'Workers are very good at finding efficiencies if they're motivated to get time off rather than additional pay,' says expert citing benefits for manufacturing sector
Recently, New Zealand-based manufacturing firm Longveld said it was formalizing a four-day workweek for its blue-collar workforce.
The new work arrangement, which had employees working four 10-hour shifts a week, saw 85% of employees happy with the set-up after several months of a trial run.
"We could see how that could be easy in an office environment, but we had no idea how to make it happen for us," said managing director Pam Roa. "But we thought if we didn't adapt, it would be like a freight train coming down the line and we'd be forced to change."
In looking at the lists of employers worldwide participating in shortened work week programs, the number of manufacturing employers is slim. With its typical Monday-to-Friday, nine-to-five schedule, the office workplace more easily translates to a four-day approach.
And the unions know it’s an uphill battle: Take the United Auto Workers last year, which tried to bargain for a four-day, 32-hour work week in the U.S., without a cut in pay.
UAW President Shawn Fain told CNN that it’s “a very realistic goal” and was a negotiating goal back in the middle of the last century.
“I don’t know what happened over the next 60 or 70 years, but that conversation fell by the wayside,” he said. “So, I felt it was imperative that we get the dialogue going back to workers reclaiming their lives.”
Process-dependent challenges for shortened week
Given the current high attrition rates in the manufacturing industry, the four-day work week is an idea worth exploring, according to Richard Kilgore, an instructor in the Online Management and Business Administration program at Maryville University.
“I am surprised… that this has not gotten the attention that I thought it was going to get post-COVID. I thought there would be a lot more people that would be thinking about this more seriously and saying, ‘There is a real advantage here in your work-life balance to have a four-day work week rather than a five-day work week, so why don't we give that a try?’”
Trial studies have also shown boosts to productivity as people are motivated to get that fifth day off, says Kilgore, who was involved in a consulting project for Boeing in California 25 years ago, where he convinced the union to allow the workers time off if they completed a wing of the airplane in 16 days, rather than 18.
“We did that for selfish reasons: We needed to keep the program going, and we needed to convince the military that it could be done in 16 days so they would continue the program.”
And it was a success, he says.
“It was amazing. What we saw in response to that was, yes, the workers are very good at finding efficiencies if they're motivated to get time off rather than additional pay.”
Productivity considerations in manufacturing
There are of course unique challenges to the sector — such as as not having anyone work on Fridays so the manufacturer loses an entire overnight period when problems that have arisen can be troubleshooted, he says.
But employers could consider different schedules, such as integrating a three-day and four-day workweek, says Kilgore, or having automation cover a shift.
"Don't just think in the four-day box. Think [about] a variety of flexible scheduling options that work best for your process."
According to Kilgore, the primary challenge in adopting a four-day workweek is the nature of the production process itself.
"If you went to a four-day work week, that means that fifth day becomes non-productive time, and you have to replace it somehow. And can you replace it by extending the day from eight hours to 10 hours? If you can, and the process is amenable to that, then you can give it a try," he says.
It’s all process-dependent, he says.
“If it's a process that requires a large startup time, let’s say assembly work, people have this notion that you just turn on a button and all these stations are full of work and you’re getting up to 100 per cent productivity in the very first minute. That’s not the case — it might take the first hour before you really start getting things together, and you can take the lineup to maximum speed.”
In that case, a four-day work week is great because you have only four startups, rather than five, Kilgore says, “and that productivity loss you have in the fifth startup period is negated.”
However, he cautions about the potential downside.
"On the other hand, you have the fatigue issue. Can you keep up that rate for the additional 10-hour days that you had at the eight-hour days? Or do people experience fatigue and productivity drain as the day goes on?"
Best practices for implementation
Kilgore underscores the crucial role of management in the transition to a four-day workweek.
"It's best if it is a... grassroots or bottom-up [approach]. But, if the initiative comes from below and filters up to management, it's great that management is listening to that voice of the worker — obviously they will feel that much more motivated and much more appreciated and much more engaged," he says, citing the benefits of greater productivity, morale and employee retention.
To ensure a smooth transition, he emphasizes the importance of pilot programs, which can unearth unexpected challenges. For example, employees with children may change their daycare schedule or start coaching soccer and find it difficult to go back if the pilot fails.
A test approach is also safer for management, says Kilgore: “You don’t want to promise it’s going to work and then find out it’s a failure and take responsibility for it.”
At the same time, fairness concerns may arise if only part of the workforce can participate in the program.
"Sometimes it's not looked at as a real opportunity, because we can only do it for 75% of our staff, and 25% of the staff have to work that fifth day,” he says, citing the risks of too much animosity.
Legal considerations of 4-day work weeks
While there are benefits, there are also several legal and logistical challenges to consider, according to Jessica Paglia, an employment, labour and contracts lawyer at Spring Law in Toronto.
She cites a client that recently asked about setting up a shortened work week, which meant deciding if they wanted a 32- or 40-hour week. This could mean reducing compensation – a particular challenge if the employer goes back to five days.
And that leads into the issue of notice, says Paglia, citing the employment standards rules.
“Employers would have to be very considerate of what's required for notice and potentially changing the terms of the employment relationship, not only going into the four-day work week, but potentially going back, if anything were to happen where it wasn't working.”
One of the bigger challenges is having to roll the initiative back if the organization decides it’s not working, she says.
“In the event that you say, ‘Hey, we're changing it,’ and you don't give a deadline, like an end date, and you don't emphasize that it's a pilot project and that it's very temporary, if you … then pull it back, that's potentially a unilateral change in the employment relationship.
“And you could be exposed to constructive dismissal claims, especially in the event of long-term employees that require more notice for a change in their employment contract.”
Constructive dismissal is, in essence, unilateral changes to the employment relationship, says Paglia, so employers must avoid making fundamental changes without dialogue, as this could expose them to claims.
"Communication and collaborative approaches, especially when changing the terms and conditions of someone's employment, would also always benefit the employer."
Human rights and equity concerns
When implementing a four-day workweek, it's also essential to consider the diverse needs of employees, she says.
"Definitely on a case-by-case basis, this would factor into [employee] polls beforehand, seeing which employees would benefit, if it’s even something that employees do consider because the five-day work week is very akin to the five-day school week, or the five-day daycare structure... So definitely, it’s back to that collaborative approach, ensuring that employees are being heard."
Employers must also be cautious about offering different workweek structures to different groups of employees.
"It is a delicate situation to approach," Paglia warns, advising that any such decisions should be based on legitimate business needs rather than arbitrary distinctions. "If there's no inherent discriminatory approach to it, and it’s just a business decision, then it shouldn't be an issue."
Hours of work and vacation pay with shortened weeks
She also emphasizes the need to revise employment contracts when implementing a shorter workweek: "It would be potentially a new contract of employment, an updated contract of employment, updated hours.”
It might be beneficial to include some form of small consideration, Paglia says, though there’s an argument to be made that the reduced work week is itself a valuable piece.
And if the shift to a four-day workweek often means longer daily hours, that could have implications for overtime and break regulations.
"The overtime hours threshold is per week under the ESA; in other jurisdictions, it's per day as well as per week," she says, citing B.C. as an example.
Employers should also be mindful of how changes in work schedules might affect entitlements to statutory holidays and vacation pay.
"As long as the hours are not changing, I don't see how the vacation entitlements could change,” Paglia says, though employers will have to factor in the fact that 52 fewer days per year are being worked “so the availability to take that allotted vacation is now compacted into that four-day week.”
Finally, there’s also the potential on employee benefits.
"Some benefit providers and insurance providers require a threshold for hours per week," she says, so if hours fall below certain limits, employees could lose their eligibility for benefits.
"It would just be [about having] a conversation with an insurance provider beforehand to make sure that there's no status being changed or hours per week being changed that would disqualify someone."
Overall, it’s best to consult an employment lawyer first, Paglia says, citing “small nuances that differ with the employment relationship.”
