Is a 4-day, 32-hour workweek possible? Local expert weighs in

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — As America celebrates the ‘unofficial end’ of summer this Labor Day, the federal holiday is shining a spotlight on national conversations surrounding the possibility of a 4-day workweek.

As the entirety of the globe was forced to shutdown years ago at the onset of the pandemic, a great deal of work was forced to move online, remote. Now as the pendulum is swinging the other direction out of the pandemic, some employers are having workers remain remote, others are going hybrid, while others had employees come back to the office altogether. When it comes to the latest workforce trends, many companies are shifting the approach for greater flexibility in some capacity.

A recent study out of the University of Cambridge in the UK had 61 participating companies and organizations adopt a model of 4-day, 32-hour workweek. The study ran from June – December 2022 and showed increased productivity for employees, as well as longer retention rates. An overwhelming 92% of the businesses and organizations which participated in the pilot report plans to maintain the scheduling model.

The concept of a federal standard of a 32-hour workweek is already being discussed in the United States. Amorette Miller is the CEO and Owner of ShiftDiff.com, a local online job search engine showcasing readily available openings in the Rochester and Finger Lakes regions. Refferencing the UK study, Miller explains it uses an approach of 100-80-100 which equates to 100% compensation, 80% of the work, 100% productivity.

For employees part of the study pilot program, 55% reported an increase in their abilities at work with 90% saying they would definitely stay in their current job.

“Amazon has a 4-day workweek option, Toshiba, Panasonic, many companies across the globe and now it’s starting to come to America in a big way. And I believe that the 4-day workweek is here to stay. It’s something that companies should embrace if they’d like to retain their workers and alleviate stress and burnout for their workforce. It’s good for people, it’s good for children and its beneficial to society for us to make work work for workers,” Miller says.

It also could help companies looking to retain employees burntout from the pandemic who were not able to work remotely.

“A 4-day, 32-hour work week would benefit front line workers where you can stagger schedules and condense the workload to make their productivity the same and unchanged. However at the same time allevaiting some of that, that stress and strain that comes with going to work every single day in-person,” Miller says.

It’s not too far out of the realm of possibilities, either. A federal ’32-Hour Workweek Act’ was introduced in the House in July. It wouldn’t be the first time shortening the workweek. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act implemented a 44-hour workweek. That was reduced to our current 40-hour workweek in 1940.

You can view the study from the UK below:

​ ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — As America celebrates the ‘unofficial end’ of summer this Labor Day, the federal holiday is shining a spotlight on national conversations surrounding the possibility of a 4-day workweek.

As the entirety of the globe was forced to shutdown years ago at the onset of the pandemic, a great deal of work was forced to move online, remote. Now as the pendulum is swinging the other direction out of the pandemic, some employers are having workers remain remote, others are going hybrid, while others had employees come back to the office altogether. When it comes to the latest workforce trends, many companies are shifting the approach for greater flexibility in some capacity.

A recent study out of the University of Cambridge in the UK had 61 participating companies and organizations adopt a model of 4-day, 32-hour workweek. The study ran from June – December 2022 and showed increased productivity for employees, as well as longer retention rates. An overwhelming 92% of the businesses and organizations which participated in the pilot report plans to maintain the scheduling model.

The concept of a federal standard of a 32-hour workweek is already being discussed in the United States. Amorette Miller is the CEO and Owner of ShiftDiff.com, a local online job search engine showcasing readily available openings in the Rochester and Finger Lakes regions. Refferencing the UK study, Miller explains it uses an approach of 100-80-100 which equates to 100% compensation, 80% of the work, 100% productivity.

For employees part of the study pilot program, 55% reported an increase in their abilities at work with 90% saying they would definitely stay in their current job.

“Amazon has a 4-day workweek option, Toshiba, Panasonic, many companies across the globe and now it’s starting to come to America in a big way. And I believe that the 4-day workweek is here to stay. It’s something that companies should embrace if they’d like to retain their workers and alleviate stress and burnout for their workforce. It’s good for people, it’s good for children and its beneficial to society for us to make work work for workers,” Miller says.

It also could help companies looking to retain employees burntout from the pandemic who were not able to work remotely.

“A 4-day, 32-hour work week would benefit front line workers where you can stagger schedules and condense the workload to make their productivity the same and unchanged. However at the same time allevaiting some of that, that stress and strain that comes with going to work every single day in-person,” Miller says.

It’s not too far out of the realm of possibilities, either. A federal ’32-Hour Workweek Act’ was introduced in the House in July. It wouldn’t be the first time shortening the workweek. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act implemented a 44-hour workweek. That was reduced to our current 40-hour workweek in 1940.

You can view the study from the UK below:

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