Is a 4-day work week (8 hours per day) a good idea?

[msc545]

[musicbrain5]

It’s only a good idea if the salary isn’t reduced because of the reduced hours. I think this kind of arrangement is only good in some industries though, especially for companies that can have enough staff on the roster so they can still operate 5 days a week, or 7 days a week, like retail for example.

This would not work well in the education sector, unless we switched to a year round model to make up for the missed days. As well, all families would have to agree to which day will be the day off, because parents who work are going to need their schedule to line up, or else they’ll have to pay for childcare for one day a week.

[whirled_up_girl]

If it has a decent wage or salary.

[Curmudgeon]

Interestingly enough, in the 1950s and into the 1960s, there were serious proposals for many major industries to adopt a four day work week of 10 hours per day for many workers, the ideas being that factory floors could use that Friday to service the machines better, and that fathers would have more weekend time with their children.

But note the last two parts of that sentence. The idea was based upon an industrial and still mostly manufacturing economy, with women mostly staying home or only working part time at most. Those two assumptions fell apart by the 1970s.

[RealMarek]

Not necessarily. What would be better is a system that allows technology that exists to provide as much flexibility as possible for workers and eliminate as much waste (commute time, etc.) as possible. How many work days and how/where those days are worked will vary with each type of job. With results-based management I think it is possible to reach an optimum. With control-freak executives who tell employees that a company is their “family,” probably not.

[ArrowheadSW]

Not a good idea if you have to take the cut in pay.

[Jewishbabygirl1]

That is a terrific idea! However, I really believe it should be up to the employee. Now, if it's a self-employed person who run his/her own business, then they naturally can set their own schedule any way they want. I believe most people would love to have this flexibility when it comes to their work/professional lives.

However; if you have to work for someone else, then it would be to the company's benefit to offer flexible hours to (for example) mothers with children, people taking care of their disabled or senior citizen relatives, or people who like to work in different environments and just want to have 2 or more jobs. Just my opinion:)

[SnowedIn]

It depends. If that comes with a correspondingly reduced paycheck then no, it's a terrible idea. That'd be a 20% pay cut for a lot of people. It would be a scheduling nightmare for business.

On the flip side, it would be a boon for employees in terms of time off, with family, and ability to get things done.

So, maybe. Would depend very much on the job and industry too.

[Anonymous]

On paper yes. Supposedly it will benefit the worker but what it will do is keep wages low and companies will have the flexibility to offer more work as and when needed. So you might end up with a contract for 32 hours but then end up having to work 12 hours days 5 or 6 days a week when the company requires it because its been a tight year and you can't turn the extra work down because you need the money.

As Lord Rothchild said "they will have nothing and be happy".

[exitseven]

Yes, there is no doubt in my mind that I could do all my work in just 4 days. Maybe even 3 and a half

[NathanDavis]

not in my field, no...

work doesn't take that many free days

[Anonymous]

No, just a way to hide overpopulation (more workers less time)

[Justneedtokno]

It can be depending on what the work is

[KrakenAttackin]

Sure, if the productivity is there.