Our Capitalist Utopia Awaits If We Just Stop Saying ‘Long Weekend’
The Saturday Huddle is a weekly column that features opinion, analysis and reflections on Huddle stories, podcasts and business news in the region. Trevor Nichols is Huddle’s associate editor, based in Halifax.
The first time I heard someone float the idea of a four-day workweek, I immediately dismissed it.
I loved the idea and I could even see the logic behind it: employees with more time off would be more refreshed and focused when they were at work, so they could get just as much done in a shorter time. But I couldn’t fathom a world where any business would voluntarily let its employees work less for the same amount of money.
But then a few brave firms started playing around with the idea and they discovered that many four-day workweek promises were true. Suddenly, employers around the world were testing shorter workweeks and seeing results.
At Huddle, we’ve covered a surprising number of local employers that have switched to shorter workweeks.
The latest was this week, when Derek Montague wrote about Fredericton printing company Rocket switching to a four-day workweek. CEO Scott Williams told Derek the move was a “rallying cry” for his entire team and that productivity had already gone up.
Across the world, a steady drip of news stories paints a picture of better productivity and happier employees at firms that have made similar changes.
There’s the famous case of Icelandic governments cutting workweeks for a full one percent of the country’s workforce, without any salary cuts. That change led to slight productivity gains and much, much happier employees. Then there’s Atom Bank, which cut its workweek down to 34 hours and saw a 500 percent surge in job applications.
While some of the breathless news coverage overstates how successful shortened workweeks have been, it’s clear that some iteration of working fewer hours for the same salary is good (or at the very least not harmful) for businesses—and really, really good for employees.
But inertia is a powerful force. Many, probably most, companies will ignore the evidence and keep us on a five-day workweek because that’s how it’s been done for so long. And, you know, change is scary.
You and I, good readers, must do whatever we can to nudge them in the right direction. My plan, which I humbly pitch to you today, is a sustained, low-key propaganda campaign to slowly and meticulously shift society’s very concept of a weekend.
And all it takes is a few carefully chosen words.
The first step: stop calling it a “long weekend.” From now on, those three-day weekends we’re granted because of civic holidays are just called “weekends.” Next, we start calling those paltry two-day weekends “short weekends.”
If enough of us do this, for a long enough time, society’s default concept of a “weekend” will be three days. Employees that only get a “short weekend” will feel like they’re getting cheated. Firms will be forced to adapt. They’ll be more productive, their workers will be happier and healthier, and it’s just a few short steps from there to a capitalist utopia.
Alright, so I’m being facetious here. While I do believe in the power of good branding, my brilliant plan probably won’t bring about a worldwide, four-day-workweek revolution.
However, I do think employers need to think very seriously about shortening their standard workweek.
Shortened workweeks are incredibly popular in the workplaces that have tried them. As more workers learn about the positive effects on work-life balance and mental health, they’ll increasingly demand them.
With labour shortages plaguing almost every industry, workers are in a more powerful position than they have been in decades. They’re already demanding better pay and more flexibility. The next logical step is shorter workweeks.
My generation, millennials, are the largest labour force in Canada. As a group, we don’t have the same loyalty to our employers that our parents did, and we switch jobs and careers more frequently. We’re also, on average, more motivated by things like work-life balance and finding fulfilling work.
Four-day workweeks check a lot of boxes for us and if we can find an employer who will give us one, many of us won’t hesitate to leave our current jobs to take advantage.
I think smart employers are also starting to realize they need to care more about the health and well-being of their employees. For a long time, most companies’ claims that they cared for their people were laughably empty.
We still have a long way to go today, especially around mental health, but many firms are doing better. The best are putting real policies behind their words. I also think this trend will continue. Hopefully, we’ll eventually get to a point where discussions about shorter workweeks don’t revolve around productivity, but employee health.
Then, firms won’t even need the stick of “my employees will find other jobs” and will instead think about the carrot of “my employees will be happier.” As far as I’m concerned, that’s the real capitalist utopia.
Until we get there, enjoy your “short weekend,” friends.