The 4-Day Week Fallacy
5 minute read
Gartner, the US research and consultancy firm, has released its workplace trends for 2022. High up on that list is a shortened working week. Rather than offer current and potential employees increased compensation for the jobs they’re doing, it’s keeping salaries the same and shrinking the number of days instead. It’s a trend that will give less liquid companies a better chance of competing with the big players in the fight for talent everyone is facing this year.
Many believe that a four-day week is the future of work, and that it will be of extra benefit to women in particular. It may keep more women in the workforce, reduce the cost of childcare and, where there are two parents on different days off during the week, make home life more equitable.
A Gallup poll conducted in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic asked more than 10,000 full-time employees about the number of days they usually work. Only 5% said four days a week, while 84% said five days and 11% said six days. As part of the same survey, Gallup also asked about engagement and wellbeing. Unsurprisingly those working a six-day week reported the highest rates of burnout. Employees working a five-day week had a burnout rate of 26%, while those working a four-day week came in at 23%. In addition, those working four-day weeks were found to have the highest rates of thriving (63%), compared with those working five (57%) or six days (56%).
That’s all very positive, but I wonder about that extra day off. When I asked some male friends what they would do with that time, half said they’d play golf, a quarter said they’d do a course and just one said that he would spend time with his kids.
When I did a (highly scientific) survey on Instagram asking my predominantly female followers the same question, about three-quarters of women said that they would do housework or household admin jobs so they could have more time with their family at the weekend. More than half said they’d do something with their children and only a handful mentioned hobbies, further education and self-care.
Granted I’m not conducting research that would get me a PhD here, but these results don’t surprise me in the slightest. All my friends spend at least one hour a day doing those hidden household tasks that just keep the place running. I’m not talking about scrubbing bathrooms, but just the general list that women seem to hold in their heads about milk in the fridge, bin days, the family diary and all the little things that mean the whole Jenga board of home life doesn’t collapse in on itself.
If you live, or have lived, with a man, you will be familiar with the particular head f*ck that is leaving things on the stairs and watching them be stepped over until you eventually give in and schlep them up yourself. This wilful blindness to small household tasks is what makes me question the four-day week scenario.
I work for myself on an official four-day week, but I often end up working in the evenings and for an hour or two at the weekends. Because of my shortened week and because I work from home, I do the majority of moving the children around where they need to be, the dinners (because I’m already in the house) and the picking up of the detritus that two children leave in their wake. I’m happy to do most of that, most of the time, but I think anyone who thinks a four-day week will make women’s lives easier should look at women’s lives more closely.
I think there should be a movement that goes with the four-day week whereby we are all encouraged, if possible, to do something for ourselves.
It could be a big walk, an incredibly luxurious morning bath, a course unrelated to the work you already do or just plonking yourself in front of the TV in your pyjamas. There is a lot of privilege that goes along with this of course, but if you work full time, your salary isn’t being cut and you can leave your childcare in place, we should be urged not to spend those new-to-you hours on your knees bleaching tiles.
I have a fantasy day off in my head. I would wave everyone off wherever they’re going (without having to do the drop off myself) and head back upstairs for a very indulgent long shower (I am a speed showerer and can be in and out with a hair wash and everything else in about four minutes). I then come down to a fresh, barista-level cup of coffee and head out for a big walk on a sunny but cold day. When I get back, I make a very elaborate brunchy thing involving eggs, great bread, hot sauce and either halloumi or leftover potatoes dauphinoise (this is my fantasy and it can be as specific as I want). I then spend time with an episode of Pride and Prejudice – 1995 BBC version only – and a few chapters of a good book. Before my day is over, I have a gentle tidy and a think about dinner.
In reality, Monday – my day ‘off’ – is spent doing the school drop off, supermarket shop, school pick up, work emails, lunch, an afternoon with the kids, washing (so much washing) and dinner. It’s often a busier day than the days spent at my desk.
I’m going to jump in and do a quick ‘not all men’ here before I finish. Of course, there are lots of men who would love to spend time with their kids or who clean obsessively, but it’s my experience that men don’t feel the same guilt about unwashed clothes and an empty fridge that women do. That’s why they would be quicker to golf or do a course or enjoy their day off. Women need more of that. A lot more.
Jennifer Stevens, March 2022
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