Mexican Companies Begin to Implement Four-Day Work Week
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Mexican Companies Begin to Implement Four-Day Work Week

Photo by:   Olga Oginskaya
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Anamary Olivas By Anamary Olivas | Journalist & Industry Analyst - Wed, 07/20/2022 - 10:06

According to a survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Citrix, 94 percent of Mexican workers would accept a four-day work week if their boss offered it to them, as long as they would receive the same salary they would during a regular five-day working week.

 

According to the 2020 study "The Future of the Working Week" carried out by cloud computing and virtualization technology company Citrix, the number of Mexicans who would accept four-day week has increased from 2018 to 2020, as eighty-six percent of the country's employees would accept it. Recently, a multinational company in the printing sector announced a pilot project for a 40-hour workweek at subsidiaries in 14 Latin American countries, including Mexico, showing that the concept is beginning to gain traction past the studies.

 

Many Latin American countries, governments and private company initiatives have begun to promote projects to reduce working hours, efforts experts thought to be unlikely before the pandemic hit. Companies are still concerned about the impact of a shorter workweek on productivity and work culture. However, some trust in a result-oriented strategy: by providing balance to their employees’ life, they become more productive.

 

“The four-day week challenges the current model of work and helps companies move away from simply measuring how long people are ‘at work,’ to a sharper focus on the output being produced,” said Joe O’Connor, Program Manager, 4 Day Week Global.

 

Mexico is the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member country where, more hours are spent at work every week on average. According to data from the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), 75 percent of Mexican citizens suffer from fatigue due to work stress. For the 4-day work week in Mexico to be effectively implemented, leaders must feel confident on evaluating their workforce based on their results, rather than looking at the hours they spend doing it. 

 

“Work Rebalanced,” the latest Citrix report, explains that although 64 percent of leaders in Mexico confirm that flexibility is becoming a determining factor in the labor market, 52 percent of Mexicans believe that they are not provided with the level of flexibility they expect. The success of these models in pilots done in European countries demonstrated to employers and employees alike that the traditional office 9 to 5 model was both outdated and inefficient. The next step is to continue to adopt a flexible, people-focused approach across all aspects of business infrastructure, which include digital and physical spaces, processes, leadership, and culture.

Photo by:   Olga Oginskaya

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