Time to consider a four- plus-one-day work week?

One day a week could be set aside for training and reskilling – a win for both workers and firms

- Zakir Hussain

The four-day work week is everywhere.

Not in terms of the number of employers who promote it, but in how ubiquitous the subject is in the news these days.

Where one media report profiles workers who love it, another features companies which say it isn’t working.

Earlier this month, my colleague wrote about how a recent Milieu Insight poll for The Straits Times found that seven in 10 Singapore workers want the four-day work week.

But academics and business leaders she interviewed cautioned against it, saying there were trade-offs and national competitiveness might be affected.

A large-scale trial has been under way in Britain since June, where more than 3,300 workers in 70 companies agreed to work one day less, but for full pay and a commitment to keep up their usual productivity levels.

4 Day Week Global, the not-for-profit organisation championing the pilot programme, says a four-day week is good for companies because it boosts productivity and innovation. It also helps recruit and retain talent.

There are clear benefits for workers: better work-life balance, more time to rest and recharge, and more time for leisure pursuits from hobbies to exercise.

These gains accrue to society too: better mental and physical health, a better division of caregiving duties if family members have more time to share the load, and more time for workers to spend with young children and ageing family members.

The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated that a variety of flexible work arrangements once thought impossible can work, and work relatively well, such as work from home and hybrid work models – including from anywhere in the world.