Final Shift for the 5-Day Work Week?

I love words. You could call me a logophile.

The word that comes to mind as I pen this blog on the 4-day workweek is anachronism. The Merriam Webster dictionary definition of anachronism is: “a person or a thing that is chronologically out of place especially: one from a former age that is incongruous in the present.”

“Anachronism” is the perfect word for the current nine-to-five, 5-day a week work schedule for many U.S. workers.

Times have changed in the past 80+ years. Science and technology have advanced; organizational and worker productivity have increased. The economy has grown. The COVID-19 pandemic upended many work arrangements; remote and hybrid work became and remain the preferred norm for many, though certainly not all workers. Work-life balance has become a priority, especially for younger workers.

What hasn’t yet changed for most workers is the 5-day work week. Although the 5-day work week has been the standard for most workers in anyone’s memory, it does not appear in the Constitution, the Bible and is not one of the Ten Commandments.

The 5-day work week followed passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) back in 1938 and legislation creating a 40-hour work week in 1940. The history of the 5-day work week is fascinating. You can learn more about the U.S. history on working hours and days, here, here, here, here, here.

Although the 5-day work week as been the standard for most workers in anyone’s memory, it does not appear in the Constitution, the Bible and is not one of the Ten Commandments.

Now pilot programs are demonstrating the success of efforts to reduce work time in a host of companies and countries (see here, here). Clearly, the 4-day work week is no longer a pipe dream or the subject of wishful thinking. It’s being applied, and it’s working.

Permutations and Combinations

But what are we actually talking about? The 4-day work week can take a variety of forms, and it’s important to understand their differences. Common formats include:

• 40 hours in four days instead of five, so a shorter, compressed work week, longer (10-hour) days, same pay.
• The 100-80-100 model: workers get 100% of their pay, working 80% of the time, while maintaining 100% of their output.
• 32 hours, same pay, reduced output. With many employers struggling to find enough workers, this model may be an attractive option for workers, and it spreads employment opportunities around.
• 9/80 work week schedule: 80 hours over nine days (eight 9-hour days, one 8-hour day, and one additional day off spread over a two-workweek period).
• 9/72 work week schedule: Similar to the 9/80 work schedule, except it involves only 8-hour workdays. Thus, 72 working hours over two weeks, and every other Friday off.

Descriptions of these and other alternative work schedules and formats can be found here.

Benefits and Challenges

Interest in the 4-day work week has a long history both in the U.S. and Europe. Over the years, studies, articles, reports, opinion pieces, and symposia have discussed and reported on its pros, cons, benefits, and challenges– for employees, employers, and the environment. You can read some of those discussions here, here, here, here, and most recently here.

For Workers: Commonly cited benefits include better work-life balance, improved mental and physical well-being, increased morale and job satisfaction, and reduced commute time and expense.  Challenges include: home/work scheduling conflicts, productivity/performance pressure, stress, fatigue, burnout, increased employer monitoring, and resentment of fellow workers who don’t have the opportunity of a 4-day workweek.

Commonly cited benefits for workers include better work-life balance, improved mental and physical well-being, increased morale and job satisfaction, and reduced commute time and expense. 

For employers: Commonly cited benefits include improved recruitment and retention, decreased turnover, increased employee satisfaction, reduced energy consumption and other overhead costs, lower business expense for physical office space; and increased productivity. Challenges include: scheduling difficulties, especially for companies that operate seven days a week; meeting productivity targets and metrics; costs of hiring and training any needed additional help; and understanding and meeting legal requirements re: overtime, leave eligibility, sick time and other benefits.

For the environment: Commonly cited benefits include reduced carbon, greenhouse gas, and other pollutant emissions from transportation, energy consumption, and office waste; lower business expense for physical office space; reduced paper consumption. (On the other hand, the environmental benefits may not be as great if individuals use their newly found free time to pursue resource-intensive or environmentally harmful activities and products. )

State of Play

Around the world many countries are engaging with the 4-day or compressed workweek in some way — conducting trials, proposing bills, or actually implementing it.

• United Arab Emirates was the first country to formalize a workweek shorter than five days. In 2021, it enacted a four-and-a-half day work week for federal employees, with weekends to consist of Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday.
• Belgium was the first European country to legislate a . The 2022 law allows employees to decide whether to work four or five days a week. The standard workweek in Belgium is 38 hours, so workers choosing the 4-day option would work 9.5 hours a day.
• Lithuania enacted a 32-hour workweek that same year but it is limited to public-sector employees with children under the age of three – also without any reduction in pay.
• Japan’s government recommended that Japanese companies offer a as part of its 2021 annual economic policy guidelines The proposal was discussed in the Japanese parliament, but nothing formal was voted on.
• Other countries that have engaged in trials and pilot programs include Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Scotland, Iceland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Ireland. More information on pilots and trials can be found here.

As of late October 2023, 21 countries have some activity related to the 4-day or compressed workweek. You can find a compendium here. And read more here.

In the United States, at the federal level, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) introduced groundbreaking legislation in 2021 – The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act (HR 4728) that would reduce the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours. It was referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor, but it hasn’t gone anywhere. There’s pretty much nothing happening on this issue at the federal level.

But some U.S. cities and states are engaged in 4-day workweek trials (scroll down and see them here).  And legislative bills have been introduced in California, Massachusetts, Maryland, and New York.  They differ in form, substance, and status.

• Maryland introduced the Four Day Work Week Act of 2023 in January 2023 which provided up to $750,000 in tax credits to eligible private and public sector employers that transitioned 30 or m0re workers to a 4-day workweek without any loss of pay or benefits.. The effort flopped when the bill was withdrawn over cost concerns and engrained attitudes about the traditional 40-hour work.
• Massachusetts lawmakers introduced a 2-year pilot in April 2023 — the Massachusetts Smart Work Week Pilot (HR3849) — that would provide qualified employers with a tax credit if they shift at least 15 workers to a 4-day week.
• California introduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act (AB2932) in 20212 and reintroduced in February 2022. The bill applies to private sector companies with over 500 employees and requires them to pay workers 1.5 times their regular hourly or salary for working over 32 hours a week and 2 times their regular hourly or salary pay for working over 12 hours in a single day.
• New York introduced Senate Bill 1287 that would establish a 4-day workweek pilot program for state employees. No action has been taken. In April 2022, New York introduced Assembly Bill A10009 that would reduce the workweek to 32 hours for employers with at least 500 employees who are not part of a collective bargaining agreement. The bill died in committee.

Hundreds of companies have implemented or are piloting the 4-day workweek. You can explore them here, here, here.  What policies will eventually emerge will await the outcomes of the many trials on the shorter workweek.

Bottom Line

Workers in the United States spend a lot of time on the job.  About 1,750 hours per year according to the International Labor Office — more hours than workers in six EU countries; 400 more hours annually than workers in Germany! Some identify with and derive great meaning from their work. Some work for the paycheck that covers the bills and feeds and houses themselves and their families.

Workers in the United States spend a lot of time on the job.  About 1,750 hours per year according to the International Labor Office — more hours than workers in six EU countries;

With round-the-clock communication mechanisms, it’s hard for some workers to really get a break. And some employers simply must operate 7 days a week, e.g., in health care, hospitality, food service, and transportation.  For them, the 4-day workweek can be especially challenging.

But there’s no doubt that it can be done, especially when workers are given a choice, have a voice in the decision, and company leaders set an example.

Clearly, it’s not a one-size-fits all, but the time has come.  The 5-day workweek is an anachronism.