The Four-Day Work Week In Ontario
There’s a lot of buzz around four-day work weeks in Ontario. That’s because both the Ontario Liberals and NDP proposed four-day work weeks as a part of their 2022 election platform.
While the election is over, the four-day work week is still on the mind of many Ontarians. What would a four-day work week look like? How would it be implemented? Where did the idea of a four-day work week come from, and how would it affect employers, employees, and the economy in general?
These are heady questions. We’re going to give the best answer we can to all of them in turn, to provide both employers and employees an idea of whether or not a four-day work week would be best for them. After all, even though the government won’t be mandating four-day work weeks anytime soon, that doesn’t mean the private sector can’t experiment with the concept.
The origin of the four-day work week
In the early 1900s, several companies in the United States reduced their work week to 5 days—by 1940, the five-day work week was enshrined into law. Shortly thereafter, many other countries followed suit, and most countries in the world today have a five-day work week.
Surprisingly, the
idea of the four-day work week originated even before this shift. In 1930, economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that technology would increase productivity so drastically that 15-hour work weeks would be the norm within a couple of generations. In 1956, Richard Nixon (then the Vice President of the United States) predicted that Americans would only have to work four days a week “in the not too distant future”.
These predictions, of course, did not come to pass. Recently, however, interest in the four-day work week has picked up steam, largely due to changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote work and flexible schedules have led employers and employees to re-evaluate the benefits of the five-day work week.
Several countries, including Scotland, Spain, and Belgium, have launched four-day work week trials since the pandemic. Additionally, the organization 4 Day Week Global has successfully encouraged companies around the world to adopt a four-day, 32-hour work week by offering support and expertise.
There are a number of different approaches to a four-day work week. Here, we’re going to highlight two of them: The 40-hour four-day work week and the 32-hour four-day work week:
The 32-hour four-day work week model
The 32-hour model is the one advocated for by 4 Day Week Global. The hallmarks of this model are:
A work week that lasts for four days- 8 hours of work per day
- Compensation for workers does not decrease
This model is extremely straightforward—work hours are shortened by 20%, but compensation remains the same.
Compensation tends to be the main sticking point in conversations around the 32-hour work week. After all, if employees are working 20% less, shouldn’t they be compensated 20% less?
We’ll address some of the questions surrounding this model in the “Employer Considerations” section, but we can cover the basic rationale here. The theory is that employers shouldn’t be paying employees for time—instead, they should be paid for output. “100% pay for 100% output” is how 4 Day Week Global puts it—a reasonable idea, though not one without its problems.
The 40-hour four-day work week model
The 40-hour model may be the simplest to implement. This model offers:
A work week that lasts for four days- 10 hours of work per day
- Compensation for workers remains the same
This model solves this issue of compensation—employees work for the same number of hours each week, working two extra hours every day to make up for the lost 8-hour day.
This model has its own issues, however. The chief problem among them is that the number of hours worked doesn't actually change, which is what many advocates of the four-day work week are looking for.
Now that we’ve outlined the two main approaches to four-day work weeks, it’s time to get into the meat of things. We’re going to look at the pros and cons of each model to help you determine whether or not the four-day work week is suitable for your company.
Employer considerations for a four-day work week
When contemplating a four-day work week, employers may be quick to create a list of pros and cons. The pros are fairly straightforward. A four-day work week may:
Improve employee well-being- Improve employee retention
- Attract higher quality employees
The major cons seem equally straightforward. A four-day work week could lead to:
A loss of productivity- A loss of revenue
- A need to hire more staff
Let’s address both the advantages and the disadvantages in turn:
The advantages of a four-day work week
Workers in Iceland’s four-day work week trial reported feeling less stressed and experiencing better work-life balance. Firms in the UK reported higher productivity and profitability. There’s even evidence that a four-day work week could help protect the environment.
All of these advantages carry tremendous appeal for employers. Higher productivity, less employee burnout, higher employee satisfaction, and significant action on climate change—all while increasing productivity? Sign us up!
With all of these benefits, companies are likely to attract more skilled employees and keep the employees they have. They may benefit from government incentives to reduce carbon emissions, and they’ll be able to boast of being on the cutting edge when it comes to workers’ rights and satisfaction.
Of course, if it was all this simple,
everyone would be offering a four-day work week. Things are, of course, not always as they seem.
The first problem with measuring these advantages is that the companies offering four-day work weeks aren’t always in the same industry. Even among those offering four-day work weeks, some employees still work longer. And not every company is offering the same kind of four-day work week—some offer 32 hours, while others follow the 40-hour model.
We’re comparing apples to oranges at this early stage, which makes things difficult. Still, the potential advantages are promising.
The disadvantages of a four-day work week
The concerns we listed above—a decrease in productivity and profitability—seem to be addressed by the success stories of many companies. There is, however, a deeper and more complicated truth:
Profitability and productivity may stay the same or increase with a four-day work week. The Harvard Business Review, however, cites some real
problems with the four-day work week. Chiefly, that work still needs to get done, even if there are only 32 hours to do it. That leads to higher pressure on employees to perform, both externally (from management) and internally (ruminating about work after hours).
How do you counter this problem? You might consider hiring more employees to spread the workload—but now your 32-hour work week is causing you to spend more on payroll, which can impact your profitability.
This problem is especially obvious when it comes to tasks that cannot be condensed into a four-day week. Customer-centric positions like customer service representatives and retail staff must be filled seven days a week, and in some cases, 24 hours a day. Should employees begin to work a four-day work week, hiring more staff may become a necessity.
Conclusion
The four-day work week is an incredibly complicated topic. It’s impossible to know how such a work week might impact individual employers, let alone the entire province of Ontario. Experiments have begun, however, and most of them are shedding a positive light on the shift.
We can say this: If you’re looking to challenge the status quo and offer a four-day work week, our recruiters can help you find skilled employees who are excited to take the journey with you. Get in touch with us—we’d love to help you spread the word about your innovative new work week.
