“Generally speaking, workflex variations are one of the least expensive ways to make employees happier.” ~Liz Supinski, director of research and product, SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Management)
The idea of a four-day workweek isn’t any epiphanous moment for 21st-century corporates. The approach has been advocated by labor experts as a productivity-enhancing tool since the 1920s. The founder of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford was the first to adopt a 40-hour workweek instead of the 60-hour workweek practice prevalent in the 1920s. Trials are already underway all over to gauge the feasibility of the shorter workweeks.
The World’s Experiments with 4-day Workweeks
For instance, 4-day workweeks are fast gaining traction in well-known organizations such as Google, Microsoft and many others. Google gives its engineers 20 percent of their workweek, which amounts to one full workday, to do whatever they please. There’s no denying that newer technologies, especially cloud-based ones, allow room for a reduction in employee working hours. Businesses are adopting the concept as a part of their employee-centric policies.
New Zealand has become the first country to actively push for a 4-day workweek. President Jacinda Ardern is urging the organizations in her country to adopt the 4-day workweek practice as she feels it would provide more leisure time to the people and ensure greater productivity in return while boosting domestic tourism. Other regions either experimenting or adopting this practice include Europe, Australia, and America. Hundreds of companies in the UK have adopted the 4-day workweek practice as an integral part of their work culture.
In India, debates and discussions have been doing the corporate rounds for quite some time. However, we are yet to see a full-fledged practical implementation. Industries are still trying to accurately determine the implications of the 4-day workweek practice in India. The Indian corporate scene is in a state of inertia as to its adoption. Current times have already made organizations push their boundaries with respect to physical workspaces and work from home culture.
Most industry experts see it as an inflection point in work practice trends. But compressed week culture is still in its beta phase and some time away from being accepted as a mainstream practice even in developed nations like the USA. Along with the enthusiasm, a lingering sense of apprehension is quite evident, probably due to the cultural and institutional barriers privy to each country and the cliched notion that productivity is proportional to the number of working hours.
Still, the hype surrounding the shorter workweek practice isn’t all a bubble, we have ample examples to believe it to be worthy of great advantages. Let’s have a look:
Productivity and Customer service
Studies and research across the globe are positive on the impact the practice can have on productivity and employee satisfaction. Microsoft tried the 4-day workweek experiment in Japan and reported a 40% increase in productivity and a 23% fall in electricity costs. SHRM’s June 2019 Leave and Flexible Working report states that while four-day workweeks are still relatively uncommon, organizations that have implemented them report no decrease in productivity or revenue as a result.
Andrew Barnes, the founder of Perpetual Guardian – a New Zealand based financial services firm – wrote in his book 4 Day Week about a 4-day workweek experiment conducted in his firm. His findings showed that with the practice in place, the employees experienced a better balance between work and life, had greater job satisfaction, and improved health due to lower stress levels. Barnes quotes,
“For Perpetual Guardian, revenue and profitability have risen 6% and 12.5% respectively; job performance, team creativity, and staff retention increased, too. The offices never closed down; they just had fewer people working there.”
However, the same experiment showed declining productivity in some employees who found it stressful to fulfill obligations within a shorter time frame. Customer services, to some extent, were hampered too. All over the world, different permutations and combinations of the 4-day workweek are being adopted. As such, there is no conclusive evidence that this practice, if adopted, would prove a panacea for all employee troubles.
Health
As per The Future of the Working Week Study, six in 10 office workers join work-related calls, send emails or instant messages for work purposes outside their preferred working hours every day.
With boundaries between the office and home blurring (though not in the WorkWell way we encourage at Max Estates) and a cut-throat competitive corporate environment, employees often take extra up the workload and experience humongous pressure. Naturally, with the opportunity to rest, a healthier and happier workforce should follow. A two-year experiment conducted in Sweden on nurses had them working for 30 hours a week (5 days). The results showed them to be happier and healthier than their counterparts who worked for 40 hours a week.
The flexibility to decide how, when, and where of work would further reduce stress levels and pressure. A better work-life balance may go a long way in promoting the health and well-being of employees.
A shorter week doesn’t mean lesser working hours. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all time-based solution’ to serve every industry need. For instance, hospitality and retail sectors might not be suited for the shorter workweek culture owing to their constant customer support requirements. Some might employ the workers for the same number of hours for 4 days while others might bring in the concept of a ‘compressed week’. Instead of the usual 40 hours spread over 5 days, employees would need to work 10 hours each for the 4 days in the workweek.
Compressed workweeks are offered by one-third of organizations, and four-day workweeks of 32 hours or less are offered by 15% (up from 12% in 2018), according to SHRM. In such cases, the stress and pressure might lead to anxiety among the employees and even affect their health adversely.
Environmental impact
Studies have also shown how the 4-day workweek arrangement is greener and more sustainable. The Microsoft Japan experiment of 2019 showed a 23% rise in cost savings.
A 2012 study by the Henley Business School reported that a four-day workweek would have employees driving around 560 million fewer miles every week, reducing traffic and emissions. Companies that adopted this practice have been better able to control their carbon footprint through lower space requirements, energy savings, and optimum resource usage.
What about the employee side of things?
An important workweek study conducted in France showed that a shorter workweek of 35 hours had people spending their newfound free time on activities with low environmental impacts.
Trends and Policies: The Indian Context
7 in 10 Indian employees feel they are facing an overtime epidemic – there is a growing call for a 4-day working week, but the reality is that 77% respondents feel they are closer to working a six-day week” ~Ravindra Kelkar, area vice-president, sales and services, Indian subcontinent, Citrix
As HR functions across sectors would agree, considerable costs go into procuring the right talent and training them. Flexible work practices can go a long way in ensuring employee loyalty and organizational goodwill. LinkedIn’s 2020 Global Talent Trends survey notes:
“As we enter the 2020s, empathy will reshape the way employers hire and retain talent.”
Though worldwide, we see the 4-day workweek concept becoming popular, the Indian case is different. The concept is still seen with skepticism. A workweek in India amounts to 50 hours with no stringent labor laws in place. In my experience, according to anecdotal evidence, employees feel that the concept is ‘at least 5 years away in India’ with their workweek stretching to almost six days.
A global survey by Kronos in 2018 highlighted several critical pointers about India with respect to the world:
India has the most hard-working workforce. 69% of the employees say that they would work for 5 days a week, even if they were being given the same pay for fewer workdays.
66% feel maximum pressure to work for extended hours. Often, this pressure is internalized for want of growth or monetary benefit.
Despite the findings, another study claims that a whopping 97% of the workers, if given the opportunity, would like to switch to the new 4-day workweek practice.
The current work schedules have forced all of us to work from home, further degrading work-life balance and adding to the stress. Globally, the 4-day workweek concept is gaining traction and will continue to rise as tech advancements eliminate human labor from mundane office tasks.
Indian startups and small and medium scale organizations can prove to be the torchbearers of this change. Hopefully, four-day workweeks will prompt a broader conversation about the idea of working well.
