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Where did the five-day, 40-hour workweek start? -

According to How Stuff Works, it became the standard in the US with the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, which was meant to improve conditions and pay for manufacturing workers. While it accomplished its goal, 40-hour workweeks became the default for most other jobs.

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But things are changing -

Putting in 40 hours does not guarantee work is getting done, nor does it guarantee proper working conditions, especially in the information age.

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Increasingly important in work-centric cultures - The US and South Korea, for example, spend far more hours at the office than other economically competitive countries, and, according to the OECD, Americans average 1,786 work hours a year, which is 423 more than Germans and over 100 more than Japanese.

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Long hours are taking their toll -

It’s gotten to a point where people in South Korea are paying to go to a mock prison just to escape their work lives.

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The truth about working eight hours a day -

According to various studies, the average number of hours in an eight-hour day that are actually productive is just under three!

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What is happening in those other five hours? -

Pointless meetings, unproductive emails and phone calls, co-worker discussions and disruptions, preparing and eating food, getting coffee, reading news websites, and social media are all culpable.

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Many people don’t believe they need eight hours -

A 2018 survey by The Workforce Institute found that 45% of global workers across eight countries think it should only take five hours a day to do their job, if they’re uninterrupted.

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People are willing to take a pay cut -

In the same study, 35% of workers said they’d take a 20% pay-cut to work one day less per week. However, those numbers vary by country, as 50% of workers in Mexico, 43% in India, and 42% in France would take that arrangement compared with only 29% in Canada and 24% in the US.

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The Microsoft study getting attention -

At the end of 2019, Microsoft released a study showing that productivity at its Japan offices increased by 40% after the company required workers to take every Friday off, while still paying their full salaries.

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A massive shift -

Coming from one of the world's biggest tech companies, the argument for a shortened workweek gained momentum, as it proved not just better for workers, but also for business.

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Microsoft wasn't the first -

In 2018, a New Zealand trustee services firm called Perpetual Guardian tried a similar approach for two months, allowing its 250 employees to work four days but get paid for five.

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Their results were the same -

Like Microsoft, the company saw great improvements not only in productivity, but also in stress levels and job satisfaction among workers.

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One surprise -

Andrew Barnes, founder of Perpetual Guardian, had guessed that less work hours would mean more efficiency, but what he was surprised to hear was that people said working four days instead of five helped them better handle their workload.

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They cemented the 100/80/100 system -

The two-month trial was such a success that Perpetual Guardian permanently switched to what Barnes calls a "100/80/100" system: 100% pay, 80% hours, 100% productivity.

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Employees even get to choose how to divvy it up -

Unlike Microsoft Japan, which dictated when its workers could take their day off (Fridays), Perpetual Guardian lets its workers decide which day to drop, or they can just work fewer hours every day.

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There are different models to the four-day workweek -

Some consist of cramming 40 hours into four 10-hour days, but this hasn't shown better results. Reducing the workweek one day's worth of hours, on the premise that the workers will be more focused in the remaining hours, is the more popular choice.

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The four-day, 32-hour week is much more beneficial -

It may sound absurd at first to pay for 40 hours but have people work for only 32, but it repeatedly boasts material improvements in productivity, lower turnover rates, lower sickness rates, and more.

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It's a simple philosophy -

When we are healthy and enjoying our lives, we naturally perform better. We don’t need to indulge in distractions, we don’t need so many sick days, and we can focus better in shorter amounts of time.

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Other benefits of the four-day workweek -

It could also re-distribute the available secure work to those who desperately need more work, reducing unemployment and underemployment.

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Other benefits of the four-day workweek - Four-day workweeks would also provide time to balance out the gender disparity in unpaid work, as studies show that women do 60% more than men when it comes to crucial unpaid work like taking care of children, relatives, and everyday domestic chores.

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So how do you get it started? -

Andrew Barnes’s 2020 book, ‘The 4 Day Week: How the Flexible Work Revolution Can Increase Productivity, Profitability and Wellbeing, and Create a Sustainable Future,' says the changes can’t be top-down.

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Put the change in the staff's hands -

At Perpetual Guardian, because the employees were incentivized to find a solution for themselves, to ensure the company still functions while allowing people time off, their business model and job satisfaction was strengthened.

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Caveats! -

Critics of the four-day week say that it only applies to white-collar office jobs stuck in an outdated nine-to-five, Monday through Friday mindset, which leaves out many other jobs.

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Other approaches - Jody Thompson, co-creator of the Results Only Work Environment(ROWE) system, thinks the discussion should be shifted away from work hours and location to instead focus exclusively on results.

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Can less hours really mean more productivity across the board? -

Obviously it’s a generalized statement, but Thompson rejects the four-day workweek’s theory in favor of the ROWE system.

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The ROWE system -

This system lets workers decide when, where, and how they work, and they are only paid for achieving defined results or output rather than how many hours they worked.

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A balance of autonomy and accountability -

The theory with the ROWE system is that when people are working on their own time, they’ll be less likely to waste it. In addition to increasing productivity, people will be healthier, and they’ll be more incentivized to develop better ways of working.

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Results are a common goal across all jobs -

By prioritizing results, the system works across a greater range of jobs. Employees in office jobs also get the added perks of not having to request to leave early, work from home, or even go on vacation.

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It sounds great, but requires more work to implement -

ROWE has to be specifically designed for the company’s individual needs with clearly defined goals, and it also means giving up the old notion that the best employees are the ones who are always at their desks.

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Restructuring our relationship to work -

Parkinson's Law states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion,” and it stands true that the five-day, 40-hour workweek is an entirely unnecessary expansion for most of us.

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Spain plans 37.5-hour workweek by the end of 2025 -

Recently, the Spanish government has made strides toward implementing a historic labor reform by reducing the standard workweek from 40 to 37.5 hours, while keeping salaries unchanged. Labor and Social Economy Minister Yolanda Díaz is spearheading this initiative to enhance employee well-being and increase productivity.

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Spain plans 37.5-hour workweek by the end of 2025 -

Originally, the plan was to introduce a gradual reduction in working hours, but, due to ongoing delays, Díaz advocated for an immediate shift to a 37.5-hour workweek. The revised schedule is set to be fully implemented by December 31, 2025, allowing businesses to adjust in 2026.

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Iceland felt the same way -

Iceland ran trials of a four-day workweek from 2015 to 2019, during which workers were paid the same amount for shorter hours. The results showed "overwhelming success," the BBC reports. According to researchers, productivity remained the same or improved in the majority of workplaces, and now 86% of Iceland's workforce have either moved to shorter hours for the same pay, or they will gain the right to do so.

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Iceland felt the same way -

The reports of workers feeling healthier and experiencing a better work-life balance while maintaining productivity, particularly in the public sector, is a huge step toward progressive change. Will Stronge, director of research at Autonomy, says, "It shows that the public sector is ripe for being a pioneer of shorter working weeks—and lessons can be learned for other governments."
Spain, Finland, Japan, and many other countries have conducted trials as well. 

Sources: (Wall Street Journal) (The Workforce Institute) (BBC)

See also: Office romances—the do's and don'ts

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