Many countries have begun to try out the four-day working week.

Many countries have begun to try out the four-day working week.

Many countries have begun to try out the four-day working week. Joe O'Connor, CEO of "Working Four Days a Week in the World", said that Britain is at the peak of working four days a week. Britain is not the only country considering reforming the job market. Many countries have begun to try out the four-day working week.

According to the Financial Times, from June 6th, about 70 enterprises in the UK began to try out the four-day work system to test whether this system is conducive to improving production efficiency and promoting employees' physical and mental health.

This experiment will last for half a year. During this period, the participating employees only need to work four days a week, and their wages remain unchanged, but the premise is that the labor efficiency remains unchanged.

The enterprises involved in the experiment include software developers, financial companies, consulting companies, recruitment companies, charities, educational institutions, retailers, restaurants and so on. The number of employees participating in the experiment reached 3300.

It is reported that this experiment is part of the global research four-day work week project and the largest pilot activity of the "short work week" so far. It is operated by the non-profit organization Global Four-Day Week, think tank Autonomy and British Four-day Week Global in cooperation with researchers from Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College.

British companies participating in this experiment will allow researchers to investigate and evaluate the impact of a day off on company output, gender equality, environmental protection and employee welfare. And evaluate employees' reaction to a day off, including stress, work life satisfaction, health, sleep, energy use, travel, etc.

According to CNN, Sienna alak, brand manager of an independent brewing company in London, said, "The epidemic makes us think about the way people organize their lives and work. We do this to improve the lives of employees and contribute to the progress of the world. "

Ed Siegel, CEO of charity bank who participated in the experiment, said in an interview: "day five is a concept of the 20th century, which is no longer suitable for enterprises in the 20th century. We firmly believe that working four days a week but maintaining the same wages and benefits will create a happier workforce and have the same positive impact on corporate productivity, customer experience and social mission. "

In a press release, the British four-day working group said that Spain and Scotland will try out short working weeks with the support of the government later this year.

In recent years, in some countries, the voice of shortening the working week is getting louder and louder. In addition, as the epidemic continues in COVID-19, people's way of life and work has also changed-more and more people turn to telecommuting during the epidemic, and the voice for more flexible working hours is getting louder and louder.

Previously, Iceland conducted the largest-scale pilot activity of "shortening the working week" from 20 15 to 20 19, and * * * 2,500 public * * department staff participated in two large-scale pilot activities. The pilot found that the labor efficiency of participants did not decrease because of the shortening of working hours, but the happiness of employees increased significantly.

Joe OConnor, CEO of the non-profit organization Global Four-Day Work, said that employees have proved that they can "do better in shorter working hours".

O 'Connor said in a statement: "After this epidemic, more and more companies realize that the new frontier of competition is the quality of life, and reducing working hours and focusing on production are the channels for companies to gain competitive advantages."

However, there are not a few people who oppose the four-day working week. In Spain, where the four-day working week is also tried out, Adecco Group Research Institute and Cuatrecasas Institute of Human Resources Law and Strategy conducted a survey on 500 Spanish companies, and found that 74% of Spanish companies opposed the four-day working week.

According to the survey, the reasons for their opposition include "the profit is not enough to support the reduction of one working day per week" (52%), "there is no profit space to maintain the wage level with fewer working days" (42%) and "the workload on the fifth day cannot be made up by other part-time jobs" (38%).

Many countries began to try out the four-day working week. From June 6th, more than 3,300 employees of 70 companies in the UK began to try the new working mode of working four days a week. Whether this experiment, which has been started for two weeks, has improved efficiency or reduced output is still inconclusive. But analysts believe that for the right company, the four-day work system still provides a variety of choices.

Reduce time and improve efficiency

The experimental project lasted for six months and was jointly organized by the non-profit organization "4 Day Week Global", think tank Autonomy, 4 Day Week Campaign and researchers from Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College. It is called the largest new working mode experiment in the world.

The experiment is based on the model of 100:80: 100, that is, I hope to spend 80% of my working time with 100% salary in exchange for the promise of maintaining 100% productivity.

The companies participating in the experiment were selected from 500 applicants, covering catering, education, software, law and finance. Researchers will work with each participating organization to measure the impact on enterprise productivity and employee welfare, and then observe the impact of the new working mode on the environment and gender equality.

According to sources, at least one FTSE 100 company with hundreds of thousands of employees is also close to implementing the plan and has tested the four-day work week system in one of its overseas offices.

Joe O'Connor, CEO of Four Days a Week, said that Britain is at the peak of the four-day wave. He said: "As we come out of the epidemic, more and more companies realize that the new competitive field is quality of life, and reducing working hours and focusing on output are tools to bring competitive advantage."

Juliet Shore, a sociology professor at Boston College, thinks this is a "historic experiment". She said: "We will analyze the reaction of workers to the extra day holiday, including stress and burnout, work and life satisfaction, health, sleep, energy use, travel and many other aspects of life."

Wyatt Watts, the team leader of the fish and chips company who participated in the experiment, said: Work makes me very tired and I have no energy, so I hope that extra rest time will improve my energy level.

Watts believes that the decision to become a pilot has had an impact. He said, "team morale has improved, and I hope our work efficiency will be higher."

Ed Siegel, CEO of another British charity bank who participated in the experiment, said that he was proud to be one of the first banks in the UK to accept the four-day working week. He said: For a long time, we have been an advocate of flexible working system, but the epidemic has really promoted the progress of the goal.

Siegel believes that the fifth day of the 20th century is no longer the best choice for the 20th century. "We firmly believe that the four-day working system with the same salary or benefits will create happier employees and have the same positive impact on corporate productivity, customer experience and our social mission."

Britain is not the only country considering reforming the job market. An experiment in Iceland reduced the working hours of some public sectors from 40 hours to 35 hours, which was called "overwhelming success" by researchers. In Spain, the government is taking out 50 million euros from the EU rescue fund to finance a three-year experiment involving about 200 companies and 6,000 employees.

Reduce production and increase pressure

However, the four-day work system also faces many controversies. Some company bosses complain that with flexible working becoming the norm, employees' attitude towards work has become too casual after the epidemic. Christian Ulbrich, CEO of JLL, a real estate giant, said last month that employees are now demanding the treatment of "pop stars" and a four-day weekend holiday. He said that the labor market is very competitive, and employees are regarded as "pop stars", so they feel that they can do anything they want.

Samantha Lossi, the director of Unity, a communications company that participated in the experiment, believes that the company fell into chaos in the first week of the experiment and hopes that the situation will improve after one week. In order to improve the efficiency of employees, Unity also distributed mini traffic lights on employees' desks. Colleagues wear "red" signals to show that they concentrate on their work and refuse to chat, so as to reduce the time wasted in chatting.

Some economists also pointed out that working four days a week will only aggravate the inactivity of the British economy. Annabel Denham of the British Institute for Economic Affairs said that there are about 99% SMEs in Britain. How can these companies shorten their working hours by one fifth without actually affecting their customers? Even large companies may be struggling, because letting employees work according to different schedules will increase their time to cope with changes.

In addition, Denham said that in order to complete the current workload within four days, employees will have to finish their work more effectively during working hours, and the company's performance will still be under pressure, and personal work efficiency will be monitored more closely, which may lead to higher-than-expected stress levels.

Looking forward to the future, many experts believe that despite its shortcomings, the four-day work system may become one of the choices of flexible employment forms in the future, because it meets the needs of some jobs. After all, the market economy is the best way to balance the boss's needs and employees' preferences, and companies can choose the working system that suits them best.

Many countries have begun to try out the four-day working week. According to South Korea's "Pioneer Economy" and other media reports, some Korean enterprises began to introduce "four-day work week" and tried relevant measures. According to the report, Korean society has a heated discussion on the full implementation of the "four-day work week". Some people think that the system can shorten working hours and balance "work-life relationship", but others doubt that the system will "reduce production efficiency".

According to Pioneer Economy, Kakao, a well-known communication technology company in South Korea, will try out "no work every other Friday" from July 8, and it is estimated that the average working hours of employees can be reduced by at most 16 hours per month. According to media reports, Kakao will also try out the "workplace freedom system" from July 4, that is, employees can freely choose their own workplaces to complete their work.

In addition, Pioneer Economy said that some large South Korean enterprises that are traditionally "conservative" also implement the "four-day work system". SK Telecom has implemented the "Happy Friday" system since 2020, that is, employees can rest on Fridays in the third week of each month.

Starting from this month, Fridays in the second and fourth weeks of every month are also rest days. According to the report, since the implementation of "Happy Friday", SK Telecom found that shortening employees' working hours did not have a negative impact on production efficiency.

In addition, CJ Entertainment regards every Friday afternoon as the "self-development time" of employees, which is essentially implementing the "4.5-day working system". A survey shows that CJ Entertainment employees are very satisfied with the company's implementation of this system.

For some enterprises, the "four-day working system" or "four-and-a-half-day working system" is implemented. Some Korean media said that this is also a measure taken by Korean enterprises to attract talents, and it also brings a kind of competition among enterprises.

At the same time, since June 6th, the UK has implemented the world's largest four-day week pilot activity, in which more than 3,000 employees from all walks of life participated. The experiment lasted for half a year and was conducted in the mode of "100: 80: 100", that is, the salary and output remained unchanged and the working hours were reduced to 80%.

At that time, China migrant workers left envious tears. Everyone says, "Although the working hours are long, our wages are low", "Don't believe the rumors" and "This must be the sugar-coated cannonball of capitalism".

In fact, as a part of the four-day week global research project, the sponsor of the experiment has given the significance of the experiment-to test whether it is conducive to improving production efficiency and more conducive to the mental health of employees.

The point is not not not to cut wages.

But more efficient.

This experiment is not the first time in Britain.

In 20 15, the Icelandic government reduced the working hours from 40 hours per week to 35-36 hours. More than 2,500 employees participated in the experiment, which lasted for 4 years. Last year, the Icelandic government announced the experimental results, calling it "overwhelming success", and 86% Icelandic workers re-signed labor contracts with permanently shortened working hours.

In 20 19, Microsoft Japan implemented a five-four-day working week, and the results were also surprising. Not only did the employee productivity increase by 39.9%, but the company's overall operating costs, including printer utilization and electricity consumption, were reduced because of being vacant for five days. Spain, New Zealand and other countries and enterprises have similar initiatives.

But this time, the four-day work system pioneered by Britain is indeed the largest in the world.

Some media believe that this experiment only reduced the working day of one day, but did not reduce the workload. It is not really "reducing work without lowering salary". For half a year, business managers want to see if employees can finish the original five-day workload in four days. If not, go back to the original fifth day.

Julian Jessop, an economist at the British Institute for Economic Issues, said: "People have to increase their productivity by 25% every day in order to finish five days' work in four days. "

More people suggest that it may be more effective for creativity and mental work, but in most modern jobs, the time flow is very clear, the working hours may not be compressed, and the daily workload of medical staff, teachers and other practitioners is already very large, so it is difficult to add extra workload.

So the discussion point extends from the practice of four-day week itself to whether employees in enterprises can be more efficient.

Efficient, efficient!

A trite new topic

Efficient production is a cliche, but it is a major topic in the field of management, and there are many related experiments.

The famous Hawthorne experiment: 1924, a western electronics company conducted an experiment in Hawthorne factory in Illinois in order to find out the factors that reduce productivity except "fatigue".

By 1927, the experiment had not made substantial progress, so Mayo, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, was invited to take charge of the research, and four stages were started successively: lighting experiment, welfare experiment, interview experiment and group experiment. Later, it was concluded that employees' emotions and the interests of informal organizations in enterprises are the core of determining production efficiency.

This research has been nearly 100 years, and its limitations and complexity have been tested. However, we have to admit that it pays more attention to people and their emotions in the organization, which is of great significance to the improvement of production efficiency.

Some experts believe that the epidemic has affected many people with negative mentality, and the four-day work system is beneficial to the mental health of employees and takes into account everyone's emotions.

However, in China, it does sound unreliable to adjust employees' mood by shortening working hours, at least in the short term.

Perhaps a paper published by Chairman of Ctrip.com 20 15 and Liang Jianzhang, an adjunct professor at Guanghua School of Management of Peking University, in the top academic journal "Economic Quarterly" may be more useful for today's epidemic and frequent home office work.

Not just Britain, South Korea.

Many countries have begun to try out the "four-day working week".

New Zealand's non-profit organization "Global Four-Day Work Week" said that more than 3,300 workers from banking, marketing, health care, financial services, retail and hotel industries have participated.

These companies willing to try four days a week include banks, hotels, animation studios, office white-collar workers, recruitment companies, charities and even fish and potato shops.

Canada, the United States and Ireland are currently conducting the same pilot projects, including Spain and Scotland. ...

The Global Four-Day Work Week said in a statement:

Day five is out of date!

Up to now, Iceland has carried out the largest related experiment in 20 15 to 20 19 years, with a total of 2,500 public sector workers (equivalent to 1% of the country's working population) participating.

The test results show that:

The productivity of participants has not decreased, and the happiness of employees has also greatly improved.

This experiment ushered in an "overwhelming success" in Iceland!

Although the attempt to "work four days a week" sounds good,

However, there is another problem that needs attention, that is, employees have to complete the same workload as five days in four days, which may mean longer working hours every day for many people. ...

However, some people say:

"If I know that if I work fast, I can enjoy an extra day off, I think it will be a good incentive."

Although few companies participated in the experiment in Australia,

But perhaps with the expansion of its influence, more companies will join in the future. ...