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Understanding Weaknesses Of The Four Day Workweek

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Understanding Weaknesses of the Four-Day Workweek
Four-day workweek, like the name suggests, calls for replacing the five eight-hour days with four ten-hour days without changes in hourly earnings or weekly earnings. Therefore, the same number of hours of work and leisure are provided at the same earnings. The concept of a compressed workweek is not new, even if it is not the norm for most jobs. Proposals to reduce weekly hours of work, a major concern of American labor in the early years of century, are again a serious concern to many people. The 2008 National Study of Employers, released by the Families and Work Institute, found that 38 percent of US firms allow a compressed workweek for some employees. Eight percent permit it for all or most employees (Gardner). When a growing number of employers are considering converting to a compressed four-day workweek, it is important to understand positives and negatives of the new work schedule, to analyze a specific example of company that have failed in converting to the new policy, and to understand additional factors to consider before the implementation of the new policy.

An advantage brought to employers is that the four-day workweek helps companies save money incurred on daily operation. When employees cram 40 hours of work into four days, companies can save energy bills by closing for an extra one day per week. For example, in 2009, Utah became the first state to institute an official four-day workweek for all state

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