Until 1917, working more than 40 hours a week was the norm, but thanks to a big social movement called the eight-hour day movement, companies reduced that time to 40 hours a week, improving many people’s lives.
So, what has changed now, more than 100 years later, to have companies working just 32 hours instead of 40? And more importantly, what are the advantages and disadvantages of having 32 hours instead of 40 hours each week?
Find out below to learn more about what’s ahead when it comes to this new development in the future of work and the impact that culture – and each detail that comes with it – will have on employees for years to come.
People usually work eight hours each day, five days a week, making 40 hours work week.
As we mentioned before, this has been the norm in many countries for over a century now, but some companies are starting to offer a 32-hour workweek instead of 40, meaning that their employees work 8 hours a day instead of four days five.
Technology advancements are the main change allowing companies to offer such a cool schedule.
People can achieve more with less. For many Internet-based businesses, more work doesn’t necessarily mean more revenue since a big chunk of their sales happen passively through social networks, blogs, or just in a recurrent way if they’re a SaaS company.
In these businesses, some CEOs and leaders optimize for their teammates’ happiness more than for growth at all costs.
Working one day less a week has many advantages for the business and the employees. Here are some of them.
As you can expect, people are happier when they feel they have more freedom and time for themselves. Usually, they can take advantage of that time to pursue more creative activities or spend time with their loved ones, fulfilling the pinnacle of the famous Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Employees retention
If your employees are happier, it connects naturally with better retention. It’ll be harder for them to leave, especially if the new company they might join doesn’t give them that extra day on the weekend.
This is, in a way, something similar that happened to people in the pre-covid era, when working remotely was a benefit only a few companies offered, so employees didn’t move so much to other companies if the remote working thing wasn’t on the table.
If your company positions as a 32-hour or four-day workweek company, it could attract great talent from other places where that’s not possible. This, combined with increasing the retention once they join you, puts your company in an exceptional place to have and keep great people.
Moving from a 40 hours workweek to 32 is not the kind of decision you want to make for marketing purposes but once it’s done, it’s a great opportunity to position your company as a reference in terms of the progressive and positive culture that other companies will naturally admire and follow.
Working less also has its own disadvantages, and some companies and people don’t thrive with that schedule.
Remember those big changes usually avoided on a Friday evening, just in case? Well, now that’s Thursday evening, you can expect a slower pace at which you can move your business.
Also, by having your teammates work less, your quarters will feel shorter, giving you less time to execute your business strategy.
This sounds counterintuitive, but some employees feel aligned with their companies’ visions and engaged by their work.
Having one less day to work officially means that they might feel more disconnected from what they could achieve, generating a feeling of leaving some opportunities in terms of growth, both for them and business, on the table.
Like many other decisions in your business, you should list your priorities. What’s more important, growth or happiness? Is your business in a state where, if it doesn’t grow so much in the near future you’ll still be ok?
The other important aspect to consider is that this is not a binary decision; you could try it as an experiment first, starting with a quarter, for example, and checking its results.
Independently of what you decide, thinking about this already puts you in a great place as a leader to improve your employees’ lives, and that’s awesome!
At the end of the day, implementing big decisions like moving to a 32-hour workweek will take substantial amounts of time, adjustment, communication, and more. If you’re looking to start small when it comes to positively impacting your company culture, consider Planleave as your new and improved time off management system. Get started by scheduling a demo or signing up for a free trial to pave the way for continued growth, open and honest communication, and happy, content employees today. If you are using spreadsheets to track PTO start with a ROI Calculator to see the benefits of automating managing your employees time off.