Is a four-day week the unattainable holy grail of working life? Since the 1970s, there has been talk about how we would eventually end up working half a week while using the other half for family or self-time.
“Everyone in the advanced societies in the West,” it seemed, would be heading for this post-industrial utopia. Maybe not in workaholic Japan, it was jokingly said. There it was, work till you drop dead for the salary men.
Even about 50 years ago, Singapore was progressing so well that the once standard five-and-half day week – “if you were not working in an American company” – eventually became five-day.
Some companies, or at least some departments, were already on five days. The Straits Times journalists, for example.
The Singapore civil service adopted the five-day week in 2004, switching from its previous five-and-half days. Many companies followed the lead.
A growing reason for the expectation that the working hours and days would slowly get shorter seemed to be something called automation. Greater efficiency saved time.
Advances in technology – computerisation, IT, cashless payments, and artificial intelligence (AI) — have somewhat widened the definition of shorter office days/work.
New work arrangements like Work From Home and Skype or Zoom meetings have lately given the hope and impression that the four-day week would soon become the norm.
Not so, evidently.
Yes, a number of countries have been trialling the four-day work week. They included Australia, Germany and Britain. But only with some companies which are able to cut down the working days because of the nature of their businesses.
In Singapore, the results of a poll released in September seemed to be encouraging. Some seven out of 10 employers said a four-day week was feasible.
The survey conducted by recruitment firm Robert Walters covered 5,000 companies.
In the end, however, it was a case of “good to have but not a must-have”. A mirage.
When it came to the crunch, another just-released survey said it all in a Business Times story aptly titled: “Reality check on a four-day week: 95 per cent of Singapore employers say No“.
This was revealed in a poll of 330 employers conducted by the Singapore National Employers Federation. Only a small number, mostly in the information and communications, general and support services and finance industries, were keen.
The vast majority had more urgent needs to worry about. They had to keep an eye on costs and productivity. Their real priorities were dealing with a tight labour market and very competitive business demands.
A four-day work week is not on even their good-to-have list, much less must-have.
What all this means is the four-day week for many working people once looked like a realisable goal. But even with all the so-called technological progress so far, it may remain an elusive dream for most.
Tan Bah Bah is a former senior leader writer with The Strait’s Times. He was also managing editor of a magazine publishing company
Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)