The World's Biggest Trial of a Four-Day Workweek Shows: It Works

[demmiblue]

A shorter week allows workers to better take care of themselves without sacrificing productivity.

In June, more than 3,300 people in Britain embarked on an exciting experiment: Their employers had signed up to pilot a four-day workweek in what is currently the world’s biggest trial of this shorter working schedule. Seventy-three British companies have reduced their employees’ working hours by 20 percent for six months while still giving them their full pay.

Similar pilot programs are also underway in Australia, Iceland, Japan, and Spain. Some companies in the United States have taken the same step. One study found that more than 8 million US workers switched to a four-day schedule between 1973 and 2018.

So far, the evidence that’s rolling in points in a clear direction: A shorter week allows workers to better take care of themselves without sacrificing productivity.

Halfway through the six-month trial, all but two of the 41 British companies that responded to a survey said that productivity has either stayed the same or improved, and six said that productivity has significantly improved. Those findings track with others. In Iceland, where more than 1 percent of the workforce saw their hours reduced to 36 per week or less, productivity has stayed constant or improved. According to one study of individual businesses, about two-thirds of those with four-day workweeks said productivity has increased, and about half said it has saved them money. Job performance stayed the same during a trial at a New Zealand–based firm, and at Microsoft Japan productivity rose by 40 percent.

https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/four-day-work-week/

[Scrivener7]

1. The five day workweek was in effect when we typed everything with carbon paper,

had to have messengers deliver papers or they went through the mail, spreadsheets were done on big papers with lots of tiny little lines, graphs were drawn by hand after someone painstakingly analyzed those spreadsheets for weeks using a calculator or a slide rule.

Technology has made us tons more productive, and there has been no payback for that productivity. It is way past time for this!

[Wednesdays]

2. The people in the trial didn't have their pay cut

But what would you bet that in most of the USA, a four-day workweek would result in a substantial pay cut?

[wackadoo wabbit]

3. Or longer hours on the four workdays

The city offices in the town where I live operate on four-day workdays, but the working hours of each of those days is 10 hours long.

A 32-hour workweek without a pay cut is what we need.

[Aristus]

4. I went to a four-day week at the beginning of the year.

I took a pay cut to do it, but it’s been worth it. I acknowledge the privilege that made it possible. Mrs. Aristus and I have a comfortable combined income. Not everyone has that luxury.

But the extra day off has paid other dividends. Just as they discovered in the study, my productivity hasn’t suffered, I’m less stressed out during the workday, and I have more time to spend with my family.

As I said above, I know what a privilege this is, but we need to institute a nationwide four-day workweek as soon as possible.