More and more European countries are experimenting with the 4-day work week. Most recent trials are underway in Ireland and Spain, following on from trials in Iceland several years ago. Some English firms have also been experimenting with four-day weeks, while other nations such as Japan are encouraging their employers to think about it too. But how realistic is it to expect it to work, and how realistic are the same expectations that were designed for 5-day versions? Let’s discuss!

The 4-day work week is not a new idea, it dates back to the 1800s

The vision of a 5 day work week is rooted in the industrial setting, in which working from home or outside of business hours was unimaginable due to the dominance of physical work. Most households had only one income stream, and women were usually tasked with the caretaking of the children and duties at home. This is not the case in developed countries anymore. Women can also be employed, earn their own money, and have less time for family duties than before. This stress created a natural curiosity for lowering the amount of stress families experience. A four-day working week should therefore be a massive relief and a 100% effective solution, so it’s easy to see why lots of people are in favor of it. So where is the problem?

Unpaid overtime and toxic working conditions could make the transition to the 4-day workweek hard

In many cases, employers are unlikely to be able to afford to reduce each employee’s workload –, particularly after the financial pain of the pandemic, the Ukrainian war and the upcoming economic crisis that everyone predicts nowadays. Many leaders are just looking for a solution to tame the fire and eliminate excess stress, and a 4-day work week may seem like a convenient solution. However, in most cases, they are not prone to sacrifice the pace of progress. This means they would probably expect workers to undertake the same amount of work within four days that was undertaken in five. Even if it was feasible, it wouldn’t be very productive. People who work excessively long days have lower levels of overall well-being. And even though people are used to unusual working hours thanks to the pandemic, it does not mean that they are now suddenly able to concentrate on their tasks for a longer period of time consecutively.

4-day workweeks decrease the risk of exhaustion and burnout

While many people find it easier to dive into a task for long hours, and then remove themselves from that environment completely, they are actually the minority. Researchers found that people taking more frequent breaks and switching between tasks are more likely to complete them sooner. This implies that having to work even more intensively over four days is arguably more than many could cope with.

Some organizations would have to hire extra staff to operate which means significantly increased costs

There are some services in business that could not even think of introducing 4-day work weeks without hiring extra. Think of emergency services, banks… But employees would probably not be happy if this extra staff’s fee was deducted from their salaries collectively. This means increased costs for shareholders, which is always a sensitive issue when the benefits the new method would provide can only be measured in human metrics, not in profit.

It’s a bit idealistic now, but may have working alternatives

Even though we all want to work less and earn more money, the system that we established for centuries does not really allow it. To make 4-day work weeks really feasible we would need to redesign our economy almost completely, to enable a more people first perspective. We would need to debunk the toxic traits that we as humans have, and change our approach to work as well, to fit a more convenient lifestyle. What are your thoughts? Could it be working in your country?