Are you anxious that your boss is always tracking the number of hours you work?

Do you sometimes feel like you are married to your job?

Are you one of those who feels the need to work long hours just to prove your worth?

Are 40 to 50 hours per week one too many?

If your answer is a resounding  ‘Yes!’, then stick with me. I have news for you.

A four-day work week is becoming popular around the world, including the Global South. The U.A.E. has done it. And so have some other countries.

A four-day working week followed by a long weekend might be a dream come true for many. For various reasons: Work – Life balance. Mental health. Or physical well-being. But it has its fair share of critics. Some companies are not O.K. with it. And Governments are sceptical.

But, the future is here.

There’s no denying that the concept of a four-day working week is gaining traction globally. Harvard Business Review suggests that a four-day work week allows more Personal Time. It helps to reduce stress. In 2020, 62 per cent of people said that they had experienced burnout “often”, or, “extremely often” in the previous three months. In 2021, 67 per cent of workers reported that stress and burnout had increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The practice of “Working From Home” during Lockdown brought with it a new culture. And before long the popularity of a Four-Day Working Week had caught on. Harvard Business Review says that a four-day work week increases productivity because there is less burnout or job fatigue.

Countries and companies alike are opting for a four-day working week in order to attract potential employees, retain existing staff and create a positive environment for employees in an already competitive job market.

The U.A.E. is the first country in the Global South to adopt this practice. It introduced a four-and-a-half-day work week in January 2022. The emirate of Sharjah in the U.A.E. introduced a four-day working week the same year.

The National newspaper, published from the U.A.E., reported that Dubai is doing a pilot-project, on a four-day work week, with shorter daily hours for many Government staff. The working day has been reduced to seven hours, for 15 Government organisations, between 12 August and 30 September.

It’s becoming popular in South America, too. In April 2024, a new law came into effect in Chile. The Labour Code was amended to reduce the weekly working hours to 40 hours while maintaining full pay and no loss of productivity. It will enter into force gradually over a period of five years. The Government of Chile has promised incentives to companies that voluntarily make the switch in the interim.

While we are talking about South America, Brazil is the first Latin American country to try out a four-day week. The feedback was good. So much so that 46 per cent of Brazilian companies decided to permanently implement the model.

The biggest trial of a four-day working week took place in the U.K. in 2022. Afterwards, most of the 61 companies involved pledged to continue with the policy. A third said that they had switched to the new model permanently. 

None of the nearly 3-thousand participants wanted to return to a five-day week. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought proposals for, what he calls, the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation and hailing the pilot experiment as “extremely successful”.

Similarly, in order to retain talent adapting to changing work trends, Singapore introduced new guidelines in April 2024, allowing workers to request for a four-day week, and, work from home. The country also plans to allow flexible work locations by the year-end.

Germany’s largest workers’ union is looking into a four-day week as a response to Volkswagen’s move to close factories and end job-guarantees. With these big changes on the table, the Union is exploring a new model to support workers.

Japan has become the latest country to consider a four-day week. The country is notorious for Karoshi. It means death from overwork in the Japanese language. At least 54 such deaths are reported every year, including from heart attacks. This in a country where saying ‘No’ to work is frowned upon.

But it’s not all hunky dory. For instance, in Costa Rica, the result of a pilot project was not a complete success. South Africa conducted a trial in March 2024. The results were positive but policymakers there are still to decide whether to go ahead with it or not.

You’d be surprised to learn that amid all the debate about a four-day week some countries have swung to the other extreme. In Egypt, where work-life balance and mental health are a taboo, instead of reducing the working hours, the Government there plans to increase them.

It is being described as part of an effort to redesign the work environment, in line with global changes and improve the quality of Government performance.

Greece has opted for a six-day week. The Greek Government is implementing a new six-day work schedule, which falls under its employment law, to kick-start the country’s economy that is still emerging from the wreckage of Europe’s worst financial crisis in decades.

In India, Infosys founder and billionaire N.R. Narayana Murthy urges young people to work for 70 hours a week. He argues that India’s work productivity is one of the lowest in the world. (The International Labour Organisation says India allows 46.7 hours of average per week per employed person.)

Then there is the Australian mining tycoon Chris Ellison who says that his employees must not step out of the building, even for a coffee break during their work hours.

So, even as the world debates on the merits of a four-day week rages on, help might be coming the way of tired and exhausted souls out there faster than you think.

Watch – https://youtu.be/GogW071LcdE?feature=shared

By – Ramesh Ramachandran (Senior Consulting Editor and presenter with D.D. India)