The future of employee productivity and work-life balance is being heralded as a shorter workweek. Is it really that simple to improve one’s work?
When Koray Camgöz was granted a four-day workweek, the advantages appeared to be numerous. The new schedule compelled the London-based public relations officer to better organise his time. He was still able to meet deadlines and complete tasks while taking an extra day off each week. Most importantly, the new father now has more time to spend with his child.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays were his days off. In an always-on environment, he had to be available for emergencies even on his days off, and he had to work longer hours on his working days to compensate.
“It blurred the lines between home and work,” Camgöz explains. “It was a Sunday evening, I’d go over my workload and make the best use of my time.” However, he believes that any sacrifice was worthwhile. “I was grateful to be able to spend time with my son I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to. And it relieved financial strains: just having an extra day at home meant I could save £400 per month on private childcare.”
However, some senior team members who preferred a conventional schedule were less happy with his working pattern. “I felt it was going well – but that feeling wasn’t matched by my line manager,” says Camgöz. “Professionally, they were seeing less of me, so they thought they were getting less from me.” In the absence of clear feedback, he ended up unsure as to where exactly he stood. Six months later, when he was offered a promotion, there was a condition; he had to return to a five-day schedule.
Since the pandemic brought about unprecedented change in the workplace, there has been much debate about the four-day workweek. Businesses and even governments have been experimenting with the idea, which has been billed as a panacea for burnout and work stress; preliminary results indicate potential benefits include better work-life balance and improved wellbeing – at no cost to employee productivity.
However, even when a workday is removed from the calendar, the workload in many cases remains constant. Workers who face a tighter schedule must frequently adapt to new practises and work longer hours. And, as Camgöz discovered, a quick transition to a new working model can cause problems, especially if not everyone is on board with the change. That is, while the four-year While a five-day workweek may have many advantages, it may also have unintended consequences for some.
How the four-day week evolved
Debates over the length of the workweek are nothing new. In 1926, the Ford Motor Company standardised the Monday-to-Friday pattern; beforehand, the common practice was a six-day workweek, with only Sundays off.
A common mistake is a company saying, ‘We’ll start this on Monday and figure it out as we go along’ – Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
“Henry Ford’s theory was that [working] five days for the same pay would increase worker productivity because people would put more effort into the shorter workweek,” Jim Harter, chief scientist for workplace management and wellbeing at US analytics firm Gallup, based in Nebraska, explains. The theory was largely proven correct: the five-day workweek has become common practise in the decades since.
However, by the 1950s, labour unions were calling for the implementation of a four-day week. “People started projecting that if we took out another workday, it’d be even better,” Harter says. However, adoption of the four-day workweek has been slow: by March 2020, a Gallup survey of more than 10,000 US full-time employees revealed that only 5% worked a shorter week.
However, The pandemic has caused some leaders to reconsider: there has been a significant increase in the number of four-day workweek trials and announcements. “Recent changes in work have accelerated the four-day movement,” says Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, programme director at the non-profit 4 Day Week Global, which advocates for a shorter workweek. “The pandemic has shown that we can dramatically change how we work; the Great Resignation has seen companies look to new recruitment and retention tools.”
There are various four-day workweek models, ranging from cutting one workday, reducing working hours, and being paid the same wage to intense working hours, which cram five days’ worth of work into four longer shifts. The former configuration is generally the goal; it is attained through a combination of new tools and operating practises that increase efficiency and result in increased worker well-being, which fuels productivity.
However, without carefully planned operational changes in place, the latter situation is more likely to occur. “A common mistake is for a company to say, ‘We’ll start this on Monday and figure it out as we go,'” Pang adds. “That could lead to major issues down the road.”
How five days’ work goes into four
Employees have become acquainted with the benefits and drawbacks of the four-day workweek in recent months, as leaders have made some pilot schemes permanent.
Jennifer Shepherd describes the “transformative” effects of reducing her workweek to four days. Atom, a fintech firm based in Durham, UK, will implement a four-day workweek for all 430 of its employees in November 2021. “Fridays are now a special day for me because I get to spend it with my one-year-old daughter,” she says.
Andy Illingworth of Leeds, UK-based design agency Punch Creative, who has been doing the four-day workweek since 2020, also values his extra day off. “Friday afternoons haven’t always been the most productive,” he says. “Now, on a Friday, I can pursue hobbies, play tennis and take long walks. It also allows me more time to develop skills and ideas that I can bring to work on Monday mornings. I’d never go back to a five-day workweek.”
However, both Shepherd and Illingworth are aware that completing all of their work in four days rather than five may come at a cost. Monday through Thursday, Illingworth’s mandated office hours have been extended by 90 minutes. “I work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a 30-minute lunch break in between,” he says. “We’ve had to reduce our lunch break by half. But I feel better, more focused, and productive after working four days straight.”
Meanwhile, Shepherd is adjusting to a faster pace of work. “There are still times when I panic in the middle of a Thursday afternoon and realise I don’t have another day’s work to finish everything,” she says. “However, I now make better use of my time. I can work when it is most convenient for me: after the kids have gone to bed, I can log on and do some ‘deep work’ while my inbox and chat messages remain blissfully silent.”