Many employees will find an opportunity for a longer weekend and companies have recently started experimenting seriously with reshaped schedules. Companies from the Kickstarter funding platform in Brooklyn, New York to Unilever New Zealand are running four-week pilot projects to test their productivity and troubleshoot. “This is not going to go far,” said Evan Lowe, a member of the Democratic state of California who drafted the bill. Employees coming out of the pandemic prize are flexible schedules and some companies competing in a tight job market are adjusting, he added.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of California’s proposal to make the four days an official work week? Take part in the discussion below. California is home to many of the largest technology companies in the world and is the most populous state in the United States, with a population of approximately 39 million. If passed, AB 2932 would set a work week of 32 hours for private sector companies with more than 500 employees. The hourly workers who record more time should be paid one and a half years for overtime. Earlier this month, the California Chamber of Commerce added the bill to its “list of job killers,” saying the legislation would significantly increase labor costs. Requiring companies to pay the same amount of money for one less working day will not end well if the bill goes through, said Nicholas Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford University. “Jobs will shift to Nevada or Oregon and employers will not be able to raise wages for many years,” he said. A better alternative for businesses and shift workers who have to do their work in person, he said, would be more hours on fewer days, with employees benefiting from not having to travel so much. The four-day work week has been discussed for decades and some companies and sites already set a 32-hour week as full-time. During the Great Depression, companies reduced working hours because there was so little work available. Richard Nixon, when he was vice president of the United States, predicted that Americans would stop working five days a week at some point. Research on the effectiveness of shortened weeks is mixed. Economic studies from Germany and France found that fewer hours did not increase employment. A 2013 study of private companies in Belgium found that employees who worked 25 to 35 hours a week were more productive than those who worked more or less.
Many employers are not fans. A recent survey of 459 companies, mainly in the technology sector, found that 90% of companies did not plan to adopt a four-day work week, according to the Sequoia Consulting Group, which conducted the survey. In 2019, Microsoft Corp. discontinued a four-day experiment in Japan after five weeks. Most tech workers say they spend a lot more than 40 hours a week, so it would be difficult to complete their current work in 32 hours, according to Kyle Holm, vice president of Sequoia Consulting Group, which advises clients on compensations and benefits. Employees generally do not qualify for overtime. As big banks, companies and start-ups in the US encourage employees to close their emails and log out to limit resignations, the WSJ is examining how “disconnection” measures have affected productivity in companies in Europe . Photo: Max Duncan for the WSJ “To me it is not in line with what people do when they are not paid on an hourly basis,” he said. In addition, many companies have already catered to employee preferences by offering hybrid schedules according to which employees only come to the office three days a week, he said. The concept of a four-day work week is unexpectedly popular among employees. A survey of more than 1,000 employees conducted by Qualtrics, a cloud software company, found that 92% of people would support a four-day week job and that 37% would be willing to receive a 5% pay cut in return for the program change. Many also acknowledged the disadvantages, with almost three-quarters saying they would end up working longer hours anyway. Denise Rousseau, a professor of organizational behavior and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, suggests companies try out a four-day workweek or a new type of schedule in which key hours or squares of time on certain days when people are free to work with colleagues. they are used. “It’s good to shake things up because you determine what is critical and necessary and what is not,” he said. “Employers have a lot of incentive to waste people time if basic value-added work can be done in 30 hours, but you have it for 40.” Buffer, a maker of social media marketing software, adopted a four-day workweek in 2020 after internal surveys showed that employees needed more support during the pandemic, said Nicole Miller, chief of staff. The company initially thought of offering people a pandemic bonus or iPad. “The overwhelming answer was that people wanted more time away from work,” he said. Buffer, which employs a full-fledged staff of nearly 90 people, did not cut wages despite the program change. The company has closely monitored productivity metrics and found that employees are doing more in less time, Ms Miller said. For example, engineers wrote more lines of code in November 2020, during shorter weeks, than in November 2019 when they worked five days a week. Within the short work week, Buffer employees have the flexibility to work four longer days, a total of 32 hours or five shorter days. “It makes these four days a little more intense,” said Miller. “There is a misconception that it is easier in some way or that it is a little less stressful.” Write to Katherine Bindley at [email protected] Copyright © 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8