Four-day workweek idea goes viral thanks to New Zealand's PM

Ardern mentioned that people have been suggesting ideas about how to help the tourism industry in New Zealand recover from the coronavirus lockdown. "Some have been saying 'well if they had a bit more flexibility in terms of their travel and their leave they might be able to do that.'"

 

“I’ve heard lots of people suggesting we should have a four-day week,” said Ardern. “Ultimately, that really sits between employers and employees, but as I've seen there's lot of things we've learned about COVID[-19] and just that flexibility of people working from home, the productivity that can be driven out of there, I really encourage people to think about, if they're an employer and in the position to do so, to think about whether or not that is something that is something that would work for their workplace because it certainly would help tourism all around the country.”

 

The idea of the four-day workweek has been discussed for years. Many studies into the idea have found that it increases the productivity and quality of life of employees.

One study in the UK found that 64% of heads of businesses with four-day workweeks saw an increase in staff productivity and 77% of workers linked it to a better quality of life, according to The Washington Post.

Karen Jansen, a researcher on organizational behavior in the UK had estimated a major shift toward a shorter workweek wouldn't happen before 2030, but now believes that the coronavirus pandemic is "accelerating" that timeline.

“This experience has taught us that we don’t have to have a one-size-fits-all model for everyone,” Jansen added. “The question, I think, is who is going to go back to the old way.”

While some companies that have decided to try the shorter workweek have switched to a four-day week with 10-hour shifts, others have switched to a 32-hour week while asking employees to finish jobs more quickly, according to NPR.

Microsoft Japan tried the four-day system last summer and saw a 40% productivity boost and a 23% drop in electricity costs as a result, according to NPR.

Woowa Brothers, a South Korean online delivery company has increased revenue more than tenfold since it cut down its workweek in 2015, and now competes with large companies such as Samsung for engineering talent.

Trials with the shorter workweek have had to find new ways to streamline time management. 

Meetings at Microsoft Japan were cut from 60 minutes to 30 minutes with only five employees in attendance in order to avoid tying up multiple members of a team. Employees were encouraged to use collaborative chat channels instead of emails and meetings.

Shake Shack is trying the four-day workweek in a third of its 154 US stores, forcing it to find ways to save time, including computer software to track supplies of ground beef, according to NPR.

Cutting work hours with a four-day workweek or with shorter shifts could pay out in other ways. For example, switching to six-hour shifts would allow companies to offer customers longer operating hours while not adding extra hours to employees' shifts. Alternating staff and allowing staff to work from home, even partially, could help companies return to operation more quickly after coronavirus lockdowns as well.

The shorter workweek, much like working from home, may not be an option for some industries, explained Jansen, according to the Post.

Natalie Nagele, co-founder and CEO of Wildbit, a company that moved to the four-day workweek, told NPR that some companies have reported less positive outcomes from the shorter workweek, especially companies with less motivated employees and where managers don't trust employees.

The tourism industry, hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, could also benefit from the implementation of four-day workweeks as longer weekends and more flexibility could increase domestic tourism among workers who may not be able to travel under a normal schedule.

The four-day workweek originally went viral in 2018, when Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand trust management company, announced a 20% gain in employee productivity and a 45% increase in employee work-life balance after trying out a four-day workweek without cutting pay. The policy was made permanent later that year, according to NPR.

Andrew Barnes, CEO of Perpetual Guardian, cut the number and duration of meetings to save time, as well as getting rid of open-floor office plans. Typical workplace gender gaps were erased as well, as women who would have taken more time off for caregiving had more flexibility built into their schedule.

While Barnes' company didn't police how employees used their time, the firm retained the option to return to the full-week schedule if performance slipped. That alone motivated workers, according to the CEO.