Once viewed as an improbable facet of some distant future, 四天工作周 is becoming more of a reality in the contemporary workplace, and a pair of 电子游戏软件 faculty members are involved in a landmark international study of this trend.
全球四天工作周, or 4DWG—a non-profit established to provide a platform for supporters of 四天工作周—began a world-wide pilot program earlier this year for companies and organizations that have adopted the model of four days’ work with no reduction in pay, 或者有兴趣这么做. 在美国有100多家公司, 联合王国, 澳大利亚, 加拿大, and Ireland have taken part over a series of six-month trials. 4DWG offers the participating companies coaching and other assistance in setting up and running a four-day week.
朱丽叶·肖尔(李·佩莱格里尼饰)
BC大学社会学教授朱丽叶·肖尔, 谁在4DWG学术委员会任职, 系同事文凡副教授, and University College Dublin faculty member Orla Kelly, 谁有BC大学的社会学博士学位, 正在评估结果.
本月发布, the study’s most recent data—from the first and second trials, which involve nearly 33 companies—indicates a high level of satisfaction on the part of both employers and employees with 四天工作周: Companies noted an improvement in productivity and growth in revenue; workers reported less stress and burnout, and an overall positive effect on mental and physical health.
最重要的是, 当 asked whether they would continue using the four-day model, “没有一家公司回答‘不’或‘很可能不’,’”肖尔说.
As a social economist whose research focuses on the intersection of work, 消费, and climate change—her publications include the 1992 book The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure—Schor sees 4DWG as helping to challenge long-held assumptions and beliefs about work/life balance and productivity.
Schor recounted an anecdote from an interview with someone in customer service at a company in the first 4DWG trial. “When my interviewee told her biggest client that she would no longer be working on Fridays, 她得到的回答是:“不错。!’ I think that’s emblematic of how people have changed their thinking about the nature of work; we’re at a point where the three-day weekend is now seen as more reasonable.”
Schor and Fan’s team is leading the global data collection, and collaborating with local researchers in each country, gathering information from employees through surveys and interviews, 而公司则提供管理数据. 他们正在分析审判前后的变化, 以及跨越国家和公司, 员工的人口, 工作类型.
文凡(李·佩莱格里尼)
“这可能是迄今为止最令人惊讶的发现,范说, 那就是没有惊喜, which is not typically the case in academic research. 通常, we would get some hypotheses supported while others refuted, 但是对于这个项目, 基本上我们期望的所有东西都会移动, 在预期的方向上. 时间减少了, 福利改善, and key organizational bottom-lines sustained—all of these happened without the need for workers to intensify their work demands. I think this is an ideal example demonstrating how powerful well-conceived work redesign efforts can make an impactful difference in the real world.”
Schor and 球迷说 the main reason employees have maintained productivity in 四天工作周 is that companies have decreased or cut activities with questionable or low value in the day-in, 重复令人厌烦的操作. Meetings—a traditional source of complaints among employees and managers alike—have been a major target in this reorganization, 人事部门开始求助于电话, 消息传递应用程序, 或者其他的交流方式.
提高生产力的另一个关键, 他们指出, is that four-day week employees tend to use their third day off for doctor’s appointments or other personal errands that they would otherwise try to cram into a workday. Employees also reported devoting the extra day off to hobbies and leisure activities, 家庭工作, 个人仪容整洁, all of which often contribute to good mental health and general life satisfaction.
The four-day week’s tangible benefits for employers, Schor和Fan补充道, 包括降低员工的医疗费用, 减少员工流失率, 同时也是招募新员工的有利条件.
“不会失去训练有素的人才, 在医疗保健或教学等领域, to stress and burnout is certainly a worthwhile goal,肖尔说, “and at a time 当 we’ve seen many employers struggle to fill positions, 四天工作周可以被吹捧为一个好处.”
四天工作周的概念早于4DWG, 该项目本身于2018年启动, but Schor and Fan agree that the COVID-19 pandemic—which shuttered many workplaces and led to an uptick in remote work—undoubtedly was a critical if unplanned factor in putting the program in operation.
“This would’ve been a difficult sell pre-COVID—it would’ve struck a lot of people as pie-in-the-sky, 对公司来说是不可行的,肖尔说. “But the pandemic created such levels of stress and burnout, 并导致许多员工表示, “我想过一种不一样的生活,’ and this created more of a space for reimagining work—and, 作为其中的一部分, 四天工作周.”
尽管如此, 球迷说, “传统的”40小时, in-office model of work is still deeply entrenched in many societies. “社会变革总是困难的, especially 当 it comes to challenging the deep-seated institutional logics dictating how, 当, 以及我们工作的地方. Let’s hope we don’t waste the crisis of COVID in terms of the profound workplace innovations it has precipitated.”
Schor noted that workplaces that have been sped up—such as in manufacturing, where workers are typically paid by the hour—will have difficulty with a four-day week “since it’s harder for them to squeeze out inefficient time.” However, over time, as the new schedule is normalized, they will gain by making the switch.
“公司需要明白的是, 你不关注个人的生产力, 而是整个组织. Employers who went to remote work during COVID recognized that they could trust their people to do the work, 这就是我们在这里所说的, 太.”
有关全球4天工作周的更多信息，请参见 www.4 dayweek.com
Sean Smith | University Communications | December 2022