Can a 4 Day Week Prove More Beneficial for Employers and Employees?

A recent survey conducted in Texas has some interesting news to share regarding a 4 day workweek. According to the respondents, a shorter week would make them happier, but surprising is the fact that it can even increase productivity. And so the survey recommends that employers should give their staff an additional day off, which would actually help their business grow, no matter how absurd it seems.

Let’s analyze the situation at a deeper level. An extra free day a week can help you in doing tasks that are otherwise often not crossed off to – do lists. You could learn a new skill; you could go for vacation; you could even just enjoy the time relaxing.

Generally, if you work 40 hours a week, you receive your full salary along with the benefits. Even if you just work 32 hours, you would still get the benefits but your salary might be reduced. So why not avail a slightly decreased package and get a full day off as a perk? Another suggestion is to spread your 40 work hours in four days, instead of five. This does mean a 10 hour shift every day, but the extra full day is more rewarding than doing 8 hours at the office for five days. The human resources department often uses the term compressed weeks for these sorts of week structures.

Industry leaders actually support the results of the survey. They believe that a four day week provides employers with extra flexibility which they can utilize to those tasks that are important, but not related to work. You would still be doing the same total hours at work, and you would be able to get other things done along with it.

Beneficial as it may be, the four – day – in – a – week structure has not been adopted widely. There are only about 36% of companies which allow a few of their employers to do their jobs this way. The main reason behind this is probably the fact that 4-days workweeks make a manager’s job more complex, and they face problems in organizing and collaborating with their teams.

Whatever the problems associated with a four day week may be, they can still be solved. After all, the fact that some of the companies have adopted the compressed workweek structure cannot be ignored, and since they have been using it, it is obviously serving as an advantage rather than a downside.