per week.”
Working fewer days also improves workers’ morale and wellbeing. A shorter work week means more time for personal pursuits, hobbies, and spending time with loved ones. This, in turn, can reduce stress levels and improve mental health.
A four-day week might also lower blood pressure and increase mental health, according to the president of the U.K. Faculty of Public Health.
When Jay Love of Slingshot SEO phased in a four-day work week, he noticed employee-retention rates increase.
Online education company TreeHouse experienced significant company growth after attracting new employees with a four-day week.
It can also be beneficial to the environment. With fewer commuting days, there are fewer cars on the road, resulting in less air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Companies could save a bundle in operating costs. With fewer working days, companies can save money on utilities and office expenses. Additionally, a shorter workweek could reduce employee turnover and recruitment costs as employees are more likely to stay with a company that values their well-being.
It’s time for companies to embrace this new way of working and prioritize employee well-being over profit. The pandemic has shown us that remote work is possible, and a four-day workweek is the next logical step in creating a more flexible and sustainable work culture.