Let's try the four-day week!

In Britain - why do we still say "Britain"? The British have long been saying simply and realistically: “Britain” – 61 companies have taken part in an interesting experiment. They introduced the four-day week. The result: The productivity of the companies increased, the number of days absent fell. The employees are happier. 56 companies want to keep the four-day week.

The result will surprise only those unfamiliar with the work of C. Northcote Parkinson. The British historian published Parkinson's Law in 1958, in which he described the lawful growth of bureaucracy while its efficiency decreased. His first law is: “Work expands to fill the time available.” Which means, conversely, that the same amount of work gets done when less time is available.

I've always liked Parkinson's just because of his love and commitment to Malaysia and Singapore, where he was a university teacher when I was a kid there. As a student Maoist, I wanted to use Parkinson's as a witness for our demand for a "35-hour week with full wages", but was rebuked: imperialists are bad witnesses for communists. Is correct. But what was a radical, almost utopian slogan in the 1970s (we were also in favor of German reunification) will become reality in the 2020s. Someone says there is no progress.

In Iceland, the majority of employees already work four days a week. Since November 2022, Belgium has had a legal right to a four-day week, and in Germany 71 percent would be in favour. Not surprisingly, these tend to be young people. The older ones are skeptical, their constant refrain is "that didn't do us any harm either", whether it was the measles, black education, military service or the five or six-day week.

In reality, they're just jealous, no wonder. The idea that they could actually have done the same thing in less time touches on their self-esteem. Nobody accuses them of being lazy. The work actually expands after Parkinson's, and after five days in the office the clerk is done, even if she hasn't done more than four days could do.

The objections are obvious. Surely nobody notices if some pashas are missing, they are always in a meeting anyway when you need them. But what about the high performers at the supermarket checkout, at the bedside, in the classroom? Can work work in a four-day rhythm in a face-to-face company? It would be worth trying, specifically where productivity is lowest: in parts of the Berlin administration. It can hardly get any worse.

And the critics overlook one major advantage: if you are at home three days a week and can take care of the children or grandchildren, the repairs, the garden and your partner, you are better prepared for the stress of retirement.