{"id":196258,"date":"2022-07-19T02:28:43","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T20:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=196258"},"modified":"2022-07-20T09:17:14","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T03:47:14","slug":"four-day-work-week-the-five-day-work-week-might-be-fading-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/four-day-work-week-the-five-day-work-week-might-be-fading-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Four-day work week: The five-day work week might be fading away"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: This post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cThe five-day work week might be fading away\u201d<\/strong> published in The Hindu <\/b>on\u00a019th July 2022<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus<\/strong>: GS 3 \u2013 Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth.<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>: About the four-day work week.<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>: The idea of a four-day week against the usual 40-hour, five-day work week has been mooted for decades.<\/p>\n

What are the findings of four-day work week studies?<\/h5>\n

Microsoft trial<\/strong>: The most recent and widespread adoption of a four-day work week was a trial run by Microsoft in Japan in 2019. The study witnessed a 40% increase in worker productivity<\/strong>, presumably due to increased job satisfaction and lower burnouts.<\/p>\n

Apart from workers’ productivity, the company also witnessed higher efficiency in the form of lower office costs<\/strong>. It saw a massive 23% dip in electricity costs and a 60% fall in the number of pages printed in the office.<\/p>\n

Other trials<\/strong>: Most trials of a four-day work week seem to increase or at least keep constant worker productivity. However, an increase in a worker\u2019s productivity in a manufacturing firm with a decrease in work hours would not mean a similar increase in productivity for an employee in the service sectors such as education or health.<\/p>\n

Note<\/strong>: In Iceland, around 86% of employees have the right to work on a four-day work week.<\/p>\n

What are the benefits of a four-day work week?<\/h5>\n

1)<\/strong> Fewer working days will lead to lower commuting and hence have a positive impact on the environment<\/strong>, including a fall in electricity consumption in offices, 2)<\/strong> It can be an important tool to revive employment rates<\/strong> after the novel coronavirus pandemic, 3)<\/strong> It will increase work-life balance and a step toward gender equality and women\u2019s career progression<\/strong>. This is because women often opt for smaller shifts and shorter work days for lower pay after they become mothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read more: Gig Workers and their challenges \u2013 Explained, pointwise<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
What are the challenges associated with the four-day work week?<\/h5>\n

A four-day work week is not one that fits all<\/strong>. For instance, a)<\/strong> The service sector<\/strong> has challenges implementing a four-day work week, especially for small firms, b) <\/strong>The sales and marketing departments<\/strong> of firms may also face issues as there would be less time to chase leads, build customer relations and solve issues, c) <\/strong>Further, employees in firms that would not decrease work hours in a four-day work week would have to work 10 hours on working days, which can lead to increased stress and decreased satisfaction<\/strong>, d)<\/strong> It will also affect employees\u2019 holiday entitlements.<\/p>\n

What is the situation of a four-day work week in India?<\/h5>\n

Study<\/strong>: A private study in India found that among 1,113 employers it surveyed, 60% preferred a four-day work week and believed that it would positively affect employee productivity and well-being.<\/p>\n

Government response<\/strong>: Recognising this, the Central government is set to roll out the new labour codes, which include rules for a flexible four-day work week. The new codes stipulate the requirement of a minimum of 48 hours per week; hence the employee will have to work for 12 hours on each working day.<\/p>\n

Expected Output<\/strong>: This is not likely to increase productivity as the increased per day hours of work would work against employee motivation to increase output.<\/p>\n

Suggestions<\/strong>: The draft code should only reduce the number of workdays, keeping the number of hours fixed.<\/p>\n

The draft code should not forget the Parkinson\u2019s law that says work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion, and it should be a guiding principle in designing India\u2019s new labour codes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: This post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cThe five-day work week might be fading away\u201d published in The Hindu on\u00a019th July 2022. Syllabus: GS 3 \u2013 Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth. Relevance: About the four-day work week. News: The idea of a four-day week against the usual 40-hour, five-day… Continue reading Four-day work week: The five-day work week might be fading away<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,10498],"class_list":["post-196258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}