By Gillian Seely
In the beginning, the boss created the workweek. It was five days long. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and a great darkness covered the earth. After much conferring, the State of Utah said, “Let there be Friday (off)!”, and the state employees celebrated and gave thanks…and people around the nation and beyond were jealous and cried out in revolt…and then it started to catch on.
The four day workweek makes fantastic sense. In a nutshell, less time spent commuting leads to: a clear decrease in local traffic, pollution, and gas expenses for employees; lower utility bills for companies; more time for families to be together and go on vacation (leading to a possible decrease in the divorce rate and instances of juvenile delinquency); and an almost instant morale boost, which will likely increase the productivity of a company.
What’s the catch? If there is one, it might be that on days one through four, employees may be asked to work ten hour days instead of the standard nine-to-five shift. And there will almost certainly be people within the structure of a company who, for logistical reasons, cannot be out of the office on a Friday. The solution? Friday doesn’t have to be the day off for everyone. Companies facing this kind of dilemma can schedule their operations so there is someone in the office five days a week, and peoples’ designated day off can vary from week to week.
Further supporting the case is the fact that mobile technology allows people to work from remote locations, and many companies are allowing employees a “work from home” option anyway. (In many cases, people seem to be more, not less productive, when they can stay in their pajamas and be in the comforts of their own home while working.) Add to that the simple truth that people want to work for a company that cares about the well-being and happiness of its employees. So what harm can there be in closing down the office one day a week? The evidence seems to show that the positives far outweigh the negatives when considering this rather revolutionary plan.
And if the skeptics still aren’t convinced, Time Magazine reported that Utah employees ended up taking fewer sick days and claimed to be exercising more on Fridays. Could this also be a way to help rid America of obesity? The benefits go on and on…let there be light.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | Employment Solutions, job trends, retention solutions
I think we should start implementing that at Hollister!
Excellent thinking. This makes great sense and is a good contribution to making work a happier place. Americans have for too long worked far too many days and hours. We need to be more rounded people and this is a good start.
I think this is brilliant — I have long believed that the American people are overworked and underpaid. Switching to a new system would certainly help with this, only I personally believe that the “full-time” status of 40 hours/week should be dropped to 32 hours/week, so that people would only have to work 4 eight hour days.
I imagine with advancements in technology and increased pressure from corporate boards we’ll see employers asking for more, not less, from their employees.
What I think will happen is companies will be open 7 days per week in order to compete on a global scale and this strategy will require a bit of creativity from both employer and employees.
The outcome? The lines between work and play will be murky and employees will be encouraged to play more at work and work more while playing.
Smart phones, SaaS applications, and cloud computing are enabling employees to work on projects, and communicate with co-workers, customers and partners anywhere, anytime.
We’ll see employees working when they want, where they want as long as the work gets done. And in the future the physical office will become less and less important. IBM has a campus in NY which is now empty – why? All of the employees work remotely and use on line virtual offices to collaborate.
@joesharron
The four day work week sounds great to me. However, Timothy Ferris has already trumped it with his book “The 4 Hour Work Week.” Truthfully, I would sign up for either. Remote capabilities are changing the workplace and will only continue to do so in the future.
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