Is a 4 day work week possible?

Japanese people hurriedly walk in the area in front of JR Tokyo station (photo taken in early 2022) – Photo: Kyodo

The idea of ​​working only 4 days a week without losing efficiency has been discussed for a long time. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a special catalyst that has made this idea strongly revived recently.

Japan leads the trend

Japan, which is famous for its culture of hard work, discipline and long hours, is also at the forefront of this trend. Most recently, some of Japan’s largest businesses have officially implemented a shorter working week.

Specifically, in April, Hitachi Group announced the implementation of a 4-day working week with about 15,000 employees right in the current financial year (which will end in March 2023). Also in April, game developer Game Freak (famous for Pokemon games) suggested this new working style to some employees.

Other companies such as Panasonic Holdings, NEC, Mizuho Financial Group, Fast Retailing and Uniqlo are also considering similar measures.

According to Kyodo News, in the annual economic policy orientation document last year, the Japanese Government said that it encouraged businesses to introduce a mechanism to choose a 4-day working week for employees, because this It also promotes more positive changes in Japanese youth’s decision to get married and have children.

In Indonesia, last year peer-to-peer lending bank Alami introduced a 4-day work week to its employees as a solution to improve mental health and work performance.

Sooner than that, Eduwill Education Company of Korea must be mentioned when since 2019 has become the leading enterprise implementing a shorter working week.

In fact, it was Eduwill’s initiative that suggested to Ms. Sim Sang-jung, one of the candidates running for the Korean presidential election in March, to propose a 4-day work week plan as one of the policies. her key.

Meanwhile, India is also preparing to implement four new labor laws this year, which are expected to have a significant impact on hours worked and income. Accordingly, employees can choose to work 4 days a week, although the total number of working hours remains the same, each week is still 48 hours.

Need more time evaluate

Mr. Dave O’Farrell – leader of O’Farrell Career Management Company, which provides consulting and brand management services for businesses based in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) – said that in Physically laborious jobs, 4-day, even 3-day work weeks may become common, but with desk jobs it seems that this mindset is not easily accepted.

This expert recalled a successful example from 2019 when the branch of Microsoft Corporation in Japan (Microsoft Japan) tested a 4-day work week and found that work productivity increased by 40% while electricity consumption decreased by 23%. .

“Given the increase in job performance and worker satisfaction, there’s probably no arguing about efficiency, but of course a four-day workweek won’t be practical for every industry or company,” said Dave. O’Farrell said.

However, there are reasons for some to doubt the adoption of the four-day workweek will be widespread. For example, a survey by Mynavi Company in February 2022 showed that about 78.5% of workers between the ages of 20 and 50 in Japan said they do not want to take extra leave if their salary is reduced.

Along with that, about 60.1% of the 800 survey participants said that it is difficult for them to apply a 4-day work week at their workplace because of the excessive workload. work.

Hiromi Murata, a senior fellow at the independent research institute Recruit Works Institute, said that the four-day work week also poses additional challenges such as difficulty in managing work shifts and lack of communication between staffs.

“Whether this approach is beneficial and to what extent depends on the industry and the type of work in each place. Japanese companies can use this idea as an experiment to see if it works for them,” said Ms. Murata.