Businesses Need to Sustain Output for Four-Day Workweek to Work

Abstract

The four-day workweek has gained renewed prominence globally as part of the larger employer-employee compact refresh. The Singapore National Employers Federation’s survey investigated employers’ perspectives towards the four-day workweek and their reasons for supporting or not supporting it. A total of 236 companies responded from 28 October 2022 to 11 November 2022. Results indicated that one in four companies had implemented or were interested in implementing a four-day workweek, with reasons including improving employees’ job satisfaction and well-being while strengthening the company’s value proposition. Companies who were not interested in implementing a four-day workweek cited challenges with the business operations cycle, cost increases due to additional manpower, and concerns about fair implementation across all employees. Our findings highlight the need to balance the trade-offs between business continuity and output with autonomy and flexibility in workplaces.