More and more government entities are shifting to the four day work week to cut costs. Cities like El Paso and states like Utah and California are experimenting with the concept. And initial findings are promising; the financial savings are real, especially in the cost for energy.
Even automaker GM is exploring the idea of adopting the practice of a four day work week. But what if there was a widespread adoption of the four day work week? What would be the effect on our economy? Our society? The environment?
Here are some ideas to think about.
Reduced Gasoline Consumption
One less day of commuting equals one less day of polluting.
It possible to reduce our impact on the environment using the four day work week. Some critics argue we’d just drive somewhere else on that fifth day? Others postulate perhaps not, that all that driving we do on the weekends would just be spread over three days.
Assuming the most pessimistic of estimates, the average working commute is 32 miles per day (round trip), and leisure car trips are mostly local (like to the nearby mall, neighborhood park, or local cinema) averaging around 10 miles round trip. So, reducing 22 miles per week (1,144 miles per year) is a savings of at least 14 percent.
Using “back of the envelope” calculations, let’s assume the following… Being generous, the average car runs at about 21 miles per gallon. There are over 108 million commuters on the roadways each working day. Plugging all those numbers into a spreadsheet is quite revealing.
Commuting in the US consumes over eight million barrels per day ( roughly 2.2 billion gallons per year). A four day work week would result in a an annual savings of over 302 million barrels.
On a more personal level, you know how much time you spend idling in bumper-to-bumper traffic, for traffic lights, for toll booths, and when you enter a road construction zone whose crews are busy expanding the very freeway you traverse. Now reduce that idle time by 20 percent and you start to get the picture
Lower Electricity Demand And Impact On Climate Change
With most offices and plants being closed one more day per week, the reduced energy consumed would be significant.
Not all business can conform to the four day work week, especially service industries, like firefighters, police, hotels, airlines, and restaurants – to name a few. But that may be OK. Some economists have done the math and have adopted the average of 12 percent in energy savings resulting from adopting the reduced work week.
As of this writing, a 12 percent reduction in demand for electricity translates to roughly 113 million fewer short tons of coal being burned each year. Reducing America’s electricity-generated carbon footprint by 12 percent – without any other efficiencies – is, alone, worth considering the adoption of the reduced work week.
Suddenly, the projected reduction in fossil fuel consumption and the reduced impact on the environment, makes the four day work week the answer to the call for reduction in demand that environmentalists and some politicians have been crowing about. And it may be a way for America to begin leading the world in reducing climate change.
Better Health
As cars engage in the daily traffic grind, particulates and pollutants from brakes, tires, and fluids enter our local environment; rain washes these pollutants into our streams, water supply, farm lands, and wild lands. With the four day work week comes reduced exposure to commute related pollutants, like tail pipe emissions, exposure to pollutants from industrial plants, AND a reduction in contributing those very pollutants.
With fewer days at work there’s also a the reduced chance for exposure to contagious co-workers, especially those who have young children (and everyone knows coworkers with young children bring more illness into the workplace). Consequently, fewer days of exposure means Americans would be healthier and have lower health-related expenses.
The four day work week would reduce exposure to, and the demand for coal-generated electricity.
By some governmental estimates, coal-burning power plants alone account for over 17 hundred deaths per year in the US. Some research suggest an estimate around 10 thousand deaths world wide directly attributable to exposure to coal-burning by products.
The consequence of reducing exposure to coal burning by-products is a reduction in cardiopulmonary mortality, lung cancer mortality, childhood asthma, respiratory disease, and reduced exposure to Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide, Nitrogen Oxides, Hydrocarbons, Ozone, particulates, Lead, Chlorofluorcarbons, and trace radioactive particles.
The reduced demand on coal would also result in a reduction of the mercury poisoning of aquatic and marine life – consumption of which is ill-advised for children and expectant females.
Decreased Personal Expenses
Think about what you purchase in order to work, and then think about how a four day work week would reduce those expenses by 20 percent.
Auto related expenses – which includes gasoline, auto insurance, oil changes, tires, tune-ups, wear and tear, parking fees, and toll fees – would all be trimmed back. The wear and tear on your working wardrobe, the cost of purchasing of lunches, and fees for child card – all reduced!
Commuting one day less per week would also result in a reduced chance for auto accidents, as well as the related repairs and injuries.
And perhaps the biggest reduction is personal expenses is time; one day’s less commuting time is time you can reclaim, time that would otherwise be spent in the secluded bubble of your automobile.
Reduced Operational Costs
Businesses and industry would not just have reduced expenses from energy savings, but also fewer security and maintenance issues, less frequent cleanings, and less demands on the IT help desk, as well as a host of administrative and overhead expenses – like liability insurance, and wear and tear on equipment and furnishings.
Studies have shown that employees with a four day work week are less likely to job hop, which results in lower costs associated with turnover.
Lower Demand On The Government
A four day work week would reduce congestion on our roads and prolong the shelf life of our current freeway system. Fewer commuting days translates into few police needed to enforce traffic laws, a reduction in the need for ambulance and towing services because of fewer auto accidents and breakdowns.
A Better Economy
All of these savings translates into more personal money being available for savings and discretionary spending – the heart and sole of a thriving economy.
But also, the savings for business and industry means more money for research and development, higher levels of innovation, and cost savings being passed along to consumers.
Reduced health related expenses results in higher productivity, personal longevity, and higher quality of life. More leisure time equates to improved mental health, better family relations, increased personal enrichment, and a general upsurge in the general well being for those affected. And all of these things enrich our society – an enriched society translates into a stronger economy.
Conclusion
Let’s face it. Many salaried American workers are already accustomed to a 10 hour work day. The four day work week just formalizes it.
But with the current 10 hour work days in a five day work week, workers often find ways of stretching eight ours of work into 10; they become less focused and tend to assume there is more time to get the work done.
A regular three day weekend, however, encourages workers to stay focused on ensuring the end-of-week deadlines are actually met by the end of the work week. No one likes to enter the weekend knowing a big deadline looms over them on the following Monday.
A one-size-fits-all approach is just foolhardy when it comes to meaningful change. Telecommuting, cloud computing, and flexible summer hours are a fine start.
But adoption of the four day work week where it makes sense has so many benefits on so many levels.
Can we continue to ignore it much longer?
