Living in the modern age means work hard, play hard, yet an inflation-strained workforce and declining mental health has simply made it hard to play at all. Success of four-day workweek trials surfaced earlier this week, begging the possibility of improved work-life balance, and a resolution to burnout worldwide.
Fatigue has been a never ending topic of discussion for years. Much like this looming recession, all anyone can seem to do is talk about it. What’s more, mental health has received new levels of attention and calls for action in both personal and professional realms. All of these factors went into play for the UK’s four-day week pilot, and all received positive responses.
Results follow reports from earlier this month that explain employees are not taking off vacation days like they used to. Some analysts link this to feelings of job insecurity amidst record-breaking layoffs, others attribute the nature of sheer work-obsessed American norms. The problem with all work and no play is a natural distaste for a job at the very least, but in most cases results in burnout, poor performance, and quitting.
Eliminating just one day out of the work week creates over 40 extra days a year for personal time, which one CEO respondent even dubbed as “precious.”
Of the 1,967 people who completed the survey, 96% said they want to continue the four-day week. Reasons being, 71% of respondents reported lower levels of burnout and 64% reported more positive feelings for work. Additionally, almost three-quarters of respondents said they had greater life satisfaction, period.
Essentially, when people clocked less hours on the job, not only did they still complete their regular full-time workload, but they were happier, less stressed, and enjoyed both their personal and professional lives, more.
The survey spread across even demographics of participants—just over a third below the age of 35, 30% between the ages of 35 and 44, and the remaining third aged 45 and older—collected from industries that range from fast food to marketing agencies.
While surveyors predominantly lived in the UK, such success warrants the hope that the United States follow suit.
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