The first four-day workweek trial in a developing nation proved to be a great success, which means a three-day weekend could be a thing of the future.
The 4 Day Week Campaign, an initiative aiming to make the new work pattern a norm, has been working hard this year to get more businesses on board.
The question we’re all thinking about at this stage is whether South Africa will ever be ready for the four-day workweek.
Organisational psychologists reckon a shorter day’s work – say, six hours rather than eight – can be hugely beneficial for everyone involved.
It is time for an update on the old workweek, and with campaigns like 4 Day Week Global showing that it works, that time really ought to be now.
In addition to having a shorter workweek approved, employers will also be allowed to switch their phones off after work and ignore their bosses without consequence.
If there is anything good that has come out of the gruelling COVID-19 pandemic, it has to be that how, where, and for how long we work has changed drastically, making this new working model all the more plausible.
Iceland conducted the world’s largest trial of a shorter working week, with an analysis of the results finally published.