Friday Feature: 4 Day Work Weeks

About 25 years ago, I moved from a full-time job to a four-day-a-week position. At the time, I was engaged and my soon-to-be-husband was gainfully employed. We had no children and all of the jobs in question (his, my old one and my new one) included health insurance, so the pay cut seemed a small price to pay for a job I really wanted. Since we were combining our salaries and our living expenses, it all seemed do-able.

And it was. For me, a four day work week yielded an opportunity to start a freelance writing career (a fantastic suggestion that came from my sister). Later, it gave me an extra day to spend at home with my newborn daughter, a perk I enjoyed almost until she entered elementary school. In retrospect, fully grasping what this time meant probably played a role in my taking an early retirement from that same job, which had turned into a five-day-a-week position.

For the past two summers, I've enjoyed a four day schedule as well. Since I was teaching only one class, I went into work for two to three hours Monday through Thursday. Fridays were once again a writing day, with out-of-school teaching responsibilities (planning, grading) done primarily on work days as well.

As someone who has lived this schedule, I wasn't at all surprised to read that a New Zealand study found a connection between a shorter work week and an increase in productivity. The company's founder didn't put this change into effect merely to be a nice guy -- he'd read about the benefits of shorter work weeks and decided to see if they held true.

And he wasn't disappointed. Employees wasted less time (and spent less time in meetings, which underwent some changes as well) and reported a better work-life balance. In addition, the company also saved itself some overhead costs.

Oh, did I mention the employees got paid the same salary to work 32 hours a week they'd been paid to work 40?

Think your boss would go for it? The article and its links provide some valid information on the benefits of this from both sides of the table.

Who knows? Maybe it's worth sharing with your boss.