Should we switch to 4 day work weeks?

Noreen has kind of an issue, guys -- her fiance has a 4-day work week and she doesn't. But, alas, stemming from this bitterness comes a whole new episode of "The Not-So-Scientific Method" in which she and Jamie take a closer look at a work week that's only four days long, and what kind of plus and minuses comes with it. The pluses? Extra day off for a weekend trip. Minuses? Well...they'll get back to you.

Articles Referenced:
TheConversation.com - "Economics of a four-day working week: research shows it can save businesses money"

MedicalDaily.com - "Are There Health Benefits To A 4-Day Workweek?"

News.OSU.edu - "Why a four-day workweek is not good for your health"

WeWork.com - "The pros and cons of a four-day workweek"

Today.YouGov.com - "Most Americans would prefer a four-day work week"

Transcript

Ask a Question (explain why we chose topic)

• What are the benefits of a 4 day work week
• In practice is it as efficient as it seems on paper

Research Background Info (present data and articles)

• “The Pros and Cons of a Four-Day Workweek” - WeWork article

• “Most People Would Prefer A 4 Day Work Week” - YouGovAmerica

• “Economics of a four-day working week: research shows it can save businesses money” - The Conversation academic article

• Medical Daily Graphic “Are There Health Benefits To A 4 Day Work Week?”
• “Why a 4 Day Work Week is Not Good for your Health” - Ohio State University Article
  
  
  

Hypothesis / Unique Angle (state our angle on the topic/data)

• The 4 day work week is more cost effective for the employer and stress-free for the employee
  
  
  

Analyze Data (deep dive into data)

“The Pros and Cons of a Four-Day Workweek” - WeWork article

• In recent years, the idea of the four-day workweek has been growing in popularity. It’s not hard to see why: Employees get an extra day off, and employers get a better-rested, more rejuvenated workforce.
• But lets take a look at the pros and cons of this idea
• What is the 4 day workweek
  • A typical four-day workweek consists of four 10-hour workdays (for 40 total work hours a week) and three full days off
  • Some companies, like Amazon, have experimented with 30-hour workweeks; others have tried four full workdays, or 32-hour workweeks.
• Are there pay restrictions for a four-day workweek?
  • For salaried, or exempt employees, a four-day workweek that still totals 40 hours would not change anything in terms of payroll.
  • But for nonexempt employees—those who are eligible for overtime—a four-day workweek can get tricky.
  • Overtime rules vary from state to state, and businesses that have satellite offices or remote employees will need to ensure that a four-day workweek won’t make them subject to overtime pay. 
    • For example, Alaska, California, and Nevada all mandate that employees be paid overtime for any hours worked beyond eight in a single day. That means that under a four-day workweek policy, employers would have to pay a nonexempt employee in one of those states eight hours of overtime each week.
• How to Handle Vacation for a 4 day work week
  • It may not make sense for every part of the company to work a four-day week, and some employees may even prefer a traditional schedule. But when workers are on two different schedules, doling out vacation time can be a challenge.
  • Typically, vacation time is defined by a total number of days or weeks, but that might not be the best option for a company that offers a four-day workweek. In this case, it may make more sense for employees to accrue vacation time in hours instead of days or weeks. For example, if a company typically gives employees two weeks of vacation each calendar year, the wording of that policy could be changed to the equivalent in hours, for example, 80 hours.
• Benefits to the Employee
  • If given the choice, 75 percent of workers would prefer to have a shorter workweek. Aside from having the luxury of a long weekend, there are several benefits to working just four days each week.
    • Reduced stress: About two-thirds of workers experience burnout on the job. Having an extra day to recharge can help to alleviate job-related pressures.
    • Better work-life balance: Employees at Perpetual Guardian, a trust management company in New Zealand, saw a 24 percent rise in work-life balance after the company instituted a four-day workweek. An extra day gave workers a chance to spend more time with friends and family, as well as to nurture hobbies and engage in leisure activities.
    • Increased happiness at work: When employees feel cared for by their employers, 94 percent have a positive sense of well-being. Offering employees flexibility makes them feel valued, which leads to greater job satisfaction.
• Benefits to the Employer
  • Less-stressed employees are a benefit to employers, too. These are some more four-day workweek benefits for employers: 
    • Increased productivity: When Microsoft Japan experimented with a four-day workweek in 2019, productivity jumped 40 percent. 
    • Better recruitment and retention: Workers—especially younger ones—value flexibility in the workplace. A recent study found that Gen Z sees flexibility as more important than health benefits when evaluating job opportunities. 
    • Less time away from work: When employees have an extra weekday off, they are more likely to schedule tasks like doctor appointments and trips to the post office on their day off. Giving workers an opportunity to take care of personal needs each week means they’ll take less time for them during the workday. 
• Four Day Workweek Disadvantages
  • While there are many advantages to a four-day workweek for employees and employers alike, there are drawbacks as well. These potential negative effects need to be thoroughly evaluated before introducing a shorter workweek.
    • Childcare challenges: For employees with babies and young children, a four-day workweek may present problems for those who depend on childcare. Daycare centers are usually open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and a 10-hour workday would typically end after most facilities have closed for the day. 
    • Long hours: A 10-hour workday is a long one, and not every worker has the stamina for it. Plus, working longer hours (more than 10 hours a day) has been shown to have negative impacts on employee health.  
    • Customer and client service problems: Customers and clients generally understand that employees aren’t going to respond to issues outside of regular work hours, but when something arises during a typical workday, it’s a different story. Someone at the organization needs to be available to address weekday issues. Ensuring that all areas have the necessary coverage each workday can require a lot of thought and smart scheduling.  
    • Impact on teams and projects: If employees’ days off are scattered, it may become difficult to schedule meetings and manage projects. Employees may also feel pressured to call in on their days off so they don’t miss out on important updates or appear uncommitted. 
• Is the 4 Day Work Week Right for You
  • A four-day workweek isn’t right for every business. Some workers prefer a standard five-day workweek. 
  • Smaller companies may not be able to operate with fewer people at work on a given day. 
  • And industries that need to be fully staffed at all times, like healthcare or transportation, may not have the ability to adjust schedules or hire workers to fill the extra days.

...so how do the weebs feel about this

Most Americans Would Prefer A 4 Day Work Week

• Everybody’s working for the weekend, but what if the weekend was a little bit longer? 
• New data from YouGov finds that most Americans would prefer a four-day workweek with longer hours, rather than the traditional five-day workweek.

• A recent poll of more than 36,000 Americans finds that 67 percent would prefer a four-day workweek with 10-hour days rather than the traditional five-day workweek with 8-hour days. 
• About one in five (21%) would prefer a five-day workweek. 

• Across income groups, majorities say they would prefer a four-day workweek with 10-hour days. 
• But those with an annual household income of $80,000 or more are especially likely to say they’d prefer this: 76% of this group would rather have a four-day workweek. 
• Seven in 10 (70%) households with an income between $40,000 and $80,000 annually agree, along with 61% of people who have a household income below $40,000.
• Close to a quarter (23%) of those with an income below $40,000 per year say they would prefer a five-day workweek. 
• Fewer than one in five (17%) Americans making $80,000 or more annually says the same. 
• A YouGov poll from 2017 found that 36 percent of Americans believed that they would be more productive with a four-day workweek. 
• Those with a household income of $80,000 or more (42%) were especially likely to say they’d be more productive with a four-day workweek. 
• In this survey, 21 percent of Americans said they would be no more or less productive, while 8 percent said they would be less productive.

“Economics of a four-day working week: research shows it can save businesses money” - The Conversation academic article

• The idea of a four-day working week is gaining momentum. 
• The Labour Party has included it in its 2019 electoral manifesto, and Microsoft Japan announced positive results from a trial run earlier in 2019.
• The authors of this article found in their research that the benefits of a four-day working week, without loss of pay, can outweigh the cons for both businesses and staff. 
  • They surveyed a number of businesses that have already adopted the four-day working week and found that they were making savings of almost £92 billion (around 2% of total turnover) each year.
  • Just over half (51%) of the respondents thought that the four-day working week enabled them to save costs. 
  • Of those, 62% say their staff take fewer days off sick, 63% say they produce better quality work, and 64% are more productive. 
  • Their research also outlines that the businesses who haven’t yet implemented a four-day week could save around £12 billion by moving to one. 
  • If you add this to the savings made by businesses that already implement a four-day week, you’d get a total combined saving of roughly £104 billion a year.
• It is interesting to note that these positive results square with the evidence provided by Microsoft Japan. 
• In its trial in August 2019, 2,300 employees were given a paid Friday off each week. 
• The company reported an impressive 40% increase in the productivity of employees in the month (measured against August 2018). 
• But other measures were also adopted to improve productivity, for example a significant reduction in the time and number of meetings and encouragement to use online platforms for collaboration.
  • On their day off, workers were encouraged to volunteer, learn and train. 
  • Or simply rest to improve their productivity and creativity. 
  • After five consecutive Fridays off the company reported a sales rise by nearly 40%, the company’s electricity consumption dropped by 23% and there was a 59% reduction in the printing of paper pages. 
  • This experiment suggests the arrangement might be applicable to larger corporations and in one of the countries most affected by a workaholic culture.
• Other companies have implemented the four-day working week and also reported an increment in staff productivity. 
  • One example is Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand estate management firm that adopted the policy in November 2018. 
  • The company ran a pre and post-trial survey across employees and found that productivity was unharmed by the shortened work week, while staff work-life balance had improved by 24%, sense of empowerment by 20%, leadership and commitment levels respectively by 22% and 20%, and stimulation by 22%.
• In the research they have also highlighted that the benefits of this arrangement aren’t just for businesses and the world of work. 
• An extra day off could have a knock-on effect for the wider society. 
  • We found 54% of employees said they would spend their day shopping, meaning a potential boost for the high street, 43% would go to the cinema or theatre and 39% would eat out at restaurants.
  • We also see potential environmental benefits to a shorter working week. 
  • In addition to the reduction of energy and paper use experienced by Microsoft Japan, we think that fewer journeys to and from work provides a potentially large green dividend with less fuel consumption and a reduction in pollution.
• Challenges:
  • The hottest question now is: can this work arrangement be easily translated into a change in legislation such as the one proposed by the Labour Party? 
  • In its annual conference the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said that if the party wins the election, it will reduce the average working week to 32 hours within ten years.
  • One of the main challenges outlined by our research is that the four-day working week can be difficult to implement in service industries where customer demands need to be met, and particularly for smaller businesses. 
  • It would also imply a significant change in public services like teaching and nursing. But Labour did recognise that different sectors will need to respond in different ways.
  • Meanwhile, research by the Centre for Policy Studies, a centre-right think tank, also found that reducing the hours of public sector employees would mean at best a £17 billion cost for the Treasury and at worst a possible £45 billion cost, assuming no increase in productivity and a need to expand the workforce in public services.
  • But the main point is that any legislation change should not just focus on reducing time but also to find ways for employees to enhance their productivity when they are working. Time reduction should be seen as both the conduit and the outcome of increased productivity.

Medical Daily Graphic “Are There Health Benefits To A 4 Day Work Week?”

“Why a 4 Day Work Week is Not Good for your Health” - Ohio State University Article

• Long hours can lead to stress, injury and illness
  • The primary problem with the idea is that whatever work needs to be done, needs to get done in the same amount of total time. 
  • Despite wishes to the contrary, there are still only 24 hours in a day.
    I totally understand this, i think employers will 1. Be like ~we scratch your back you scratch ours~ and expect more work out of you in less time. Meaning 10 hour days turn to 12 and the stress is not exactly gone like it should. Kind of like when you have a holiday weekend and all of a sudden that week is always the busiest week of your life. 
  • Professors at THE OSU performed a study showing that the risk of suffering an industrial accident is raised by 37 percent for employees working more than 12 hours in a day. 
    • The risk is 61 percent higher for people in “overtime” shifts. Working more than 60 hours in a week is related to an additional injury risk of 23 percent. As the hours worked in those schedules increase, the risks grow accordingly.
  • Dr. Xiaoxi Yao, a OSU professor who is now at the Mayo Clinic, recently performed another study using 32 years of work-hour information to analyze the relationship between long working hours over many years and the risk of being diagnosed with a chronic disease later in life. We found that the dangers were quite substantial, especially for women.
    • Women working more than 60 hours per week, equivalent to 12 hours per day, were more than three times as likely to eventually suffer heart disease, cancer, arthritis or diabetes, and more than twice as likely to have chronic lung disease or asthma, as women working a conventional 40-hour workweek. Working just a bit more, an average of 41 to 50 hours per week, over many years appeared to substantially increase the long-term risk of disease.
    • These studies show that not all hours are created equal. The research suggests that harm may occur past a certain point. A four-day week causes workers to squeeze more hours than usual into a day. 
    • For workers who are already prone to overwork, the additional burden of compressing five days into four could literally break the camel’s – or worker’s – back.
• Long Hours can also affect mental health and personal life
  • Moreover, just squeezing five days of 10-hour-a-day work into a compressed 40-hour schedule can create more rigidity and reduced flexibility for families and children. 
  • For example, if the two additional work hours per day are added onto a conventional day schedule that begins in the morning at approximately 8 or 9 a.m. and extends into the late afternoon hours at about 4 to 5 p.m., then many working parents will lose the ability to interact with their children just at the “prime time” of about 5 to 7 p.m. when kids otherwise would be most likely to be in the house and potentially available to socialize with their siblings and parents – before their bedtime arrives.
  • Many people can barely squeeze in JUST working M-F, checking emails over the weekend, catching up on work during the weekends. That will likely still occur with a 4 day weekend, and the math indicates we will all work longer hours in the long run.