![]() There are different four-day workweek models: from cutting one workday, reducing working hours and being paid the same wage to intense working hours, where five days’ worth of work is crammed into four longer shifts. “The pandemic has made it clear we can change how we work very dramatically the Great Resignation has seen companies look to new recruitment and retention tools.” “Recent changes to work have accelerated the four-day movement,” says California-based Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, programme director at non-profit organisation 4 Day Week Global, which advocates for a shorter workweek. However, the pandemic has caused a rethink for some leaders: there has been a huge uptick in the number of four-day workweek trials and announcements. But take-up of the four-day workweek has remained slow: by March 2020, a Gallup study of more than 10,000 US full-time employees showed only 5% worked a shorter week. “People began projecting, if we take out another workday, it’d be even better,” says Harter. The theory was largely proven correct: in the decades since, the five-day workweek has become common practice.īy the 1950s, however, there were calls from labour unions to introduce a four-day week. “Henry Ford’s theory was that five days, with the same pay, would increase worker productivity, in that people would put more effort into the shorter workweek,” says Jim Harter, chief scientist for workplace management and wellbeing at US analytics firm Gallup, based in Nebraska. In 1926, the Ford Motor Company standardised the Monday-to-Friday pattern beforehand, the common practice was a six-day workweek, with only Sundays off. That means that while the four-day workweek could bring many positives, for some, there might also be unexpected consequences.ĭebates over the length of the workweek are nothing new. And, as Camgöz found out, a rapid shift to a new working model can throw up issues – particularly if not everyone’s fully on board with the change. Faced with a tighter schedule, workers often must adapt to new practices and longer hours. Touted as a panacea for burnout and work stress, businesses and even governments have been experimenting with the idea preliminary results suggest potential benefits include better work-life balance and improved wellbeing – at no cost to employee productivity.īut while a workday is chopped from the calendar, the workload, in many cases, remains the same. Since the pandemic brought unprecedented change to the world of work, there’s been considerable discussion around the four-day workweek. Six months later, when he was offered a promotion, there was a condition he had to return to a five-day schedule. “Professionally, they were seeing less of me, so they thought they were getting less from me.” In the absence of clear feedback, he ended up unsure as to where exactly he stood. “I felt it was going well – but that feeling wasn’t matched by my line manager,” says Camgöz. However, some senior team members who preferred a conventional schedule were less happy with his working pattern. And it eased financial pressures: just that extra day at home meant I could save £400 a month in private childcare.” ![]() “I was grateful to be able to spend time with my son I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to. “On a Sunday evening, I’d go through my workload and allocate my time as best as possible.” But he says any trade-off was worth it. “It blurred the lines between home and work,” says Camgöz. In an always-on environment, he still had to be on call for emergencies on his day off, and also had to work longer hours on his working days to compensate. His day off rotated between Tuesdays and Wednesdays. ![]() Most importantly, for the recent father, he was able to spend more time with his child. He was still able to meet deadlines and stay on top of to-do lists, while enjoying an extra day off each week. The new schedule forced the London-based PR officer to organise his time better. When Koray Camgöz was granted a four-day workweek, the benefits seemed numerous.
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