LifeCity will complete the first month of its 4-day work week trial on April 1, 2021. LifeCity’s offices have been closed each Friday during March and will remain so during the month of April to provide our team increased space to grow personally and professionally. The LifeCity team is excited to engage this opportunity to serve our community and our clients while living our values of place-based connectivity, continuous learning, and celebrating every day. Stay tuned for the results!
Why a 4-Day Work Week?
The 4-day work week has become an increasingly necessary foil to the idea that longer working hours increase productivity and that productivity outweighs social and environmental costs. Research has shown that a 4-day work week provides benefits for workers including increased work-life balance, reduced psychological distress, better health outcomes, and greater overall quality of life—which in turn actually increases productivity. Microsoft Japan discovered this when its employee productivity increased by 40% following the introduction of a 4-day week. These gains were realized alongside cost savings through increased efficiency in both energy and material consumption at the company. As an employment benefit, the 4-day work week also has significant talent recruitment and retention potential.
On an even broader social level, studies have shown that a 4-day work week, if widely adopted, could have economic and environmental benefits by significantly reducing commutes in major cities. Flexible work arrangements, including the 4-day work week, also increase equity in the workforce by allowing more people to become employable.
In perhaps the most well-publicized 4-day work week trial, Perpetual Guardian, a trust management company in New Zealand, saw increased employee engagement levels, employee collaboration, confidence and leadership among employees, intellectual stimulation and creativity, and trust between management and employees, all in addition to major productivity and efficiency gains. Afterward, the policy became permanent and company leadership started a foundation dedicated entirely to promoting the 4-day work week across the globe.
Following the success of the Perpetual Guardian trial, the new work arrangement is being considered or adopted across the globe. Shake Shack and Unilever are two large companies who have adopted some form of the 4-day work week. The 4-day work week has been discussed in a variety of countries beyond the US and New Zealand, including Finland, United Kingdom, and Russia. Spain has officially committed to piloting the 4-day work week in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by offering financial aid to companies who cut the work week to 32 hours without reducing pay.