Japanese govt calls for four-day work week: How the proposal to improve work-life balance could work

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In most parts of the world, and over decades, the 40-hour workweek has, largely, become the accepted norm. What this typically entails is employees working 8-hour workdays for five days a week. But in recent years, an expanding body of study has suggested that reducing the average number of hours that employees work may not endanger productivity, and in some cases, even increase it, while also providing individuals with more family time and opportunities for learning and recreation. 

Among the many such social experiments conducted was a project undertaken by Microsoft in August 2019 known as the Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019. For a whole month, Microsoft gave its 2,300-strong workforce in Japan five consecutive Fridays off without any loss of pay to evaluate the effects of a shorter workweek. 

They found that happier and more productive workers led to a staggering rise in productivity of 40 per cent. Interestingly, the study also found that employees took 25 per cent less time off, with electricity consumption also falling by 23 per cent. 92 per cent of employees communicated that they preferred the shorter workweek. 

A similar study conducted by New Zealand trust management company, Perpetual Guardian in 2018 across 240 members of its staff produced similar results and reactions. 

It appears that the Japanese government has had its ears to the ground when it comes to this issue. In its recently released annual economic policy guidelines, the government has proposed an option for companies to permit employees to opt in for a four-day workweek instead of the traditional five. 

Japan, it bears mentioning, is notorious for its culture of overwork. In fact, it even coined a concept – karoshi – in the 1970s to define the phenomenon of death resulting from workers putting in excessive hours of work. 

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According to figures from Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a Japanese worker, on average, worked 1,598 hours in 2020. Although this was less than the US at 1,767, it was higher than in Germany (1,332), the UK (1,367), France (1,402) and Italy (1,559). Additionally, the OECD report also noted that Japan's employment rate for its working-age population stood at 77.6 per cent – higher than the aforementioned countries. 

But the pandemic has changed the game. With companies forced to re-jig their entire work culture almost overnight, employee happiness has once again come into focus. Companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter have already made announcements that, in consideration of what work may look like in a post-pandemic world, options to continue working from home indefinitely will be provided to their employees. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also broached the idea in May last year. 

Apart from improving work-life balance, some experts have also suggested that a four-day workweek could have significant positive impacts on economic growth. In offering more personal time to individuals, the theory is that they will spend and consume more, resulting in greater economic activity. 

What's more, a four-day workweek may also see individuals spend the extra personal hours taking up courses to improve their skillsets and expertise. Given Japan's ageing population, this factor becomes all the more relevant.