Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the idea of working from home was unthinkable to a lot of people. Between time-wasting (and calorie-increasing) temptations like the fridge, couch, or TV, distractions from one\u2019s family or roommates, and the lack of office resources and camaraderie, home was a place for leisure, not labor. But with the trial-by-fire that was the last year and a half, we discovered that it actually is possible to be productive at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new ways of working the pandemic imposed on us have raised lingering questions about when, where, and how we do our jobs; while some companies are coming up with flexible work policies, others want employees back in the office full-time. And on a whole other level of \u201cnew ways of working,\u201d companies and governments are experimenting with lopping a day off the work week to see how it affects employee productivity and well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, a report<\/a> was released detailing two different four-day work week trials carried out in Iceland. Both actually started before the pandemic hit, but have taken on a new significance in the face of the global shakeup in work culture<\/a> it brought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When studies on work-life balance ranked Iceland lower than neighboring countries, labor unions and civil society groups there started to campaign for change, which was part of what spurred the four-day work week experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contrary to what you\u2019d probably guess, the employees who participated in the trial weren\u2019t all desk jockeys\u2014in fact, many of them worked in roles with a high level of person-to-person interaction. Employees of day cares, assisted living facilities, hospitals, museums, police stations, and Reykjavik government offices all got to try out a shortened week. Over 2,500 workers were involved, which is more than 1 percent of Iceland\u2019s total working population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most participants didn\u2019t go all the way down to a 32-hour week, but rather 35 hours. The five hours of time saved came from reducing or eliminating meetings, changing shift plans, and simply being more productive during the workday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSimply being more productive\u201d sounds too simplistic; if it was that easy, wouldn\u2019t we all be doing it every day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fact is, no one works for eight hours straight, five days a week. While most of us don\u2019t quite get to the level of\u00a0Office Space<\/em>\u2019s Peter Gibbons, (who when asked how he spends his workday, reveals that he only does \u201cabout 15 minutes of real, actual work\u201d in a given week), we all take breaks, mess around online, and yes, occasionally just stare mindlessly into space for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n