How Dated is the Five day Work Week?

In?1908, the first five-day workweek in the United States was instituted by a New England cotton mill so that Jewish workers would not have to work on the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

In 1926, Henry Ford, the man at the helm of the Ford Motor Company, shut down his seven-day automotive factories for two days a week — giving rise to the foundation of the five-day workweek in North America.

Ford touted it as a way to increase productivity, by giving the people on the assembly line one week’s salary while only requiring them to work eight-hour shifts Monday through Friday.

In those days, close to a century ago, I agree that five days of work was required for acceptable output;

All communication was via fixed line telephones,?telegraph, radio and typewriter. If I lived then, I could not have received a call unless I was in the same room as the Telephone. People then used trains for paper mail. News was via radio only, before the television. Naturally, all these forms of communication take days, and communication impacts decision making and deal closing. Marketing was scheduled once a week at the local newspaper printers. snail pace compared to today's ability to market on a minute by minute basis. Mergers, Sales and Recruitment required face to face engagement to do it all in person. 5 Days a week? Definitely.

It's 2022, every single way of doing Business has changed, yet the work week model has not for the majority. Today, with Tech, there is no restriction to 8 hours in an office. Meetings, instant and Virtual, Marketing, instant and virtual. Sales, Recruitment, Consulting, Training, Board Meetings, Seminars, Education, Shopping; all through Tech.

With all the aps and platforms I have access to, output is not limited and can be scheduled for any minute of the week. I can do more in 3 days from my Kitchen Counter, that I could 15 years ago with more time in the office. I can further invest in Apps that track work performance and output of a sales team from anywhere, real time. Lets not even Mention the Metaverse for Business.

Currently Governments of Portugal, Germany and Ireland are passing Legislation where workers are expected to be given the right to request flexible working :The "Right to request remote work Bill".

The four-day working week is being put to the test. Run by research institute Autonomy and masterminded by academics from Oxford, Cambridge and Boston,?the study?aims to find out whether workforces can achieve the same output (on the same wages) while only working 80% of their previous hours. With 70 countries taking part, it’s the biggest investigation of its kind to date, and it will also be studying the impact on employees’ quality of life.

While we await the outcomes of the trial, one conclusion is already obvious: that we are in a period of change that requires businesses to rethink their approach to productivity

Anecdotally, companies are suggesting there’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience with revenue and productivity levels, [that have] either maintained or, in some cases, improved,” Charlotte Lockhart, the managing director and founder of 4 Day Week Global, a not-for-profit organization that has been working to support the adoption of a four-day work week since 2018.

Well-being indicators, including stress, burnout, sleep quality, family and work-life balance and life satisfaction, all noticed improvements. Lockhart added that, anecdotally, fewer working hours do not appear to reduce productivity. In some instances, she said, productivity has advanced.

This new approach can differentiate Employers with in-demand and self-motivated candidates who will deliver results whether they work four days or five. And it will help retain those who appreciate the flexibility it affords them.

Off course there are many other factors that need attention to make this work. Employers should ensure their leave, overtime, pay and benefits structure aligns with this new way of working.

The Model looks like this: Trade Results for Money and Benefits. Trade Impact for Money and Benefits. Let us not Trade Wasted time for Money.