Enjoying the weekend? Having two days to relax is a fairly new privilege for workers
Having both Saturday and Sundays off work is a relatively recent phenomenon. Not so long ago workers were given just one day to rest.
Working nine to five, five days a week might seem the standard business hours for many office workers but the working week hasn’t always been that way and there have been proposals to reduce the amount of time we dedicate to earning an living even further.
A lot of workers still enjoy having Saturdays and Sundays off work - time that they can spend doing household and personal chores or relaxing with the family. Not everyone has that luxury of course - and just a century ago, most workers only had one day a week free to do their own thing.
Saturday and Sunday to unwind and rest
The biggest social and economic changes in the workplace happened as a result of the Industrial Revolution, when advances in technology increased productivity. Products which had previously been painstakingly crafted by artisans were suddenly able to be mass produced in factories.
But spending six days on the assembly line negatively impacted family life - especially as most of the workforce were women. In 1908, a New England cotton mill became the first of its kind to hand staff both Saturday and Sunday off. The five-day working week was born.
Experiments to reduce the working week
By the end of the 20th Century, with a booming leisure industry, calls were made to reduce the workweek even further. Several countries have trialed a four-day week, spending a maximum of 32 hours in the office, which has produced positive and negative results.
On the plus side, some US companies reported that giving employees an extra day off helps them recharge and return not only able to work more focused but also with less risk of burnout.
Other case studies suggested that a condensed workweek leads to fewer sick days and stronger employee engagement/loyalty. When people feel satisfied and supported at work, they’re more likely to stay in their job and not seek opportunities elsewhere, saving companies time and money on recruitment and training.
Weighing up the pros and cons of working less
But there’s a downside too. Packing 40 hours’ worth of work into 32 hours means workdays tend to be more intense. Heavier workloads and stricter deadlines increase stress levels.
And it’s not just the workers who have noted negative impacts on four-day weeks. Employers can get a rough deal. Some simply cannot afford to pay staff the same wage for less output. Another obstacle is juggling timetables and schedules with less people around on certain days of the week - all of that requires extra planning which kind of defeats the objective in a sense.
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