My mother has the day off every other Friday, which I highly envy. She also works nine-hour days for the privilege, which I do not envy.
However, although the idea of
As workforce demographics and cultures shift and talent retention takes on more importance than ever, more employers seem open to moving away from the traditional Monday through Friday, eight-hour day.
Most famous is Utah, which in 2008 launched “Working 4 Utah,” ushering in new state business hours — Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. But beyond Salt Lake, some 34% of employers offer some sort of compressed workweek benefit, up from 26% in 2008, msnbc.com reports, citing stats from the Society for Human Resource Management.
Steps in the right direction, I say.
However, according to the msnbc.com article, the five-day, 40-hour workweek is so entrenched that “many if not all human resource policies and corporate financial reporting systems are built around and reinforce” it, Cali Yost, CEO of consulting firm Work+Life Fit Inc., told the website.
I can’t believe that decades worth of work-life progress are being held up by HR policies and reporting systems. What do you think? What is preventing the spread of more flexible and progressive workday and hours policies? Is change in the way and time we work even necessary or is the five-day, 40-hour system just fine as is? Share your thoughts in the comments.
