Banking executive here and leader of a large team (over 800 people). I did not read the article but do think these changes can work, however there would not need to be a change to the market or retail availability but in stead a rotation/scheduling mindset shift.
I manage retail bankers today over a six-day week in most locations. While we are open six days, bankers work five with a day off mid-week to adjust for the Saturday’s that they do work. If you apply that same mentality to this situation (and for all businesses, not just retail) then companies can continue to operate M-F but the teams rotate their schedule to support the four-day approach.
For example, you could have a team A that works M-Th and a team B that works T-F during the first and third weeks of the month and then the opposite schedule during the even weeks of a month. This would actually get me a four-day weekend from Th-Tu at regular intervals too.
This is just one example, but the point is retail businesses can (and do) operated 6-7 days a week now with five-day schedules so corporate & manufacturing companies would need to be willing to adjust to different schedules and rotations so they can still operate 5-days but not with the same team every single day.
For me personally, this is hard to imagine because I work 6 days a week and easily 55-60 hours a week now, BUT when we have a three-day weekend like Memorial Day I actually do not work for two straight days and the mental health benefits are immense. Making this sort of change for the broader employee base would help with mental and physical health, happiness and yes I think increase productivity overall.
I’ve worked 4 10’s at a former employer. Half of us worked Mon-Thurs & the other half Tues-Friday so we always had someone in the office during business hours. I really miss the extra day off every week. Was great for trips or doing projects around the house.
Ah ok. That’s a bit different. In a way I think 4 10’s was almost more productive because the first 30 minutes and last 30 minutes or so of the workday are sometimes ramping up and ramping down time. So you’re cutting that out 1 day a week. But the days do get long so there is that loss of productivity associated with that. If 4 8’s was to happen here, I would think it would come with a pay cut. Just can’t imagine businesses in the US agreeing to basically give everyone a day of PTO every week.
The challenge would be for your standard office job that is M-F and maybe in some cases manufacturing, although a lot of those jobs are shift based anyway so you rotate shifts and days too so maybe it’s not a big change in that regard.
To the point of 4x8 hour days vs 4x10, the goal would be productivity. If the average worker is more productive and happier over a 32 hour week I would absolutely take that vs unhappy employees working 40 hours would end up leaving. The cost of hiring and training talent is immense so if this helps retention and productivity at the same time then I’m all for it.
I see the value I’m just not sure we can get our system to make that shift on a total scale. I also assume that means anything over 32 hrs is OT. That hit to manufacturing would be real.
For companies already stretched and finding it difficult to hire basically cutting 8 hrs out of production or adding OT hours to make up for that will hit consumer prices.
I think you have correctly identified a snag, but I think this also realizes that there is so much automation in manufacturing jobs already with more to come. Regardless of how many days per week staff works, efficiencies in that industry have (for decades) and will continue to occur in automation. Oddly this may pair up better with the existing steady downsizing of human labor in manufacturing.
A lot of manufacturing facilities that run 24-7 have gone to 12 hour shifts. This allows them to run around the clock without having an odd weekend shift setup. KInd of the same schedule nurses and police officers work.
I also wanna say that most of us have lived through an era of hyper productivity. Contrary to common perception, people, prior to the real onset of the industrial revolution over the last 100 or so years, never worked as hard on average, especially as many hours, as recent generations have. Yes, planting and harvesting seasons were intense sun up to sundown bursts of work, but the rest of the year was much more idyllic. For the longest time - professionals (lawyers, bankers, doctors, etc) kept very strict (limited) hours… Ever heard of “bankers hours”. Until the 1980s, no lawyer with any sense would be in the office past lunch on a Friday and many skipped that day altogether. And so on.
I am no sociologist, but I have read enough to realize that the long amounts of mental and associated emotional strain (I would say moreso than physical strain because few jobs are really that physically demanding anymore) along with the near necessity of dual incomes in a household, have taken their toll on the mental health and well being of the modern family. I’m dangerously close to some other issues of the day here, but if you want a more stable, relaxed, and mentally healthy society (along with the potential for those that want it to be more physically fit), this is an example of a potential solution.
I think that this is a very different mindset than most of us were raised on and so it will encounter a lot of resistance even if these kinds of studies actually prove out the hypothesis instead of bombing (they could go either way, but I have a sneaking suspicion which way this will fall). So I don’t know that any change could be rapid, but I would welcome it. Because I do think it will make people and family units healthier and happier. And that’s a good thing.
I think the two road blocks are the we need to be “open” for the traditional 5 day work week locations which for some areas can be covered just by moving shifts around and keeping the 5 day week while workers work 4. And the 32 hr OT vs 40 OT. To me those are the two challenges.
Not sure how much it would help productivity, but having a day off during the week where you could run errands, schedule appointments, etc. when most businesses and offices are open would reduce a lot of stress.
Another snag would be schools, though you might be able to lengthen the school year to adjust (not sure if that’s better or not).
A lot of other countries are on “year round” school, though the kids get more of the long breaks like our Xmas / winter breaks. I could see a future where kids are in school 4 days a week for more of the year.
I’m spamming this thread because it interests me, but I appreciate all the responses. I’ll try to lay off a bit because I do enjoy reading opinions. This is a very “out there” concept for Americans.
I am still very curious what most of you would do with the extra day especially if it allowed you to change demanding routines in your lives.
My sister was an AP at a year round school and they have some educational value as well. Biggest issue is many teachers on traditional schedules get summer jobs as they are not paid during the summer. If you push them to year round school you actually are taking money out of their pocket so teacher pay - which needs to go up anyway, would need to be increased accordingly.
I love the idea, we could probably make it work but it’s gonna take awhile to get there without having some pretty drastic impact on prices and supply.
I love the idea of a 4 day work week. With that stated, I wonder what you all think about the following if this were to happen:
will the Family be happier? Spending more time together could be more disastrous for a family for some but for others the extra time will be really helpful.
will this put more families into debt? The extra day creates more opportunities to spend more money. Will we be frugal enough to not create more debt than we already have?
I’m in IT. I do actually work that much right now and have for a couple years but expect it to cool down a bit in a couple months. My company has had most of IT in a massive project that had a time constraint due to an upcoming construction project that has had the entire IT division running and gunning for two years. Throw a couple decent size mergers and a massive change in application program over that same two years span and you have LOTS of work to do.
