Mental Health

Regular Work Week Should Only Be Four Days

By Abbie Kraft | Update Date: Feb 05, 2017 06:46 PM EST

Experts suggest that a regular work week should only be four days, which should be at least 60 hours maximum. It was mentioned that having a the longer a person takes a break from his/her job, the more productive they'll get.

A regular work week is usually comprised with 80 to 90 hours, according to experts, however, it negatively impacts an individual's work performance. According to Forbes, an ideal work week should only have 60 hours, or it should be cut to four days a week, wherein the individual would have more time to unwind and rest.

Software CEO Jason Fried shared that his company is devoted to following the 32-hour, four-day work week, wherein they have it applied from May until October. The trial run of the shortened work week revealed that his employees' productivity significantly improved. Fired then explained that more tasks were accomplished after the scheme was followed.

"Better work gets done in four days than in five," Fried wrote. "It makes sense: When there's less time to work, there's less time to waste. And when you have a compressed workweek, you tend to focus on what's important."

The idea of a four-day workweek may seem ideal, especially for single parents, but according to CNN, a research debunked the idea where it was mentioned that it can potentially do more harm than good. It was originally implied that the four-day work week produced positive results, but the longer term effect can be hazardous to the individual's health.

It was mentioned that a study published in JOEM suggest that four day work weeks increased the levels of industrial accidents as some would cram their workload as the number of days is not enough to finish the given task.

The four-day work week is still applied among companies in the United States.

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