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London City workers walk across London bridge on June 8, 2006 in London. A small pilot study of workers at companies based in the U.S., Ireland and Australia reported better employee well-being and other apparent benefits at companies that instituted a four-day work week. (Photo by Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)
Getty ImagesIf you’ve been angling to work less hours for the same pay, new results from a research pilot may be the hook you need to convince your employer it works.
A new study, released Wednesday and conducted by researchers at Boston College, University College Dublin and Cambridge University, tracked employers in a small pilot research program. Participating companies reported revenues that rose 8% over the study period, burnout scores that fell for two-thirds of employees and an amount of sick or personal leave time that declined by roughly a couple of hours a month.
I took a look at the results released this morning, speaking with Boston College professor Juliet Schor about her research, as well as 4 Day Week Global founders Andrew Barnes and Charlotte Lockhart, who were both part of our recent inaugural Future of Work 50 list. “I see this kind of trial as proof of concept,” Schor told me. “It shows that companies can succeed with this schedule and with this model.”
Schor has been studying the long working hours Americans face since the early 1990s, when she wrote a book called The Overworked American. Sadly, not enough has changed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2021, the average full-time worker spent 8.53 hours working per weekday. And the OECD, calculating hours worked on an annual basis, finds that U.S. workers spend 1,791 hours working per year, more than 400 hours more than workers in Germany, some 300 hours more than workers in France and nearly 200 hours more than workers in even Japan.
Whether or not a four-day workweek is the solution, it may help set some boundaries for some companies or people. For her part, Schor says she’s interested in the model because “a two day weekend is not sufficient for large numbers of people in this country,” she says. “The combination of workplaces that were already too demanding and then the pandemic on top of that—it’s just brought too many people to where it’s too hard to cope with the levels of work time that are expected.”
For more about the report’s findings, read my story here. As always, thanks to assistant editor Emmy Lucas for her help compiling this week’s newsletter.
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The other benefit of pay transparency: Salary disclosure laws will help with more than pay equity, writes Forbes contributor Christine Y. Cruzvergara. It’s also good for recruiting: Candidates can decide if a posted salary is financially viable, employers can reassess their pay structures and new college grads just entering the job market have a better starting point for negotiations.
AI, Amazon and HR: Last week, Amazon offered buyouts to its recruiters, Recode reported. This is in addition to the projected thousands of job cuts the online giant is reportedly planning. According to a confidential internal document viewed by Recode, Amazon has been working on an automated applicant evaluation system that will determine which candidates possess the most potential for success. Forbes senior contributor Jack Kelley explores what it could mean.
The latest at Disney: A merger between Apple and Disney is “pure speculation,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said as he tries to right the ship at Disney, whose stock is down nearly 40% year-to-date as of Monday, Forbes’ Derek Saul writes. In his first town hall since retaking the helm, Iger also said the company will maintain its hiring freeze, Saul reports.
Consumer spending: Wallets are seemingly happier this holiday season as Americans spent a record $11.3 billion on Cyber Monday. The holiday season comes as gas prices drop. In fact, the most common U.S. gas price now is $2.99, Forbes’ Nicholas Reimann reports.
Tech layoffs: It’s not new that layoffs have been hitting the technology industry hard—from companies like Meta and Microsoft to Salesforce and Stripe. But remember the tech sector encompasses many roles, and your skills are transferable, writes Forbes contributor Sarah Doody, who provides advice on job hunting across different industries following a tech layoff.