Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, many companies have decided to shift to four-day work week arrangements. 

A four-day workweek is a system that reduces the number of workdays in a week from five to four while maintaining consistent employee payment. 

One such company is Kakao, an internet company based in South Korea, announced in June this year its plan to implement the four-day work week arrangement, explaining, “Our purpose is to increase organizational productivity by creating a culture of working together and resting together.”

Many people debate whether implementing of a four-day work week arrangement would bring such benefits; many worries that it may come with several costs.

Opponents of the four-day work week arrangement argue that four-day work week policies may lessen overall employee engagement. 

According to a poll Gallup conducted in March 2020, employees working under four-day work week arrangements reported lower engagement levels compared to those working under five-day work week arrangements. 

Furthermore, opponents of the four-day work week claim that the four-day work week reduces the productivity of employees with service and logistic jobs. 

For example, as Amazon Warehouse employees have a limited number of items they can pick per hour,  four-day work week policies may hurt company profits. 

While the four-day work week may carry such disadvantages, proponents argue that it, in contrast, may allow workers to spend more time with their families. 

According to research on the gender pay gap from the Government Equalities Office, approximately two million British people remain jobless for childcare purposes. 

Adopting a four-day work week arrangement would enable these people to obtain jobs while still taking care of their children.

In addition, proponents of a four-day work week arrangement argue that a four-day work week arrangement does not damage companies’ outputs owing to technological advancements and improved work ethics.

Recent technological progress has allowed employees to handle more work than ever before. 

Machine learning technologies and robots enable workers to complete monotonous tasks that take days to manually finish efficiently. 

As such, advocates of a four-day work week arrangement argue that a four-day work week arrangement would not reduce companies’ profits.

Instead, proponents argue that the four-day work week arrangement potentially benefits companies by boosting their employees’ work ethics. 

An examination of the effects of a four-day work week conducted by Perpetual Guardian showed that a four-day work week enhances employee job satisfaction, teamwork, and company loyalty. 

Therefore, a four-day work week arrangement could allow employees to enhance their job performance. 

Although the benefits of the four-day work week arrangement are convincing, its multifaceted and theoretical nature hinders employers from swiftly adopting it. 

Therefore, more specific research on the advantages and disadvantages of the arrangement must be conducted so that companies can decide  which work week policy would work best for them.

Hoseok (Chris) Ahn
Grade 11
Asia Pacific International School