More companies adopt a four-day work week, but it may be difficult for some industries to follow

About a hundred years ago, most people worked a standard six days per week. Today, with the typical five-day work week — Mondays to Fridays, from 9:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m — workers are yet again campaigning for change: a four-day, 32-hour work week, but with the same pay and benefits. The question is: is it possible, and will every industry be able to follow?

Despite sceptics, the 4 Day Week Foundation, which campaigned for this change in the UK, said more than nine in 10 companies already made the change and stuck with it. In fact, the Henley Business School said that while progress to the said change was “slow”, momentum was building, with more companies joining the trend every year. 

Still, the business school noted that it may not work for all industries, particularly in the retail and hospitality as well as care sectors.

Fidelma Tinneny, who runs several nursing homes, told BBC that the four-day work week could be “traumatic” for both staff and residents they look after when they’re in need of urgent care.

She added that it will be difficult for them without access to staff who can take care of a resident in need of medication, as well as residents who may end up in the hospital, when it could have been avoided in the first place.

Near the little red dot, Taiwan News reported last week that Taiwan citizens have called for a four-day workweek; however, after reviewing feedback from various sectors, the country’s Ministry of Labor decided to “prioritise the existing two-day weekend while exploring flexible work arrangements”. /TISG

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