The four day workweek? Yay!

Back in the good old days, when life was nasty, brutish, and short (as opposed to modern life, where it's just increasingly nasty and brutish), the American workweek was a six-day one. And, depending on the industry and the outfit, the hours per day could be anywhere from 10 to 18 (18: !?!). 

Then, in the 20th century, things started moving towards a shorter workweek. Six 8-hour days. Five 10-hour days. 

In the mid-1920's, Henry Ford, that old anti-union anti-Semite, was good enough to implement a five day, 40-hour work week in his factories. 

During the Depression, this became more of the norm, and by the end of World War II, 9 to 5 was how things rolled, workweek wise. 

And now, in a lot of countries, experimental programs are underway or in the works that play around with four-day workweeks. Some of the schemes are four-days, 40 hours (i.e., 10 hours). Others are a shorter work week, both day-wise (four) and hour-wise (32).

Some American companies are inching towards the four-day work week. I know a couple of places around here that give Friday afternoons off during the summer. But, given who and what we are, European and other G20 nations are more likely to embrace this new approach.

After all, we have to focus so much of our attention on making sure that 18-year-olds can acquire AR-15's, that rights for LBGTQ folks are diminished, that our Black citizens find it more difficult to vote. Not much energy left to champion a shorter work week for the great unwashed. Especially when there are billionaires who wannabe trillionaires. Let's go!

And, of course, there are the industries and professions (consulting, finserv, legal, frantic start-up tech) where the high flyers pride themselves on working crazy, burnout hours (18 hours a day, even).

But there is a lot going on out there. And most of it sounds pretty good to me.

Hailed as the future of employee productivity and work-life balance, advocates for the four-day workweek suggest that when implemented, worker satisfaction increases, and so does productivity. (Source: Euronews)

Belgium, which earlier this year put in place a rule for government workers allowing them to ignore after-hours emails and calls from their managers, also began offering many employees (non-shift workers) the option of getting their hours in by working longer hours four days a week, or sticking with the traditional five-day work week. Their PM, Alexander de Croo said:

"The goal is to give people and companies more freedom to arrange their work time,"

Creating a more dynamic economy and giving their workforce a break.  

In the UK, a six-month program just launched that involves 70 companies and 3,000 workers:

Employees are expected to follow the "100:80:100 model" - 100 per cent of the pay for 80 per cent of the time, in exchange for a commitment to maintain at least 100 per cent productivity.

Other programs are in the works in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and even the good old US of A.

(While we're generally laggards on the let's-treat-are-people-more-humanely front, there are a number of organizations, largely tech companies, with a smattering of local government entities, that have moved to a four-day work week.)

Iceland, which when it comes to social programs and general decency is a pretty darned good place to live (admittedly, it's simpler if your population is small and homogeneous), ran a pilot for a slightly shorter work week (35 to 36 hours, down from 40 hours). 2,500 people participated, which doesn't sound like much, until you take into account that Iceland's population is 366K. 

The pilot was dubbed a success by researchers and Icelandic trade unions negotiated for a reduction in working hours.

The study also led to a significant change in Iceland, with nearly 90 per cent of the working population now having reduced hours or other accommodations.

Researchers found that worker stress and burnout lessened and there was an improvement in life-work balance.

Every country hasn't enjoyed such success. Sweden tried it and didn't like it all that much, even in the instances where the workers thought it was working. One major company (Toyota), however, stuck with it, and gives its workforce reduced hours for the same pay.

Germany already has a shorter average work week than many European companies, with workers averaging 34.2 hour a week. But there are calls to reduce hours or to institute fewer working days per week.  No surprise that there's a lot of popular support for this among workers, and (more of a surprise) nearly the same level of support among employers.

To date, it's mostly German startups that are experimenting with shorter work weeks. 

Japan, "where death by overwork claims many lives," is also doing some experimenting. As is Spain. 

Overall, the four-day workweek seems to be slowly but surely gaining traction across the globe, but whether governments will definitively adopt the idea is yet to be seen.

I don't see the four-day workweek becoming widespread in the States anytime soon. Maybe in pockets here in there. 

But I'm all for it.

Power to the four-day workweek!