Four-day workweek: Why idea of shorter hours gains support
Technology can make us feel busier than ever. But in theory it can liberate. Labor-union leaders and others envision the rise of shorter workweeks.
Technology can make us feel busier than ever. But in theory it can liberate. Labor-union leaders and others envision the rise of shorter workweeks.
In 1930, British economist John Maynard Keynes聽predicted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40% boost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 鈥渓eisure dividend鈥� to compensate workers for their increased productivity. The 2019聽manifesto聽of Britain鈥檚 Labour Party advances a similar proposal.
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whose time has come.