[cajobportal Insights] The 4 day week

Microsoft Japan experimented with a four-day week this August, giving all its 2,300 employees in the country five Fridays off in a row without any salary decrease. 40% increase in productivity, electricity usage down by 23%, lesser consumption of paper was used and 92% employees reporting higher happiness.

Certainty, globally, people are questioning whether there is a direct link between hours put in and output delivered. Work, it is well known, expands to fill the time available for its completion. In today’s era, companies pay a rental to employees for their minds. And well-rested and widely exposed minds, many reckon, are best placed to deliver the goods.

However, In the Indian context, is there a logical case for a 4 day week?

A four day week is a far cry for Indians who are used to humblebrag about how long hours we put at work. At Kolkata, where CAJobPortal.com is headquartered, only the 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month are off :). Ironically, even in Japan, where this experiment was conducted, karoshi (death by overwork) is a known work front hazard.

And can we take the results at face value.

a) How does one measure productivity for while collared workers — number of financial models prepared in ‘x’ hours can change with complexity

b) Since it was a pilot, employees may have walked the extra mile to make it successful- so that they could have a permanent four-day work week.

c) Had Microsoft run its trial for a whole year, some suspect, the results would be less cheery

d) Will productivity levels remain enhanced if four-day work week is permanently formalised — you see, people then take it for granted.

e) How will clients and customers react?

f) Will it withstand the test of tough times? A 30 hour workweek was popular in the early 20th century, but support dropped once the Great Depression.

g) For a small company, can they afford this luxury? In India, top managers are inclined to go by Douglas McGregor’s Theory X of motivation, by which workers need constant supervision to perform well, since self-motivation is rare

And a question that asks for attention is that what people will do during the additional day off. If they end up binge watching or doing household chores, will there be additional relaxation to ward off the Monday Morning blues

What do you think?

Would love to hear from you on this