The 4 Day Week summary

Think about all the things you can do with your smartphone. You can order a gourmet restaurant meal to your door within 20 minutes, or book a surfing break to Hawaii in even less time. 

Let’s face it. Our society is addicted to saving time. Convenience comes above all else. Let’s consider Uber, which had its origins in the idea of car-sharing. What was meant to reduce passengers’ carbon footprints is now an enormous fleet of vehicles that achieves the exact opposite. Ethical concerns are quickly tossed aside when a convenient ride is on offer.

During the Industrial Revolution, workers were subject to the most appalling conditions. Some were forced to use factory machinery that was liable to take a limb, pushed up soot-filled chimneys, or made to work inhumane hours. Employment back then could take years off of your life.

But through combined effort, the workers fought back.

While aboard a flight to London from his home in New Zealand, the author leafed through his copy of The Economist. Little did he know that sandwiched between the political commentary and financial stories was an article that would change his life. And, for that matter, potentially the lives of many others.

In that article were two studies of office workers in Canada and the United Kingdom. The revelation, which astonished the author, was that these office workers were only productive for 1.5 to 2.5 hours of a typical eight-hour day.

For any organization, transitioning to the four-day week is challenging. There are no two ways about it. The two main obstacles are miscommunication and a lack of understanding between all levels of staff.

The key message here is: To successfully implement the four-day week, constant communication with the workforce is vital.

Without flexibility, workers are forced to fit the rest of their lives around their work. This means that their lives outside of work are almost an afterthought. And with so many jobs taking place in the digital space, for a lot of us, the rigid nine-to-five, five-day week in the office doesn’t fit anymore.

The key message here is: Flexible Working Agreements combined with the four-day week are the future.

When the author tours the world and gives speeches on the benefits of the four-day week, he has to remind his audiences that he’s first and foremost a businessman. He runs Perpetual Guardian, which is a profit-making venture, not a charitable organization or a social enterprise.

He believes that, however much reform is needed, our existing, profit-seeking economic model is still the best way to sustain prosperity. The productive business is integral to that. And the four-day week is, foremost, a means to maximize productivity; it is another link in the economic chain, not its destroyer.

In the twenty-first century, the divide between the very wealthy and the vast majority has grown.

And this wealth inequality has echoes of the past. The largest economies, like the United States and the United Kingdom, rely on the exploitation of precarious workers, just as they did during the Industrial Revolution. And just like then, it is unsustainable for a healthy society.

As the news of melting polar ice-caps and whole swaths of bushland on fire demonstrates: our planet is in trouble. We need to act yesterday.

The good news is that a four-day week can have an immediate impact on planetary health.