Working less is all the rage. It seems like every few weeks there’s another report about a company or country that’s completed a four-day workweek experiment. The results are predictably consistent: employees are happier, and productivity remains the same or improves.
From England to Iceland, Microsoft in Japan to Basecamp in the US, these studies prove with data what most of us know intuitively: there isn’t always a direct relationship between how many hours we work and how much we produce.
But grounding arguments for working less in economic terms misses the true value of reducing hours. We shouldn’t just work less because it makes us better workers. We should work less because it makes us better people.
Here’s the piece: A Better Argument for Working Less
Book updates:
- recommended The Good Enough Job on his list of top books coming out in May and June :).
The book comes out in 3 weeks (!!), and I’m going on tour. If you’re in New York, Seattle, Portland, SF, LA, or Denver, I’d love to see you!
You can get all the details for the different tour stops here. Two require tickets in advance (5/23 in NYC with Kevin Delaney and 5/24 in SF with Zoë Schiffer).
Warmly,
Simo
P.S. The song of the week is a fresh collab from some of my favorite artists—Michael Kiwanuka, Black Thought, and Danger Mouse. The full songs of the week playlist is here.
I know I'm late to Comment, but am just discovering your excellent work, Simone. I agree with your overarching sentiment, "We shouldn’t just work less because it makes us better workers. We should work less because it makes us better people." This is similar to cases I've made regarding employee wellbeing: Employers shouldn't support employee wellbeing because it generates a return-on-investment (it might not). But, as a society, if we believe wellbeing is essential, we should recognize that we can't make much headway without employers onboard.
As for 4-day-workweek research... It seems like every few weeks there’s another report because in the last few years it's been more of a public relations campaign by 4 Day Workweek Global rather than a research agenda.
You're correct that "there isn’t always a direct relationship between how many hours we work and how much we produce," one of the propositions of Parkinson's Law (work expands to the amount of time allotted to complete it). But I wouldn't say that 4 Day Workweek's research proves it, nor will it, as long as it focuses on self-selected companies of desk workers. I've been scrutinizing the US/Ireland studies, and some others, in developing a post on the topic slated for later this week.
I generally like the idea of shortened workweeks. But those we think might benefit most from them — that majority comprised of retail, food service, manufacturing, construction workers, and so forth — generally have been omitted from the research. And shortening (aka "compressing") their workweek *may* result in unintended consequences that do not benefit them.
All that aside, I look forward to catching up with your excellent content and to checking out your book.