Can a four-day work week amp up worker efficiency?

A concept which has seen a rise in recent times, can having four working days instead of five be helpful for both employers and its employees?

- Dhruv Mukerjee

In what might seem like a revolutionary idea, a four workday per week model has slowly begun expanding across many developed economies. Although slow in its adoption, more and more companies today are experimenting with the idea and have noted a rise in their overall productivity vis-à-vis the traditional five days a week working pattern.

One of the most prominent results of the four-day work came from Japan. An experiment that began last summer, Microsoft gave its employees five consecutive four workday weeks. This meant employees got three day weekends for the entire period. This move was strengthened by limiting the time for meeting to under 30 mins and facilitating more remote communications that aimed to cut out the clutter. The use of digital platforms to communicate was also promoted. The result of this was that Microsoft’s sales per employee soared 40 percent from the previous year. The company also saved money on electricity bills and paper-copying costs. In its trial in August 2019, 2,300 employees who were given a paid Friday off each week reported a 40 percent increase in the productivity of employees in the month (measured against August 2018). Given its limited scope and period, the experiment isn’t essentially the gold standard for comparing the benefits of traditional work structures vis-à-vis one that allows employees to work for four weeks, but it points to an important area of change –and a question. With technology raising employee productivity significantly over the years, is the norm of five workdays in a week the most efficient way of making companies productive?

A multitude of factors