Four-day workweek: Why idea of shorter hours gains support
Jacob Turcotte/Staff
In 1930, British economist John Maynard Keynes聽聽that, a century hence, rising productivity would shrink the average workweek to just 15 hours. Needless to say, his prediction was a bit off.
But maybe Keynes鈥� ideas weren鈥檛 as far-fetched as they sound. A growing number of businesses are experimenting with a four-day, 32-hour workweek, with mixed success. Microsoft鈥檚 Japan subsidiary tried it in the summer of 2019, and reported a聽聽in worker productivity. But when the Portland, Oregon, tech education company Treehouse tried it in 2015, the CEO remarked that the reduced working hours killed his 鈥渨ork ethic.鈥�
Since then AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka proposed a 鈥溾�� to compensate workers for their increased productivity. The 2019聽聽of Britain鈥檚 Labour Party advances a similar proposal.
Why We Wrote This
For many people a 鈥渇ull-time job鈥� provides much needed income, even a sense of purpose. But could those needs be supplied without such long work hours? It鈥檚 a long-standing question that we revisit in illustrated form.
Would a four-day, 32-hour workweek actually work? Many business owners, concerned with foreign competition, remain skeptical. But many workers鈥� advocates and environmentalists say it would be a change for the better. Even some historians, like Dutch author Rutger Bregman, say that the three-day weekend is an idea聽.