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.
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.