Study: 61 UK firms tried a 4-day workweek and after a year, they still love it
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Re: Study: 61 UK firms tried a 4-day workweek and after a year, they still love it
#2> They began it as a six-month experiment. But today, 54 of the companies still have the policy. Just over half have declared it permanent, according to researchers with the think tank Autonomy, who organized the trial along with the groups 4-Day Week Campaign and 4 Day Week Global.
PDF of the research: https://autonomy.work/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/making-it-s...
Re: Study: 61 UK firms tried a 4-day workweek and after a year, they still love it
#3Working four 10 hour days doesn’t seem as much of a stretch compared to 8 hour days.
Re: Study: 61 UK firms tried a 4-day workweek and after a year, they still love it
#4Working four 10 hour days doesn’t seem as much of a stretch compared to 8 hour days.
The point of a 4-day work week isn't to cram the 5th day into 4 days, it's completely removing the 5th day, thus working 8 hours every day for 4 days, as opposed to 10 hours for 5 days.
Re: Study: 61 UK firms tried a 4-day workweek and after a year, they still love it
#5Working four 10 hour days doesn’t seem as much of a stretch compared to 8 hour days.
The point of a 4-day work week isn't to cram the 5th day into 4 days, it's completely removing the 5th day, thus working 8 hours every day for 4 days, as opposed to 10 hours for 5 days.
Yes, also without reducing salaries.
Re: Study: 61 UK firms tried a 4-day workweek and after a year, they still love it
#6I can't wait for companies to use this as a way to drive down pay
Re: Study: 61 UK firms tried a 4-day workweek and after a year, they still love it
#7Every industry is different. Having the same 5-day, 4-day, x-day or x-hour workweek across all industries doesn't make any sense.
More diversity in this area could bring a worldwide increase of productivity, wellbeing and result in an economic boost.
Re: Study: 61 UK firms tried a 4-day workweek and after a year, they still love it
#8Every industry is different. Having the same 5-day, 4-day, x-day or x-hour workweek across all industries doesn't make any sense. More diversity in this area could bring a worldwide increase of productivity, wellbeing and result in an economic boost.
4 day work weeks will be required to compete as structural demographics compresses the working age population [1] [2]. For example, over 1000 school districts in the US have moved to a 4 day week to retain teachers, as they have no other choice [3]. There is evidence it works in many industries (office work, manufacturing, law enforcement, government) [4]; it might not work everywhere, but it can work where it works.
There is no reason not to ratchet down the work week as productivity has increased, and most people work to live, not live to work (as indicated by the satisfaction indicators in these 4 day week trials).
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-29/japan-s-t... | https://archive.today/jXo6a
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/13/uk-worst-pe...
[3] https://www.google.com/search?q=us+school+districts+4+day+we...
[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39261177 | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39254455 (citations)
Re: Study: 61 UK firms tried a 4-day workweek and after a year, they still love it
#9Working four 10 hour days doesn’t seem as much of a stretch compared to 8 hour days.
The point of a 4-day work week isn't to cram the 5th day into 4 days, it's completely removing the 5th day, thus working 8 hours every day for 4 days, as opposed to 10 hours for 5 days.
Question: If they removed the 5th work day and the same amount of work got done, then management can say that basically the employees were slacking off for a day a week.
And if so, what's stopping them next to increase it back to 5 and chase 5 days worth of productivity out of 5 days/week instead of the previous 4 using the same efficiency gains as performance benchmarks of the 4 days/week?
Re: Study: 61 UK firms tried a 4-day workweek and after a year, they still love it
#10This is what Keynes predicted might happen - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ecca.12439#...
That article notes most people can't make enough money from 15 hours of work to save up for retirement. I also wonder if "leisure" has to be redefined, since work and life blend so much online. What does 15 hours of work really mean in a knowledge work job?