Who doesn’t like the idea of working 4 days a week? We all do! The 4 day work week jobs in the USA are proof of it. In this blog, we are going to uncover all about the four-day work week jobs from scratch and how countries are opting for them progressively!
Why are jobs so stressful?
The whole concept of doing a job is about taking a high degree of stress regardless of the field you belong to! Every job exudes its own share of stress due to many reasons. Long working hours, on-call responsibilities, workload, workplace politics, lower pay, etc., add to the underlying stress in your chosen field. With emerging technology and demand for specialists, job stress only increases with time!
What is a 4 Day Work Week and 3 Days Off Job Concept?
A 4-day workweek and 3 days off job concept is an arrangement where employees work four days a week and then have three consecutive days off. Andrew Barnes, the founder of a financial services company in New Zealand, developed the “4-Day Week Global” initiative to improve work-life balance, reduce stress, and increase employee satisfaction and productivity. This means that employees work the same number of hours in a week but have an extra day off to rest, spend time with family, pursue hobbies or engage in other personal activities.
A trial was hosted to test the initiative in 6 countries like Ireland, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia, the UK, the US and Canada. The companies opting for the 4-day work model have experienced 78% happy staff and 70% less stressed employees, as per the report by the Henley Business School. 63% of the employers of the company believe that the 4-day working model has made it possible for them to lure and retain talent.
4 Day Work Week Companies
It is important to note that not every company can implement the 4 day work week in their workplace. The 4 day work week jobs can be possible with tasks and jobs that are flexibly scheduled and can be worked remotely. The job categories that can shift to a 4 days work model are Engineering jobs, Marketing jobs, Product & UX Jobs, Sales jobs, Data & Analytics jobs and Human resource jobs.
However, many companies specifically create 4 day work week jobs remotely to attract talented workforce for their organization. This working model is widely seen adopted by US-based companies like BaseCamp, Awin, Bit.io, Bolt, Buffer etc. If you are researching for 4 day work week jobs near me, then our below-mentioned list will help you!
List of Companies who offers 4-day work week in the USA
Wondering which companies are offering 4 day work week USA 2023? Many companies are trying to negotiate their way with a modern 4-day work week by way of a trial initiated by New Zealand. Some famous 4 day work week USA companies are
- Awin
- D’Youville
- Elephant Ventures
- Emtrain
- Fifth Tribe
- G2i
- GooseChase
- Justuno
- Kickstarter
- Knowledge Futures Group
- Abstract
- Arken.legal
- Atom Bank
- Calibre
- Carbon Switch
- CIB group
- Close
- Dassana
These are just a few examples of US-based companies that have implemented a 4-day workweek. As the concept gains more traction, we can expect to see more organizations adopt this approach to work in the coming years.
4 Day Work Week Career Options By Country and Company
The idea of a 4-day workweek has gained popularity in recent years, with many companies and countries experimenting with it. While the concept is still relatively new, here are some examples of 4-day work week country and companies that have implemented or are considering a 4-day workweek:
Countries and Companies
- New Zealand: In March 2021, New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, suggested a 4-day workweek as a way to boost tourism and improve work-life balance. Perpetual Guardian has successfully implemented the 4 day work model.
- Spain: In May 2021, Spain launched a three-year trial of a 32-hour workweek, which is four days a week, without reducing pay.
- Germany: In 2018, the IG Metall union in Germany negotiated a deal with employers to allow workers to reduce their hours to 28 per week for up to two years while still retaining 75% of their pay.
- The United States of America- Some companies have experimented with a 4-day work week, such as software company Basecamp and marketing agency VaynerMedia. However, the US has still not implemented the work model completely and is in the experiment phase.
- Netherlands- Netherlands has one of the shortest work weeks as compared to other countries. 4 day work week Netherlands are operational in the companies without any law applied for it. Some 4-day model companies in the Netherlands are Chordify, Luscii etc.
- United Kingdom- In 2022, the United Kingdom implemented the 4-day work week program where 70 businesses were improvised on the same model. The 4 day work week UK law states that the employees are not required to work for more than 48 hours per week.
4-day work week pros and cons
The 4 day work week has been a success in many progressive countries, but despite several trials and experiments, some countries were not able to operate it! The reasons lie in the pro and cons of the 4 day work week initiative.
Pros
- Increased Productivity
- An equal workplace experience
- More employee engagement
- Better work-life balance
- Lower stress in the workplace
- Easy recruitment and retention
- Lesser sick leaves
Cons
- Customer dissatisfaction
- Confusing Approach for some
- Difficulty in setting routine tasks
- Increases in costs
- Not feasible for every business
- Longer working hours than usual
- Difficulty in achieving goals
Summing Up
A 4 day work week is the newest work model adopted by many countries to increase the productivity of the workplace. Countries like New Zealand, Spain, Japan, the Netherlands, and the UK have successfully implemented the work model. However, not every country is able to change its work base in a snap. It would take a good amount of time for other countries to come around the 4 day work week concept.
