Why experts say it's time to adopt a 4-day work week
'There's nothing that's magical or natural about the 40-hour week': professor
Some experts say a 32-hour work week is just the next step in the fight for a better work-life balance.
"There's nothing that's magical or natural about the 40-hour week, but it's been naturalized to the point that we have difficulty imagining something else," said Karen Foster, an associate professor of sociology at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
The movement to a reduced work week has largely gained momentum in office settings, where salaried work is more common. But some hourly labourers want the same model to apply to their work.
That issue came up in mid-September, when the labour union United Auto Workers (UAW) and the three unionized automakers in the United States — Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis — went on strike.
One of their demands was a shortened work week, in which they'd get paid for working 40 hours despite only working for 32 hours.
Foster says some people may have a hard time imagining getting paid the same amount of money for less work. But she said the data is on the side of the workers, not the doubters.
"We have this idea that in order to survive, you should have to work 40 hours a week," she told The Current's Matt Galloway.
"Actually, what a lot of the movement for the 4-day work week has kind of been touting is that there are studies that show in particular workplace situations, you can actually get the same amount of productivity in shorter hours."
Decreases in burnout, increase in wellness
According to Foster, there are several benefits to working four days in a week.
"Workers arrive at work restored. They have less of a need for downtime at work," she said. "And I think probably many people can identify with this sense that you get more done when you're kind of under the gun than if you have really long deadlines."
Matt Juniper, co-founder of the Toronto-based Praxis PR, was skeptical of the viability of a shortened work week in his business. But after looking through the data supporting shorter work weeks and speaking with his employees, Juniper decided to give it a 6-month trial.
His company adopted a model which pays 100 per cent of the wages for 80 per cent of the work, so his employees would be paid 5-day wages while only working four days in a week.
Juniper's employees work staggered schedules. Some workers are scheduled from Monday to Thursday while others are in Tuesday to Friday.
"After looking through a lot of the research, the data, and starting to map out what our 4-day week looked like ... I felt a lot better that this was something we could jump into without risking what is critical to us, which is client service," he said.
Juniper said there were a few measurements they were using to make sure the model was successful, including business results, client satisfaction and employee satisfaction.
I think people are kind of coming to the realization that free time is maybe as important.-Karen Foster, professor
When the trial run ended in March, Juniper was so impressed by the results that his company permanently adopted it.
"Just in my discussions with the team, I've noticed a significant improvement in change across those sort of core metrics and people just feeling a renewed passion for what we do as communicators," he said.
Importance of free time
Foster said the hardest part about introducing a reduced work week is pushing back against the normalized idea that 40-hour work weeks are what's expected and working anything less than that means the worker is slacking off.
But the change is made easier if more companies start adopting shorter work weeks.
"So if the workweek shortens across a number of industries and it kind of becomes normal that lots of people are only working four days a week, then I think our attitudes would follow."
Thanks in part to how the pandemic impacted work-life balance. Foster says people have seen just how much better their life is with extra downtime.
"This is something that's been opened up for us, this opportunity to work less, and there's really nothing else [deterring us] beyond higher wages," she said.
"I think people are kind of coming to the realization that free time is maybe as important."
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Produced by Brianna Gosse and Liz Hoath.
