“Korposzczury” already welcomed the four-day working week. Today they hear something different from CEOs

The chill settling in the labor market means that many workers' hopes for a four-day workweek are — at least for now — frozen.

“There is some resistance from management to the things that workers have gained during the pandemic,” said Juliet Schor, an economist at Boston College who studies shorter work weeks.

However, as Schor and other supporters of such solutions said in an interview with Business Insider, the idea of ​​permanent three-day weekends is not dead. Instead, due to back-to-office orders and companies' relentless focus on AI, widespread implementation may simply take longer than advocates would like.

Thanks, 9-9-6

One challenge is that talk of four days doesn't always align with narratives about doubling down on work. Some leaders are fed up with discussions about work-life balance, and large employers in particular are calling for employees to return to their desks.

Juliet Schor points out that in some respects, ideas like 9-9-6 – the grind from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week – they are the answer to the four-day work week.

This even though studies – from the UK to New Zealand – by Schor and others have shown that Spending less time at work can make employees happier and less burnt out — without sacrificing productivity.

For now, many CEOs are focusing on the benefits of returning to the office (RTO) and the need to work hard. Part of that sober tone is a way for big bosses to signal to boards and investors that their employees will be working harder than ever, said Vishal Reddy, executive director of WorkFour, a nonprofit that promotes a four-day, 32-hour work week as the standard.

— I think part of it is theater – he said, referring to the CEO's orders.

Reddy added that another reason for the less buzz around the four-day week is that the idea is no longer as new as it was in 2020 and 2021, when some employers – looking to attract and retain employees – implemented it experimentally.

Pushing this idea further will likely require waiting for market conditions to change and for employees to regain their influence.

Reddy said he sees proposed bills to pilot a four-day workweek in New York and Maine as a sign that supporters haven't abandoned the concept.

There are also many examples of companies that have introduced shorter graphics. In almost all cases, once employers opt for this schedule, they don't go back to the previous one, Reddy said.

The impact of artificial intelligence

The challenges of a shorter workweek don't just come down to practicalities, such as having to make sure someone answers the phone on Friday.

“For employers to pay people the same for one less day of work, the economy would have to really take off — growing at high single-digit or even double-digit percentages,” said Pavel Shynkarenko, founder and CEO of Mellow, a contract worker management platform.

See also: They are already making money from artificial intelligence. How many? The wage premium exists and is growing

One factor that could help is AI.

— If technology can sufficiently increase employee productivity, a shorter workweek could become feasible, Shynkarenko explained. Working just four days could also help prevent AI-induced mass unemployment by spreading the work among more people.

— Essentially, a four-day workweek could serve as a “safe haven” for the economy during the transition as bots take over more and more of the tasks currently performed by humans, Shynkarenko said.

One day, he added, AI could make even a four-day week unnecessary. — Workweeks could last only two days – he said. Either way, any departure from five days as the norm will likely take years.

Until AI can shoulder more of the burden, Shynkarenko said, there will be no room for talk of shortened weeks as employers face enormous cost pressures.

Additionally, in ultra-competitive industries such as technology, a shortened workweek could be seen as a concession to the competition.

However, economist Juliet Schor does not expect that employers will be able to avoid this topic indefinitely. Although stress and burnout among employees have decreased since the COVID-19 crisis, it is still above pre-pandemic levels.

— We are still at this heightened level of stress Schor said.

Four days of guilt

Even if the economy grew fast enough to support a four-day workweek, other factors could come into play. One is that in some cases workers may feel shame about working shorter hours, said Dale Whelehan, an assistant professor of systems psychology at Trinity College Dublin, who supports shorter work weeks. Until January, he served as CEO of the 4 Day Week Global organization, which promotes shorter working hours.

— There was this internalized feeling of guilt about not working hard enough or good enough — he said, referring to situations that may arise in organizations testing a shorter week.

Nevertheless, Whelehan added, the benefits to employee well-being and company performance are so great that talk of a four-day work week — though it has now waned — will “gain momentum again.”

The above text is a translation from American edition of Business Insider