Can the Four-Day Workweek Actually Work in the U.S.?
A four-day work week…Boy, that sounds nice, doesn’t it?
Over decades, it has been a recurring organizational hot-button topic. Every several years, a new study, trial or experiment presents freshly-discovered information or data that invariably points to the fact that it could actually work.
So why do those conversations always fade away with so few private and public sector organizations actually making the shift?
Indeed, the concept is again in focus among HR experts and professionals, this time because New Zealand estate planning and wealth management firm Perpetual Guardian recently shared its findings from a first-of-its-kind four-day workweek experiment.
To be fair, this is hardly the first time a company offers this type of scheme to its staff. Labor experts, especially, have been studying and advocating such approaches since the 1970s. Companies including Amazon, Deloitte and Google, have trialed varying versions of the four-day workweek, especially over the past decade.
Generally, companies testing or offering four-day workweeks implement pay cuts to match the fewer hours worked or, alternately, will compress the standard 40 hours into fewer days. Perpetual Guardian’s study was radical because while the company reduced schedules to 32 hours over four days, it still paid full-week wages.
The result: Employee productivity increased by 24%, with a small-to-substantial uptick in employee satisfaction, work-life balance, team engagement, collaboration and even job performance, while stress levels lowered.
That, and considering that at an average 47 hours a week Americans work more than their counterparts in any other developed country, many in the U.S. presumably must now wonder how “implementable” the four-day workweek would be at their companies.
Proponents point to the soundness of the relevant science and research. For instance, a Stanford University meta-analysis of 228 studies found that working full-time can be bad for the brain and mental health. Other analyses document productivity hits when employees overwork.
In fact, most studies lead experts to conclude that a five-day workweek with long hours is sub-optimal.
In 2008, to curb energy costs, improve air quality, ensure needed services, and assist state employee recruitment and retention, Utah’s governor incorporated a four-day workweek for all state employees. Three years later, the state canceled the plan arguing the savings never materialized.
That failure has fed some critics of the four-day plan. Yet, there were many positives, including saving the state millions elsewhere, reducing traffic and decreasing emissions.
Most revealing, though, was that 80% of employees were happier when it was in effect, while two-thirds reported that they were more productive and with a better work-life balance.
Some experts, however, counter that cutting a workday could be harmful, particularly to health. These critiques, however, apply to working fewer days but the same number of hours – like doing four 10-hour days in place of five eight-hour days.
Based on the research, that makes sense. Working regular 10-hour shifts would counter many of the purported benefits of working fewer days a week, such as increased productivity and reduced stress.
Ultimately, though, there is a key reason that the four-day workweek will likely never catch on in the American mainstream – and it has nothing to do with science or research. It’s about culture.
A resounding theme in America is “work hard, play hard.” Indeed, the five-day workweek is so culturally ingrained – the standard for more than a century – that it is unlikely to change soon.
Moreover, scientific and operational benefits to a shorter workweek aside, many executives will struggle to overcome the fear of putting their company at a disadvantage against competitors who reject the transition.
Nevertheless, as many companies in the U.S. have proved, it can still be done.
The key is to find balance. A successful company-wide transition requires support from the entire staff; everyone needs to be on board with the new schedule, and prepared to commit to finding and introducing new, more productive ways to do their jobs.
At Perpetual Guardian, all agreed to reduce meetings from two hours to 30 minutes, and employees created signals for their colleagues to know when not to disturb them.
At the end of the day, a four-day workweek can succeed. Enter the cliché, it’s about “working smarter, not harder.”
