Should we work four days a week? Scientists: It’s good for health

Employees who work less than 40 hours a week are less stressed, more satisfied with their lives, and less likely to experience burnout, according to research. If so, why don’t we all massively switch to shorter working time? It turns out that there are also arguments against such a solution. Unfortunately.

1. An attempt to reduce working hours was made in Ireland, a group of 2,5 thousand. people devoted 35 hours to work. weekly. It quickly turned out that they were less stressed, felt more autonomous and happier. This was especially true of people with families
2. Similar conclusions can be drawn from Japan. «I want employees to think how they can achieve the same results in 20% time. shorter and turned it into experience ”- this principle was introduced by the head of Japanese Microsoft
3. Scientists emphasize that reducing working hours may be an effective tool against the burnout epidemic
4. However, there are also (unfortunately!) Disadvantages of a four-day working day. – Limiting the weekly number of hours while maintaining the hourly wage rate would reduce the income earned by employees – explains Dr. Paweł Gać from the Medical University of Wrocław
5. More information can be found on the Onet homepage

In one interview, Elon Musk said that he sometimes worked 120 hours a week. 80-90 hours a week is rather the norm for him. Meanwhile, many people would like to work less than 40 hours. Who’s right? Ambition and passion are one thing, on the other hand, humanity develops new technologies to make it easier, nicer and more pleasant. So it is not surprising that many dream of a working week of less than 40 hours.

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A sea of ​​needs

– An unequivocal determination of one constant value of working time considered to be optimal is not possible, inter alia, due to individual differences or changing working conditions. When analyzing the problem, it should be remembered that working time must be considered in each case through the prism of two conditions – physiological and economic “- said Dr. hab. Paweł Gać, prof. Of the Medical University of Piastów Śląskich in Wrocław, acting head of the Department of Environmental Health and Occupational Medicine, employee of the University Center for Imaging Diagnostics.

– The physiological determinant of working time indicates that it should depend on the hardness of work. The economic determinant is related to the effectiveness of work activities. Working time should be selected so as to obtain the highest possible efficiency. The circadian rhythm of our body should also be taken into account. The analysis of the working time problem should not be limited to an attempt to determine the total number of working hours in a given time unit. It should take into account the problems of extended working time (i.e. overtime work), night work, shift work, continuous work (including continuity of rest), or the range of working hours during the working day – explains the specialist.

The spectrum of burnout

Meanwhile, the current rhythm, which is typical for many people, does not serve a large part of people. According to a survey of the well-known American Gallup Institute conducted on 7,5 thousand. employees, right up 23 percent of them experienced burnout frequently or continuously, and 44 percent. – sometimes. One of the effects of frequently felt burnout is as much as 63 percent. increasing the frequency of issuing sick leaves. The recently adopted definition of burnout by the World Health Organization states that it is “a syndrome of workplace-related disorders of chronic stress that has not been reduced“. It is accompanied by symptoms in three different dimensions: lack of energy and feeling exhausted; increased mental distance to work, negative attitude or cynicism related to work; decline in professional effectiveness.

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– The problem of the length of the weekly working day in the discourse of public debate returns, one could say, quite regularly. While the length of a single working day has not raised any major concerns for years (the traditional 8-hour working day remains the norm in many countries), the length of weekly working time is not only discussed, but in reality it varies from country to country and is sometimes modified. Let us remind you that this standard was also modified in our country. In the times of the Polish People’s Republic, before the introduction of free Saturdays, a 46-hour working week was quite common. And before the current 40 hours / week was adopted today, we also operated under the 42-hour weekly working time system. As the above data show, the tendency to shorten the weekly working time is not a new issue – emphasizes prof. Gać.

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Four days a week

Following the times and changes, more and more companies are testing the four-day working week mode. The recently organized 4 Day Week Global has started in Scotland and several universities a project testing the 100: 80: 100 model. These numbers mean that the companies participating in the project will pay 100 percent. salary, for 80 percent working time, but at a cost of 100 percent. commitment. The Scottish government has already earmarked £ 10 million to support companies that decide to participate in the program. A survey by the UK’s Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) showed that as much as 88 percent employees would like to participate in such a program. Simultaneously 80 percent would support the introduction of a four-day working week. 65 percent claims that such a system would increase productivity and 80 percent. is convinced that it would have a positive effect on their well-being. Similar projects are launched in other countries.

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Some data is already available on how the four-day week affects workers. For example, in Iceland, with the help of the government, similar tests have already been carried out, lasting several years, involving 2,5 people. people in various types of workplaces – from regular offices, through kindergartens, to hospitals. In this case, the change was not big – the new week was 35-36 hours. However, employees reported that they felt less stressed, less likely to experience burnout, and that the work-life balance improved. Morale increased, people were happier, more refreshed, they talked about a greater sense of autonomy. Employees with families benefited in particular.

After the end of the tests, due to pressure from trade unions, 86 percent employees of this country were given the opportunity to work slightly shorter hours for the same pay. When in turn Microsoft, as part of the Work-Life Choice Challenge, tested the four-day work week for 2,3 thousand. people in Japan, the employed not only felt better, but their productivity increased by 40 percent. “Work shorter hours, have a good rest and learn a lot,” wrote the president of the Japanese branch of Takuya Hirano on the company’s website. “I want employees to think how they can achieve the same results in 20% time. shorter and turned it into an experience, ”he added. At the same time, the participants of the experiment by 25 percent. they took less time off work, electricity bills in offices fell by 23 percent., by 59 percent the number of printed pages decreased and 92 percent. volunteers said they liked the shorter working week.

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It’s not so simple

So is a four-day working week a step towards solving your burnout and overwork problems? It depends. – In order to give a reliable answer, it should be noted, however, that it is not as unequivocally positive as it might seem. It is necessary to realize the negative consequences of such a solution. Limiting the number of weekly hours while maintaining the hourly wage would reduce the income earned by employees. In the long run, especially in industries where the wages of working people are not high, this could lead to an increase in poverty or even poverty. Adverse health effects resulting from such phenomena are well known and would most likely consume any health gains associated with lower workload – warns Prof. Gać.

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– Another consequence, which we would observe in our reality, would be a probable decrease in the gross domestic product for the state, and for our citizens – a deterioration in the availability of services and an extension of the waiting time for their provision. Perhaps a better solution, taking into account both the interests of employees and employers, would be to place greater emphasis on the introduction of ergonomic recommendations regarding the sequence of job shifts, shift work time or the time of starting work on subsequent shifts, emphasizes the expert.

What country, such opportunities

The experiments presented earlier suggest that it is possible to shorten the working week while maintaining the monthly wage and preserving or even increasing productivity. However, more data is needed. Meanwhile, for example, after similar changes introduced in Korea, employees were grateful for the shorter working week, but it did not matter much to their overall job and life satisfaction. The intensity of duties has increased, and some companies have reduced holidays. So you can see that the issue is complicated and there are many factors at work. One of them is probably the conditions specific to a given country, which may face unique challenges. This is also the case with Poland.

– The subject literature has been paying attention to the problem of workload of people working in Poland for many years. Compared to the inhabitants of Western and Southern Europe, we work longer. This is largely due to the well-known general conditions. As a developing economy, which was first, after the political changes in the 80s and 90s, an economy in the period of transformation, and then after joining the European Union in 2004 – the economy of the country of the ‘new’ Union, we had to make up for many years of development backlogs. To a large extent, the development of our country in the last 30 years is a direct result of the involvement of individual citizens in the performance of their daily duties at the workplace. The question of how to continue to stimulate economic development, GDP growth and ‘chasing’ wealthy economically developed countries, and at the same time reduce the workload of our country’s citizens, is one of the most difficult in my opinion. The search for an answer to such a question should be one of the goals of the organization of public health and occupational medicine in our country – emphasizes prof. Gać.

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