You might already be acquainted with someone who, as a result of working compressed hours, works full-time for 35 hours over four days.A four-day workweek is not a shorter work week; rather, it has fewer hours.As a result, the worker would put in approximately 28 hours over four days and have a three-day weekend.
Increased Productivity
Findings suggest that individual productivity rises and the number of errors made at work decreases when working hours are reduced.Workers may experience this because they recover from fatigue and arrive at work with more energy and focus.
An Equal Workplace
According to the Government Equalities Office’s study of the Gender Pay Gap, 89% of those without jobs in the UK are women, and roughly two million of them do not have children.Employees would be able to better balance work and family obligations during a four-day work week, resulting in an equal workplace.
Better Employee Engagement
Employees who work four days a week may be happier and more committed.Because they have ample time to rest and recuperate, employees are less likely to experience stress or take sick leave.Consequently, they return to work prepared for new challenges.
A Smaller Carbon Footprint: A Social and Environmental Responsibility Pillar
Countries with shorter workweeks typically and obviously leave less of a carbon footprint, so reducing our workweek from five to four days may also be good for the environment. Employees won’t have to travel as much and large office buildings won’t be used more than four days a week because of our shorter workweek.
Furthermore, in a six-month trial, employees at more than 70 British businesses receive a paid day off every week. Most businesses report that things are going well thus far.
Among 35 of the 41 employers that replied to a survey said they were “likely” or “very likely” to explore continuing the four-day workweek when the six-month trial, which gives employees at 73 companies a paid day off weekly, ends in late November. Of the 41 organizations, all but two said that productivity was either the same as before or had increased. Surprisingly, six businesses said that productivity had greatly increased.
There has long been talk of a four-day workweek.In 1956, Vice President Richard M. Nixon predicted it would occur “not too distantly,” but it has yet to occur on a significant scale.However, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on the workplace, questions about other aspects of work have gained momentum. Is working five days a week really the best method, or is it just the way we’ve done it for more than a century?
The four-day week, according to some trial participants’ managers, gave workers more time to exercise, cook, spend time with their families, and pursue hobbies, which improved their well-being and made them more energized and productive on the job. However, critics were concerned about increased costs and decreased competitiveness, particularly considering that many European businesses are already trailing rivals in other regions.
There may soon come a time when technology, particularly AI, surpasses the capabilities of human employees, even though we are not yet at the point where it is being adopted globally.Then, we’ll have to make some important decisions about the future of work and how to best protect and promote the well-being of human employees.One viable option is a four-day work week because technology would allow business to continue as usual while humans could continue to have meaningful careers with a better work-life balance.