Suddenly, working less doesn’t seem like such a bad idea
The idea’s been around for a long time: in a world where technology now makes increasingly high levels of productivity possible and where automation systematically destroys more jobs than it creates, working fewer hours doesn’t seem like a bad idea.
OECD statistics on the amount of hours people in different countries around the world work, with developed countries like Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Austria or France leading the way in shortening the working week, leave little doubt. Recent misinterpretations of this type of trend toward restricting working hours, such as reports in the media that the new prime minister of Finland would like to see six-hour working days or four-day weeks in her country, were quickly denied and described as fake news, show the widespread interest in the subject. Microsoft’s experience shows that a four-day week with a three-day weekend, results in greater productivity, more satisfied workers, lower electricity and paper costs, and less stress. The idea of being more productive by working less is definitely one worth exploring.
A paper from 2018, “Working Hours and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the United States, 2007–2013" (Fitzgerald, J., J. Schor and A.K. Jorgenson), available in full text and using a methodology, panel data, with which I am very familiar with…
