About two months ago, billionaire and world’s second wealthiest person Carlos Slim, shared his view that governments should reduce the workweek from five to three days. According to Slim, that would make employees happier and more productive. More recently, the International Labor Organization also urged for a shorter workweek consisting of just four days.
World Labor Organization’s Position
In an article published on its official blog, the World Labor Organization lists five main benefits that the 4-day workweek could give us. The first of them is that a longer weekend would improve the health of employees. Moreover, the WLO goes as far as to state that this work schedule could reduce the global death rate.
The second big advantage mentioned in the material is that a longer weekend a shorter workweek would also increase the employment rate. According to it, instead of reducing their staff, employers could simply reduce work hours. That would allow companies to employ more people on a lower wage.
Benefit No. 3 is that people would become more productive and more motivated to do their job. It also adds that four days of work would mean less pollution from commuting. Last, but not least, the WLO concludes that a four-day workweek would make employees happier and boost their life satisfaction.
Governments Respond
Although the World Labor Organization’s article was published not long ago, some governments have already started to consider the pros and cons of a shorter workweek. For example, the Russian Lower House committee for labor will hold special discussions on the proposal. Still, opinions of politicians and businessmen in the country remain quite polarized. While some agree with the benefits listed on WLO’s blog, others believe that presently Russia cannot afford a 4-day workweek, reports RT.
The Philippines’ Civil Service Commission, on the other hand, seems to approve of the idea for a longer weekend. Last week, it approved a four-day workweek scheme for Metro Manila government offices. The reason- it wanted to ease traffic congestion. Shortly after that happened, however, labor groups in the country started to protest against the new law, citing various dangers to which a short workweek can lead.
The Cons
One of the most obvious disadvantages of the 4-day workweek is that it will increase work hours from 8 to 10, 11, or even 12 hours a day. That would not have a positive effect on employees’ productivity and motivation. In addition, employers may see the longer weekend as an opportunity to lower the wages of their workers, despite the longer daily shifts.
The life-work balance benefits of this work schedule are also doubtful. Although employees will get three full free days to be with their family, they will spend the rest of the week at work. With a 10- or 11-hour workday and an average of an hour or an hour and a half spent in commuting, they could be left with barely 10 or even less hours of personal time. Given that a good night sleep takes about 8 hours, they will just get a couple of hours to spend some time with their family and friends. That would make it even harder to juggle between work and leisure.
Kids would also feel the negative effects of this schedule. If your children are spending the time between 9 to 5 at the kindergarten, they would have to be stuck there between 7 to 8 if your workweek is shortened.
Employees’ health would also be exposed to more dangers. The cost of long workdays is higher compared to that of long workweeks. People would be more likely to suffer work overload, since the key to a good rest are regular and not longer breaks.
Most importantly, however, not all industries can afford to squeeze the workweek to just four days. Retailers, for instance, will suffer the biggest financial losses.
The only thing that is clear about the shorter workweek idea is that it comes with both its pros and cons. However, the fact that the World Labor Organization has already taken down its proposal for a 4-day workweek from its blog shows which is the more popular opinion at the moment.
