There was plenty of chatter prior to now few years about the advantages of a shorter workweek, as some firms have examined out four-day work schedules and different variations on the standard workweek.
Again in 2021, on the heels of the pandemic, California Congressman Mark Takano even launched a invoice to enshrine a 32-hour workweek—although it by no means garnered sufficient bipartisan help to progress additional. In surveys, a majority of staff have expressed curiosity in a four-day or 32-hour workweek (with no discount in pay, in fact).
At the same time as some leaders more and more see the evolution of the workweek as an inevitability, we’re nonetheless a great distance from ushering in sweeping modifications throughout the workforce. However a latest report revealed that many workers could already be leaning right into a shorter workday—or no less than a extra versatile workweek. Company staff within the U.S. are now clocking out at 4:39 p.m. on average, in line with information from the workforce analytics platform ActivTrak.
The report discovered that whereas workers nonetheless go browsing by 8 a.m., they appear to be working much less on common. The typical size of the workday is now eight hours and 44 minutes, a lower of greater than 40 minutes from two years in the past. Nonetheless, ActivTrak’s findings additionally reveal a broader shift in how we work at this time: Extra individuals are logging hours over the weekend, particularly at bigger firms; and hybrid workers appear to have longer workdays, which may imply they’re wrapping up their work after hours.
Many workers, particularly caregivers, have stated hybrid work permits larger flexibility of their workdays and permits them to set their very own schedule. Maybe the answer to our frustrations with inflexible work schedules is a shorter, extra versatile workday—not essentially a truncated workweek.
The challenges of a four-day workweek
At tech firms like Bolt and Kickstarter, the shift to a four-day workweek has been well-liked with workers and a promoting level for potential expertise. Nonetheless, whereas a four-day workweek might help alleviate sure office challenges, it isn’t a viable choice in each job or trade. There are some sorts of companies that merely can’t shut down for a full day every week. Additionally, any such restructuring could have little profit for shift staff with lengthy hours.
Even amongst data staff, there’s a danger that chopping a full day would merely end in workers scrambling to cram their work right into a shorter week. “Merely shortening the variety of days we work received’t remedy our drawback,” wrote Mathilde Collin, CEO of the shopper communication platform Entrance. “Actually, it would even enhance stress and burnout: Squeezing extra conferences right into a shorter variety of days means there’s even much less time to focus and get artistic, considerate work performed.”
Why versatile workdays may assist
Reframing this shift as a shorter workweek, whether or not which means 4 full days of labor or 5 truncated workdays, may very well be a simpler strategy. In spite of everything, a lot of the resistance to return-to-office mandates has stemmed from workers eager to protect the flexibleness that they had when distant and hybrid work was the norm.
Staff are sometimes simply searching for extra flexibility within the workday moderately than fewer working hours, whether or not they’re making an attempt to accommodate docs’ appointments or college pickups—or just wish to take a correct lunch break.
That’s why Collin’s firm applied versatile Fridays. “The group felt reduction to have a day the place they may work if wanted, but nothing was anticipated of them,” she wrote. “When you want centered time, you’ve at all times bought it. And if you wish to spend time along with your children or take a motorbike journey or go to a dentist appointment, you are able to do that guilt-free.”
There’s additionally loads of analysis that signifies staff are not necessarily more productive just because they work longer hours. Adopting a shorter workday or workweek requires a shift in mindset from firms and workers alike, to make sure that they measure output moderately than hours logged; it may additionally imply chopping again on superfluous meetings to offer workers time again.
And for firms that view a four-day workweek as a drastic measure, giving workers some flexibility to set their very own working hours may really be a greater compromise—and a extra practical step in the proper route.
