I was reading around today and came across an article about Utah state jobs. It appears that they are moving to a 4 day work week for many state workers to save money on energy costs. By shutting down the buildings on Friday, they can reduce the costs by 1/5th but still be just as effective.This got me thinking, why can’t I work a 4 day week? I decided to come up with a proposal on why this would be better.
My Proposal
I could easily get all my work done with 4 10 hour days. I would actually be even more effective. I put together some diagrams showing my productivity throughout the week.
5 Day Work Week
As you can clearly see, the productivity percentage of my typical week is an upside down V. I come in on Monday and barely move, peak on Wednesday, and am back down to almost nothing by Friday. Not very effective if you ask me.
4 Day Work Week
Now look at that! If I worked only 4 days a week, the overall productivity levels would be much higher. By Thursday, I would be pumped about the 3 day weekend coming up. That would push my productivity through the roof each week.
The Benefits
Cut Back On Gas By 1/5th
I would save money on gas and have less drive time every week. This would make my job so much easier to do.
3 Day Weekends
From then on, every weekend would be a 3 day weekend. That would be awesome! I could take that many more road trips without having to use up my vacation time. If I wanted to take a longer vacation, I could request Monday off and have 4 days to travel. Not bad!
Same Hours, Same Pay
Since I would move from an 8 hour day (okay it is really like 6), to a 10 hour day, I would still get my 40 hours in every week. So my benefits and pay would not change one bit. Perfect!
If That Doesn’t Work…
How about one day of telecommuting a week? I would still be working all 5 days, but one would be remotely. Working in the IT field, I could easily find enough stuff to do by logging in to my work PC remotely.
I could spend my whole day writing up trouble tickets and scheduling appointments for the rest of the week. It would really make it that much easier to keep everything organized. It is almost impossible for me to sit at my desk and take care of these things. Everytime I try to create a trouble ticket someone stops by asking a question.
The hardest part is going to be selling this idea to the company I work for. So I still have a few quarks I need to iron out.
What Do you think?
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61 Responses to this post.
Even though I think you are mostly kidding, this idea makes tons on sense. I would take the 4 day workweek in a HEARTBEAT if offered to me. 3 day weekends every single week? You just can’t beat that, all for just zoning out for a few extra hours a day!
Yeah it is kind of joke but… I am seriously thinking about proposing this to my boss, what is the worst that can happen?
That is something I would consider. Seems like a win win for the boss and the employee.
It is a good argument! Productivity is usually down in the beginning and end of the week.
Why not make it a 3 day work week? That way you will have two blah days (day 1 and 3) and you will still have one really productive day (day 2)… It makes sense!
I think it’s a great idea. A three day weekend every week? Man, that would be sweet. Although, I already have it pretty sweet, considering where I live. I get every weekend off, most get two days a month.
I agree, maybe we should just make it a 3 day work week. Work really hard for 3 days, and then get 4 days off. I am almost certain I could get everything done in 3 days vs. 5.
I love the idea of a four day work week or a 9/80 where you work extra hours M-F, and every other Friday you work a normal 8 hours and the opposite Friday you have off. Studies continue to show this improves moral, increases productivity and decreases sick time. Not to mention that you can schedule your medical appointments for Fridays.
As a student at several top b-schools, I can reassure you that the majority of research will support your 4 day workweek plan being better. It makes sense too. It all now comes down to presenting this idea from a cost savings along with improved productivity perspective and hoping your boss isn’t a corporate robot.
I already work from home one day a week. It definitely helps with gas and wear and tear on the car, but would still like a 4 day week. That would truly be awesome!
Good luck with your quest. It’s a good one and you have a lot of facts on increased productivity and benefits on your side. I say go for it.
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It really isn’t a joke. I’ve read a great deal about studies being done supporting this idea. It obviously wouldn’t work for all jobs, some industries and some positions require working, and working in person at least 5 days a week. But for those industries and positions in which it could work, the savings in gas and in electric and heat or a/c if the entire place could close down would be tremendous in dollars for the company and for our ecology.
I work Tuesday through Friday nights and I freaking love it! This summer has been the best ever because of my schedule.
Too bad this would not apply to hotels and with the same kind of 24 hour type of industry.
Anyway this idea sounds great. You have a valid argument about this? If I may ask, where did you did the statistics of this?
please disregard my last comment…I was really sleepy when I typed it. I just realized I was typing grammatically incorrect…Hmmm
No worries Marc, I am pretty grammatically incorrect myself. I am pretty sure I spell things wrong at least once in all my posts…haha
worked 4 10hr shifts a week at pepsi for about 5 years. Alot of the time i would go to work onthe 5th day for 10 hours of OT. 4 10’s IS the best thing since sliced bread, actually have a semblance of a life.
i’m a web dev & those are the hours i work & have for the last 4+ years. it is pretty nice & i hope i don’t ever have to go back to 5 days a week! if you present it to your boss as you have here, i’m sure there’s a decent chance & worst they can say is no, right? the only issue i could really see with lots of places is that if they allow it for one, it really has to be an available option for all (and in some places, that may not work… at least not without alternating the “extra” day off).
i’d definitely say go for it & ask. good luck!
Actually, we just did this at our company.
However, as opposed to closing our office on Fridays, we split our workers into two groups. One group works Monday through Thursday. The other works Tuesday through Friday. Employees chose which day they would take off, with the stipulation that there had to be a counterpart taking the opposite day off. It encouraged teamwork and flexibility and employees seemed to like being the determiners of their work days.
Our Board is happy because we actually increased the number of hours we are available to the public by two hours a day. Employees are happy because they save 20% on gasoline and get a three day work week.
I’m happy because employees are working harder because they’re happier and less worried about paying for gasoline to get to work.
Brent Newman, C.E.O.
Grundy County Housing Authority
Morris, IL
The four-day workweek is actually common in many industrial occupations, such as utility work. I was a cable guy for a while- we didn’t do it at my shop, but a competitor in the next city did. The guys I met who worked there enjoyed it considerably. If you can convince your boss, go for it.
Nice post Justine.
I once proposed that our chairs should be replaced by couches, on the basis that working from the prone position would increase blood flow to the brain and improve creativity
You have a point, actually. Many people that work as servers, bartenders, etc. can easily make a middle class income working only 4 nights a week if they make good tips.
It’s an interesting idea. I’ve worked crummy, odd shift hour jobs, (10, 12 hours even) and your body quickly adapts to the new longer shift. After the first week or so you don’t notice that you’re working an extra two or four hours.
federal govt did that for years also 5/4/9 work 4 days every other week cool
nice article, thanks for sharing.
So you think you will not write this “introducing 3 day week” if you get a 4 day week?
Hey guys, in Holland the dutch government prefers a 4-days workweek.
People working for the government are only allowed to work 36 hours.
so we work 4 * 9. Which is difficult to get used to at the beginning. But later, you will surely see improvement in your effectiveness. And off course, this is how life should be.
I wish I was working in Holland, that sounds like a great work schedule. Even though it is only 4 hours less than I work, it would still feel a lot better.
This really isn’t a new concept. I worked a 4 day work week, 10 hours a day, for quite some time when I was at SBC (now AT&T) back in the late 80s and early 90s.
Yeah I know it is pretty common, I have actually done a similar schedule when I worked a summer job back in college. I just wish it was more common, but hopefully with the price of gas going up people will start to acknowledge it more.
Anybody aware of the four-hour-work-week book by Tim Ferris? One thing I really like about this book is the redefinition of ‘lazy’ and of ‘productive’. I would so rather put in just 4 hours a week and do whatever else with my time. I have an enourmous list of things I rather be doing than sitting at my desk (as I am now) pretending to be busy (there’s not much to do at the office right now) just so that I can keep this job…until I figure out how to just work 4 hours a week. Just wondering if anybody is aware of Tim Ferris’ book.
Rocker Chick,
I totally agree with you. I wish I could just come in, get all of my things done, and then leave as I wish. The majority of my time at work is spend “looking busy”, which is a total waste of my time, and the companies time. There are not many work days where I actually do 8 hours of solid work, so why should I have to sit at my computer for 8 hours everyday to get paid the same? It sucks…
We need to find a solution.
Good plan my company was just talking about doing this, I went on an interview with a company that works 9 hour days with every other Friday off.
@Justin
I sooo agree with you Justin
In fact, in the book Tim Ferris mentions some Italian economist that coined the 20/80 principle or something like that. The principle states that 20% yields 80% and viceversa. If this principle is applied to our work weeks, I’d be willing to bet that 20% of the time we put into our work yields 80% of the results…and 80% time at the office only yields 20% of actual prodcutive results. I guess this 40+ hour work week comes from a break workers got back in the Industrial Revolution, when they unionized and the schedule went from working ’til you dropped everyday, to only 40 hours a week. But obviously this 40 hour week is made up…not like it’s in the bible that we ought to work 40 hours, so why not just work 20 hours or less and get paid the same? I mean, I have a salary, and don’t get paid by the hour so, shouldn’t my work be measured by my results whether I’m at the office 40 hours a week? The only other country we are competing against in terms of “how many hour we put into work/school” is Japan and regardless of their productivity, there are many first world countries with shorter work weeks and as productive if not more productive than the US. So I say we all ought to ask our bosses to let us telecommute alltogether (for those industries that can get away with this of course.) This way, our work will have to be measured by results rather than by looking busy 
I agree, but I think that we would eventually get sick of only getting 3 day weekends.
Yeah, I never really thought about that. I don’t think I would get sick of it as long as I got the same pay since my productivity would still be the same. It would just give me that much extra time to do the things I enjoy, such as golf, travel, etc.
I’m an RN, and work in a hospital. I have a 3 day work week - I’m still considered full time by working 36 hours a week. Even when I worked 40 hours, it was only a 4 day. I like it.
And it actually works better for 24/hour industries than it does white collar.
I sure would like a 4 day work week, I stand on my feet all day and to only work 4 days a week it would be nice.
When I first saw those graphs I wondered where the heck you got this so called “data” from.
Then I saw you put it in the humor category, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Most office jobs are so in to pretty diagrams and presentations, I just pictured it as being hilarious if you were to walk in to management with these fake graphs blown up on poster boards with an easel.
It would be a funny video to see…
If I were your boss and you showed me your charts above, I would not just give you a three day weekend, but a seven day weekend. In a normal week you start at 10 percent effectiveness Monday morning and don’t even reach half-way decent until noon on Tuesday? Then by noon the next day you’re already on the downhill slide past 50 percent again? You, sir, are a wastrel.
Ha Ha, I would love a 7 day weekend. The funny thing is, even with those productivity levels, I still exceed expectations. I’ve noticed that there are a lot of slackers in an office setting, and many of them spend time appearing to be busy.
But hey,I’m not that much of a slacker, I manage to maintain this blog at work.:)
I’m laughing WITH you. Studies show my productivity hits negative numbers most days. I lead a three man crew and on days I’m not there, more work gets done than on days I am. I’m considering asking my boss for a raise to stay home.
I actually worked a job that was 40/week and 10 hr days. The extra two hours were completely unnoticeable and I had 3 day weekends. It was easily the most amazing job I ever had; then they changed to a typical 8 hour schedule and suddenly the same job turned into toil. It is startling how significantly more stressful something can be when it’s drawn out rather than condensed.
OK, I’m in. From now on, please don’t email, call, IM, knock, yell, holler, mail, tweet, request, summon, yell at, or otherwise arouse me on Friday.
Do you think this will work for Jury Duty too?
Like the nurse above,I also work in a hospital three days a week,twelve hour shifts. I can’t believe all the years I wasted working five eights!
I have just one question.You point out the gas you’d save by working one less day and then proceed to talk about the day trips you’d be able to take. Don’t the day trips cancel out the gas savings?
Well I take the day trips on weekends regardless, so I could use the gas I saved by not working one day to go on a trip. But those trips might start fading out if gas keeps going up. I guess I need a bicycle ASAP lol.
Some school boards in Florida have adopted this policy to cut back on energy cost during the summer.
This sounds like a great idea!
(Personally I prefer the Nil Day Working Week, as I have just retired…)
If only!
Great idea - at least the kids and I think so…
One thing you have to consider is the 8 hours vs 10 hrs a day for a 4 day workweek. Add to that the time spent getting ready in the morning, commute time and lunch, and you may have a 13 or 14 hour day on tap. It can get kind of long.
I’ve worked my 40 hr weeks in a 5 week period, a 4 day period and also a 3 day period. In a 4 day workweek, if you have regular things you need to do at home after you get off work - and if you have to do these things on a daily basis - you may find yourself really getting squeezed for time. Granted, you have those three days off, but you have 2 hours less per night the other 4 nights to shop, make dinner, clean house, do laundry, take care of pets, do homework, read, play on the computer, go to meetings, etc.
I consider 4 ten hour days the cut off point. After that, if you start squeezing the same or even fewer hours into a 3 day week, yes, you have a wonderful 4 day weekend but you’re going to be so tired that the first weekend day you’re off, you’re going to use it all for sleeping and now you’re back to a 3 day weekend.
In addition, during the 3 days you’re working you will be totally oblivious to anything else. For three days you’ll just work and sleep. You may be too tired to sit up and watch TV, take the garbage out or do the dishes for those three days. You don’t schedule anything because you know there won’t be any spare time. If you have friends or family you don’t work with, you won’t be seeing them during these 3 days. If you’re single, it’s a great schedule. If not, it can be a ball buster.
Just something to keep in mind when we’re considering shorter workweeks. Course, now if they would just make a workweek 20 hours long with 40 hours pay, I’d be all over it.
Yes!! I’ve been working 10-11 hours 4 days a week recently (because I’ve been spending weekends abroad) and it makes completely no difference from a 5 day work week. Really.
The first time I read through this post I just laughed but the second read through I was like “wait a minute, why not?” I work in the hotel industry, and I am seriously going to ask my boss if I can work the four day workweek. Wish me luck!
Do it Jeremy, maybe your boss will actually go for it.
I worked at a call center for a while and a lot of the available shifts were like this. I worked 4 on, 3 off for a while and it was pretty decent. I currently work in production building gas detection equipment and we’ve been considering switching to a 4 day week there as well.
The problem with your theory is the data sample. You are assuming that the initial condition of excitement about the three day weekend is continuous. However eventually three day weekends would be as exciting as a typical two day weekend. At this point you would see your productivity begin to decline, and eventually return to the five day week form (which you called an upside down v). However now you are only on a 4 day week meaning that the high point would actually be at the end of day two and start of day three. This would make your best fit trend line cease to function. Naturally as the day goes on your productivity always dims (lets call this the 4 O’clock slums). Then the next morning you never start off with the exact productivity you had the day before (Lets call this the I had a few too many the night before and need some coffee before I can deal with these f***tards effect). So now we see a “v” shape being cut out where this occurs because of our 4 O’clock slums and our F***tard slums. So you’re productivity is decreased over 1/5 of what it would be. (We can argue that this occurs every day however it occurs in the other days of the week the regardless of if it is a four day or a 5 day week so it is negligible)
Possibly the best solution would be to run approximately 80% of the office on a 5 day week, and then by assigning everybody a four or five digit number- determined by hoe many numbers you need- and using a random number generator to determine the 20% that have a 4 day week. This application can also be used to assign blame when somebody inevitably fucks up. For instance, the original poster, (OP) called his graph an “upside down V.” However any high school student can tell you it is simply a function where F(x)=(-a)Abs(x)+C in which C is his peak productivity, and a determines the slope for the absolute value such that the zeros occur at the exact start and end of the week. We assume naturally that we can not be negatively productive, although personal experience tells me yes we can.
However I do still agree with OP’s sentiment… I am all for a 4 day work week
I forgot to mention one very important point. We are discussing efficiency (productivity and efficiency we can assume to be close enough), we really need to integrate and talk about actual work done. Without using terms of percent, to say I did 100% of the work when all that needed to be done was to write one e-mail would be misleading. If we look at graphs of the amount of available work we would probably see (as Murphy’s law dictates)that the majority of work is on Friday afternoon. As we know on Friday I want to leave a few minutes early, always, but I never can because there is always more work!
Wow Michael, thanks for the in depth comment. I really never looked into a typical work week that in depth. For the most part, I very rarely have a 100% productive day. I don’t even think that is technically possible.
But I will agree, there always seems to be more work. I guess that is a good thing, otherwise we probably wouldn’t get invited back…
Yes, you can have a 100% productive work day. The day before you go on vacation.
asithis latest blog post..Turn up the Heat in Our Fat Cells
The company I work for works 4 day weeks….and it’s great. A 3 day weekend every week, and throw in a holiday like Labor Day and make it 4!
This idea was actually implemented in our country, the Philippines more than a decade ago. First, it was the government offices tried to do it, but never reach to corporate and small business. It was only implemented for just over a month. It did not work for some reasons that people still feel sluggish because of the 10 to 12 hr. work in each day, so by 3rd day and 4th day, they’re already pooped. Plus a lot of customers are really complaining and demanding services on a longer week rather than waiting for another weekend to demand service. So the move was terminated and it was back to 5-day work week.
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I’m all for a 4 day work week. Also, did you remove your entrecard widget?
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@ Justin
Yeah I totally forgot to put my EnreCard back after I made some widget changes. It’s back up there now. Thanks for the heads up!