There has been a lot of discussion about the “future of work” recently. When the first lockdown commenced in March 2020, nearly all workplaces immediately transitioned to working from home. Now, with more eased restrictions and offices opening up again, there has been a growing discussion of the changes coming to the way we work. Businesses managed to operate successfully with employees scattered around the country, demonstrating that perhaps it isn’t necessary for every single employee to come into work all five days a week. Perhaps, employers can offer more flexible options to employees when it comes to where they work from and still maintain their desired levels of productivity.
According to research done by the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) ‘Future of Work’ team in Australia, 74% of the population would prefer to split their work week between working from home and the office. Only 10% prefer the pre-COVID schedule of going to the office five days a week. With this in mind, PwC has been looking at permanently implementing the hybrid model, as are many other organisations. With technology such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams (amongst others), working remotely in teams is easily achievable.
Some workplaces are going one step further to introduce four-day work weeks, such as Awin. a global affiliate marketing network that connects advertisers with affiliates and provides marketing solutions. During lockdown, business grew so intensely that employees were told to only work until lunchtime on Fridays, allowing for a slightly longer weekend. This worked out so well that it resulted in improvements in employee engagement and customer satisfaction. Employees were happy and the business was benefitting with the half day on Friday. Thus, starting in January, employees now work four days a week with no changes to salary and so far, it has been working smoothly (The Australian Financial Review, 2021).
Iceland also announced that their four-day work week trials have been an “overwhelming success” (BBC News, 2021). From 2015 to 2019, they conducted trials to determine whether there were benefits to employees working shorter hours (with the same pay) and it has indicated that it did indeed lead to the same or improved levels of productivity in most businesses. Now 86% of the working population in Iceland have switched or are planning to switch to shorter work weeks. For this experiment, 2500 workers across various disciplines were included and at the end, they stated that they were more content as they felt less stressed and had more time to spend on hobbies or with their families.
Employees felt there was a lower risk of experiencing burnout, which is an increasingly common problem these days. Seeing this success, and to combat the problems due to COVID-19, Spain is conducting a four-day work week experiment and Unilever New Zealand is also rolling out a similar year-long trial. While the four-day work week trials have been successful, it is also true that it is not without flaws. For instance, this may not work for many types of jobs, such as those that are more project-based. Or, in cases where the employees are offered a choice between one day off or two half-days, logistical problems may arise with scheduling. Many are still hesitant to accept it as they believe it will not lead to significant productivity gains and that employees only become more efficient the more they perform a task.
With most workplaces in Australia going back to working in the office full-time, it may be worth considering a four-day working week, especially since so many workers would prefer to divide work between home and the office. With a four-day work week, they would spend shorter hours at the office and be able to spend more time at home to recharge and potentially be more productive at work. With a better work-life balance, employees will be able to contribute more to work, which can benefit organisations in the long-run.
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