URBANA, Ill. – One expert in Illinois suggests it may be high time to overhaul the idea of a five-day work week.
University of Illinois Labor Professor Robert Bruno says private studies have shown that alternative schedules and remote working have shown a less-than-five-day work week can work.
“The evidence is, that overwhelmingly when you shorten that work week, and maybe you shorten those hours, and you maintain the same level of pay, you get greater outcomes,” said Bruno. “I just think we’re starting to see what has always been true, and how we’re going to embrace it.”
Bruno dismisses the notion that more days and more hours working means more is getting done.
“It’s just this sort of dirty little secret that you never really had to be at work five days…(or) that you have to be at work eight hours a day,” said Bruno. “There’s some experimentation around a five-hour day, particularly of folks doing a lot of engineer work, or technical work, or design work.”
Bruno says allowing changes to the work week can lower the risks of burnout and worker dissatisfaction — but, on the other hand, making the change in some industries may be easier said than done.
