The turn to a four-day work week could soon be more than just a dream, as countries around the globe are testing the concept and finding overwhelmingly positive results.
Among the countries to experiment with moving from a five to a four-day work week include Ireland, South Africa, the UK, Spain, Japan, Iceland, and Belgium. In total, dozens of countries have tested the new work schedule, with a CNBC report from earlier this year finding that businesses saw productivity, morale, and team culture improve.
These are only the latest experiments in attempting to better the lives of the working class, and experts like Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, global programs and research manager with 4 Day Week Global and the author of “Shorter: Work Better, Smarter and Less – Here’s How,” think that when it comes to the U.S. making the change, it’s only a matter of when not how.
Pang spoke with KCBS News Radio, sharing that the pandemic has “increased the desire” for new kinds of work and shown that companies can adapt faster and more profoundly than previously thought.
“A lot of companies, sort of, discovered that, during lockdown, they could be a lot more efficient or productive. That they could use collaborative tools and remote work to improve productivity,” Pang shared. “But also they discovered that there was a real need to rethink and change how organizations work and kind of rethink the place of work in everybody’s life.”
The five-day workweek has not always been the standard in America, as it became the law of the land in the 1930s. In fact, before five days became the norm, Americans were working far more than the now-typical 40 hours a week, a common point brought up when discussing shortening work standards again.
So far, no country has fully adopted the four-day workweek, but four are experimenting with the reduced schedule more so than others.
South Africa currently has more than 500 employees at 28 companies participating in its four-day workweek trial. The test began in March and is set to continue until September. The test is being run by the same group that helped the U.K. organize its six-month trial last summer and Pang’s company, 4 Day Week Global.
The group notes that the test uses a 100-80-100 model, where employees work for 100% of their pay, do 80% of their hours, and deliver 100% of their usual output.
When it comes to the trial in the U.K., Pang says that the key findings showed that more than “70% of employees” reported fewer feelings of burnout, they were less stressed, they felt their mental improve, and also said they felt better equipped to manage their daily work.
Belgium has implemented more than other countries, as it announced a reform package in early 2022, which gives workers the right to work four days instead of five without losing any salary. This new law went into effect in November 2022, Bloomberg reported.
Belgium’s law is different from the experiment in South Africa, as workers are still expected to maintain the same amount of hours, only in four days. Employers are also able to turn down an employee’s request, being that they submit their refusal in writing and provide good reasons for the decision.
Iceland was among the first countries in the world to start testing shorter workweeks, launching one of the largest four-day workweek pilots from 2015 to 2019, seeing almost 2,500 people participate.
The trial has been deemed an “overwhelming success” by researchers who said the benefits helped employees in their personal and professional lives.
Japan’s government released its annual economic policy guidelines in 2021, and, in it, the government recommended companies allow their employees to opt into a four-day workweek, The Washington Post reported.
Since the recommendation, several companies have experimented with shorter workweeks, including Microsoft and Panasonic, which shifted their employees in Japan to working four days a week in 2019 and 2022, respectively.
Overall, when it comes to how researchers view the different tests globally, Pang says that an overwhelming majority of those who participated found no negative results but positive experiences for both employee and employer.
“Both for individual workers and for organizations, the four-day week proved to be something that delivered both personal or collective benefits without sacrifices of output or productivity,” Pang said.
Down the Audacy app and follow 97.1 FM Talk.
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok
Related
Related
