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But, for the past eight weeks, thousands of people in the United Kingdom have tested a four-day schedule — with no cut to their pay — that could help usher in a new era of work.
It's the world's biggest trial of a four-day work week so far. Already, some workers have said they feel happier, healthier and are doing better in their jobs.
The six-month pilot commits 3,300 workers across 70 companies to work 80% of their usual week in exchange for promising to maintain 100% of their productivity.
The program is being run by not-for-profit 4 Day Week Global, Autonomy, a think tank, and the 4 Day Week UK Campaign in partnership with researchers from Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College.
Researchers will measure the impact the new working pattern will have on productivity levels, gender equality, the environment as well as worker well-being. At the end of November, companies can decide whether or not to stick with the new schedule.
But, for Gilbert, the verdict is already in: it's been "life changing," she said.
I would like to work a 4/5/9 schedule, but unfortunately with the feds if you work these schedules, you have to take leave for your day off instead of just adding the hours onto other days. It is not worth it. When we have enough work for people to work credit, a lot of people do the de facto approach, but the actual 4/5/9 or 4/10 is really unpopular. I can imagine if we had a 4-day workweek and 32 hours, it would be very popular.
I had a job ~20 years ago that was 9/80 and some weeks I'd have like 20 hours of real work (and some of my coworkers did well less than that). So our '9 hour' days were only 9 hours of butt in seat time. And the every other Friday off was always a true Friday off. And about the 9 hour days. If you had to leave early, it's not like the boss made you 'make it up'. More on that job in a second...
The job I have now, if I could do all my work in THREE days (~12 hours a day some weeks), then I could theoretically I could have a 4 day weekend. I would still have to answer stray emails, but my goal would be met. I have trouble finishing it in 5 and before anybody says anything ... we have new employees here that are drowning ... and this is not what I consider highly difficult work in a technical sense. But it's real work ... for real clients.
But back to the first job. That job was so chill that everybody who worked there was so nice to each other. For the most part, there was no real hard work or stress, though the boss had to take it on the chin from our 'client' occasionally. But the real client/boss was a government agency, so ... a joke at least in that particular contract/situation in terms of accountability for productivity.
That kind of environment would be way more possible if people were willing to accept less money for less hours, but ... not happenin.
Every job is different. 9 hour days of real work is pretty brutal. But accepting less money, for less productivity, and less work. That could definitely make the world a better place.
At my job, I probably have 20-25 real working hours each week. The rest of the time is full of nonsense that my boss likes to see or nothing at all. Thankfully, I work from home, so I minimize the nonsense and take advantage of the hours where I really have nothing to do. I wouldn't accept less money for one less day simply because the same amount of work would get done. If we eliminated the time-wasting activities that benefit nobody, we could all have an extra day off and the clients wouldn't even notice. I mean, we'd have to stagger the days off to make sure someone could answer calls and emails, but for the most part, nobody is doing enough to make it necessary for anyone to be there 40 hours.
So here's a crazy solution: Let people work less. I know, it sounds radical. But it turns out workers are really into the idea, AND they're more productive.
When Microsoft tried a shorter workweek in Japan in 2019, it found productivity went up by almost 40%.
So who do we need to fight to get a three-day weekend around here? It turns out the answer may be inertia.
In 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes predicted we would be working 15-hour weeks by 2030, with hours in the office winding down over time.
But the 40-hour workweek was hard-fought by unions across America, and it just kind of ... stuck. A 9-5, Monday-Friday shift became the norm, and over time it became hard for businesses and workers to think differently.
I'm retired but would definitely go back to work if I could get 40 hours pay for doing 32 hours of work! That's a 25% pay raise! And it wouldn't cause any inflation! WINK! WINK!!
I would gladly take a 20% pay cut if I could work a 4 day work week. It's just not an option in my field but I wish it was.
I have done that as well as ... we got our hours cut during COVID.
Big difference in quality of life. That said, like you mentioned, it's not reality for a lot of people.
My sister has already taken a paycut to get herself closer to FORTY hours, but she's still nowhere close, lol. She makes a lot of money though.
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