The much-anticipated Memorial Day holiday ushers in a three-day weekend. Having that extra day off ... [+]
The much-anticipated Memorial Day holiday ushers in a three-day weekend. Having that extra day off feels great. It offers time to decompress and enjoy precious moments with family and friends. After doing chores, such as cleaning the house and mowing the lawn, running errands and tending to your never-ending daily responsibilities and obligations, there is still some time left to engage in hobbies, sports, fitness, reading and savoring the time disconnected from the office.
The additional day off allows people to enjoy more time on the beach, visiting relatives, attending a music concert, sporting event or other pleasurable activities. When people return to work next week, it will be for only four days.
Back at work, whether in the office or remotely, after the good feelings fade away, the stark realization of how harsh it is for people to be required to work five days a week—with only a couple of weeks off, plus some personal time and sick days—is inhumane. With all of the new technologies, software, apps and spyware snooping on your daily tasks, people are almost always working or on call. It's not a civilized way to live. There isn’t sufficient time to distress and reboot. The results of unrelenting work without an appropriate amount of time off could be one of the contributors to the mental health and burnout crisis.
Four-Day Workweeks Benefit Both Employers And Employees
Post pandemic, people have been calling for greater flexibility and autonomy over their work lives. They want a balance of life and work. Companies are challenged with finding, recruiting and retaining workers in this tight job market. Given that businesses must address the needs of their employees or risk having them leave to competitors, leaders have to think outside of the box for solutions. Knowing how great it feels to have one less day of work, instituting a four-day workweek may be the answer to making both employers and employees happier.
The truncated workweek increases employee satisfaction and a tighter connection with the company team members. Reducing an employee's work schedule to a four-day workweek may help improve productivity and cut down on stress.
For businesses that have a hard time recruiting talent, competing with larger organizations that possess a massive financial war chest to entice top candidates, providing a shortened workweek can be an effective recruiting and retention strategy. By offering a three-day weekend, the company will stand out. Their brand will show that they are employee friendly, care about your mental well-being and won’t demand long hours.
The Four-Day Workweek Is Gaining Momentum
4-Day Week Global is a nonprofit organization championing the virtues of the four-day workweek. The nonprofit was started by Andrew Barnes and Charlotte Lockhart after they saw the successes at their New Zealand-based company, Perpetual Guardian, after the program was implemented at their company. They noticed how much productivity increased with a decline in stress and made it a mission to help other companies make the switch to a three-day weekend.
Juliet Schor, an economist and professor of sociology at Boston College, has been analyzing four-day workweek trials in the U.S., Ireland and other countries. The results, according to her studies, have been overwhelmingly positive. In a TED talk about this topic, Schor said the abbreviated workweek programs increased employer and customer satisfaction and added to revenue growth and lower attrition. The 32-hour workweek with five days of pay, Schor says, is the future of the work model that addresses large societal issues, such as burnout and the climate crisis.
The World Economic Forum Discusses The Four-Day Workweek In Davos, Switzerland
A panel discussion held by global leaders talked about the abbreviated workweek, without any reduction in pay. Jonas Prising, chairman and CEO of the large global staffing firm ManpowerGroup, wrote in a piece for the World Economic Forum, “The four-day workweek is a hot topic, with news feeds full of companies and governments initiating various trials. Belgium’s right to work a five-day week in four days with no loss of salary. Iceland’s ‘overwhelming success’ trialing a shortened work week with ‘dramatically increased’ employee wellbeing.”
Prising added, “Empowering people to think differently about how, when and where they work has a clear impact on businesses, too. Working flexibly, not working less, gives employees greater focus during working hours. Microsoft Japan saw a 40% jump in productivity gains and a rise in employee happiness from their four-day workweek trial.”
Working Less Means Creating More
Just because there is one less day, it doesn’t mean productivity will decline. It may be the opposite. With one less workday, people become more focused. They are keenly aware of how their time is spent. Instead of engaging in busy work or getting distracted by minutiae, they keep on task with the knowledge that the reward is one extra day of freedom.
We all know how easy it is to waste time at work. Kibitzing with co-workers, going out for coffee runs, scrolling through social media, shopping online during working hours and engaging in other distractions eat up a significant amount of time.
There is a flow state of work. When you get fully immersed and engaged in work, two hours or so can fly by. Your focus is so sharp, that you are unaware of outside distractions. Blocking out chunks of time and hyperfocusing on sprints can lead to becoming highly productive. Brian Kropp, chief of HR research at Gartner, says about this work style, “Working less actually means creating more."
You most likely have seen this happen to you. Long hours are spent on a task and nothing seems to happen. It's hard to keep your focus and attention. Longer hours can cause lower production results. An example is the “four o’clock fever syndrome.” By the end of the day, you’re shot. The last hour or so of work is spent watching the clock, counting down until you can check out and go home. Kropp says that when an employer pushes a person to put in the hours, the lower their actual output becomes.
It’s Time To Give It A Chance
Shortening the workweek will reduce commutes and, thereby, help the environment. People with four-day workweeks can leverage the extra time to volunteer for worthy causes, participate in faith-based activities, get involved with food kitchens and help neighbors and the community. The additional day off is a welcomed relief for families that need to offer caregiving for elderly parents or taking care of young children.
In the stress and anxiety-inducing era we are in, a three-day weekend may be one of the answers to our problems. It allows for people to take a longer break, relax and recuperate and forge closer relationships, leading us to become happier.
