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The Undeniable Appeal of the Four-Day Workweek

By Alvaro Villar - WeWork Mexico
CEO

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By Alvaro Villar | General Manager - Wed, 10/26/2022 - 10:00

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For centuries the office experience remained the same; go to your office on a fixed schedule, work from the same exact place and get paid for the number of hours you work. Luckily for us, the pandemic brought an opportunity for extraordinary change and accelerated an inflection point, pushing companies to redefine how the world of work actually works. 

In the midst of the pandemic, irreversible change is shaping the new world of work and bringing new questions to the table: Do we spend too much time working? Do fewer working hours really enrich people’s lives? Or would that just create a stressful work environment by compressing our working days? The discussion of a four-day workweek is not new, but it’s certainly gaining traction. With the Great Resignation showing few signs of slowing and worker burnout at an all-time high, the idea of a four-day workweek is very appealing as employers look to support and retain talent in a competitive job market.

It’s not a surprise that employees are in favor of a shorter week. A recent survey (2022) conducted by the experience management platform Qualtrics found that 92 percent of employees wanted a four-day workweek, 88 percent said a shorter workweek would improve their work-life balance, 79 percent said it would improve their mental health, and 82 percent said the change would make them more productive. 

Several research studies and four-day workweek trials are running around the world; however, none to very few have been conducted in Latin American countries. I recently did an exercise on my LinkedIn account asking my network what would be the most valuable benefit: doubling their paid time off, flexible or remote work, stock options or a four-day week. Surprisingly, a shorter week was preferred by more than 40 percent, followed by flexible or remote work.

Personally, I think a four-day week is a bold and undeniably appealing experiment. Working fewer hours and days means you have to prioritize better, organize your tasks by the minute and think about how to best use your time. In return, you get extra time to unwind and enjoy your life outside of work. 

Pros and Cons 

A shorter workweek gives us more time to make the best of it. That could benefit our time at work by reducing burnout and facilitating a stronger work-life balance, helping employees to focus and be more efficient during work hours. However, the model has to be carefully implemented; if not, it may actually increase stress levels of employees who may feel anxious about having to complete the same amount of work within a shorter time frame.

This year, 70 companies in the UK embarked on a six-month four-day workweek trial, paying their employees to take a day off each week. Today, media outlets are reporting the experiment is going surprisingly well. Halfway through the trial, 88 percent of the companies are already reporting the experiment is working well for their business, and while 46 percent report their productivity has maintained the same level, 34 percent report it has “slightly improved.”

According to The New York Times, the four-day work week experiment is bringing no loss of productivity and it has given employees more time to exercise, try new hobbies and spend time with their families. I would certainly appreciate these perks. 

The people in this experiment have also admitted the pilot wasn’t easy at first; people had to stop and reevaluate their priorities, establishing what activities, meetings and tasks would be the best use of their time, and that requires a whole lot of soft skills to manage. However, it paid off.

I truly believe that more downtime brings another level of trust for our team, and properly implemented could make a difference for companies trying to attract and retain the best talent. Having more downtime and less “Sunday fear” over the weekends would really improve mental health and help us approach the week with a more positive and productive attitude. All  while trusting our team and empowering them to make choices that make them happier and more productive.

The pandemic and specifically the months of confinement gave many of us the opportunity to reconnect with our lives outside of work; all of a sudden, we found ourselves saving commuting  time and enjoying the extra hours with friends and family, doing the things we love and reconnecting with our true selves. Now, as we return to the work space, we truly want to maintain these connections and balance. 

More companies than ever are embracing flexible work with WeWork, redefining their working styles and giving employees the power of choice. Whether or not a four-day work week becomes a new normal or a wider experiment for companies seeking to differentiate themselves from the rest, it’s clear that people and leaders are ready to rethink the way we work.

Photo by:   Alvaro Villar

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