Study Shows 5-Day Work Weeks Are Now A Thing Of The Past
(UnitedReader.com) – Most Americans have been working five days a week since Henry Ford introduced the idea a century ago in 1922. While the five-day work week seems like a good balance, many people still feel overworked or burnt out, which can lead to a decrease in production and profits. Businesses have found that shifting from a five-day work week to a four-day one could be a game changer.
Moving From Five to Four
Several companies have implemented the four-day work week, and all have had similar results: an increase in productivity leading to a boost in profits. According to CNBC, one of the companies, Lux, noted it didn’t inform clients of the experiment in order to test the efficacy of the four-day idea.
The Edinburgh-based company asserted that clients didn’t notice a change in the company’s effectiveness. Lux used an alternate shift pattern, having some employees work from Monday until Thursday and others work from Tuesday until Friday. The marketing company began its test in January 2020 and moved to permanent four-day work weeks in January 2022. Lux recorded a 24% increase in productivity while boosting profits by 30%.
Iceland has also moved its public workers to four-hour work weeks, which led to many residents working shorter schedules. Autonomy reported that 86% of the country’s working population has the ability to work four-day weeks if they so choose. Microsoft has implemented the working model in Japan, and Unilever has made the change in New Zealand. Big Potato Games reported a 350% increase in sales since beginning its four-day week in 2019.
Not Just About Productivity and Profits
While the companies undoubtedly enjoy the boost in productivity and profits, the employees enjoy the four-day work weeks because it allows them more time to unwind and relax, giving them a better work-life balance. In turn, the move reduces the amount of burnout employees feel during the week. Workers also enjoy the flexibility of having an extra day off.
In addition to increasing productivity and profits while decreasing employee burnout, companies have also noticed shorter work weeks have reduced their carbon footprints. Platform London and 4-Day Week campaign published a report in May of 2021 which details how the United Kingdom implementing the four-day work schedule by 2025 has the potential to cut the country’s carbon output by as much as 127 metric tons. To put that figure into perspective, it would be like taking 27 million vehicles off the road, around the same number of cars people living in the UK drive.
Not only does the shift reduce the carbon footprint of companies, but it also reduces the amount of gas people use to commute back and forth to work per week. With fuel prices as high as they are right now, that’s not a bad thing. So, the four-day work week isn’t just good for the company or employees, it’s good for the planet. Perhaps one day workers in the United States will see a similar shift.
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