<
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3646592/why-not-a-four-day-work-week.html>
"Today, many of us think of the five-day workweek as being the way things have
always been done. It’s not. It only became a standard in the United States when
the labor unions got the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) passed in 1938. Before
that, most people worked a 48-hour, six-day-per-week job—and were glad to have
it.
Are we less productive now? We are not.
Indeed, when Henry Ford, of all people, introduced the five-day, 40-hour week
for workers at the Ford Motor Company, one reason he did so was that he thought
it would increase productivity. He was right; though workers’ time on the job
decreased, productivity went up.
Fast forward to today. The vast majority of workers aren’t on piece-meal
assembly lines. Amazon warehouse workers may still be stuck moving boxes as
fast as possible, but that’s not how most of us make our money.
Instead, we tend to sit in front of keyboards and work with information. We
spend our days Zooming from one meeting to another and Slacking our way to
agreements. And, if you’re like me, you sometimes want to rip your hair out
after one meeting too many.
The great pandemic has made working from home the new normal. Anyone who thinks
otherwise has missed the boat. It’s also put paid to the notion that “normal”
9-to-5 hours are needed to get work done. People are now working when it’s
convenient for them and there’s been no decline in productivity.
Does such a new work world need a 40-hour workweek? Many companies are saying
no. And guess what? For them, a four-day workweek with 32-hours does just fine.
As
The New York Times reported, businesses such as Shake Shack, Kickstarter,
and Unilever’s New Zealand unit have all switched to the four-day workweek and
all’s well. Work gets done, staffers are happier than ever, and profits are
up."
Via Steven Vaughan-Nichols, who wrote "Take a long, careful look at what your
people are actually doing with their time. You may find you can get rid of work
theater, such as pointless meetings and efforts that add nothing to the bottom
line, and end up with a shorter work week and happier and more productive
staffers."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
