Work place norms are changing unexpectedly.And rapidly. Today, millions of employees worldwide enjoy flexible work because of the COVID-`19 pandemic .Are these workers ready for a new normal? Do they prefer a four working days per week?

Congressman Mark Takano, the United States representative for California’s 41st congressional district and the person who introduced new legislation to transform America’s workweek explains the benefitsof a four day workweek. He states in The Guardian that the pilot programmes run by governments and businesses in countries such as Iceland, New Zealand, Spain and Japan have experimented with a four-day workweek and reported very promising results.

According to pilot studies, workers reported anywhere from a 25% to 40% increase in productivity, as well as an improved work/life balance, less need to take sick days, more time to spend with family and children, less money spent on childcare, and a more flexible working schedule which leads to better morale. This is a global paradigm shift that will bring into question everything we thought we knew about the workplace.
Business Management Digest (BMD) wanted to find views of management professionals of Sri Lanka about a four day work week. Ahamed Nifraz, Senior Category Marketing Manager of Rainco (Pvt) Ltd., contributed his opinions when contacted by BMD recently.

Nifraz is a senior marketingand business development professional with over a decade of experience in various industries.

Q: Do you think the four day workweek could work?

It will work. Nobody thought remote working would work, but it’s working. There should be a compelling enough reason to make the four day work week work. For example, if the government lets you travel only for four days of the week by imposing travel restrictions, we don’t have a choice but to optimize our workflow and complete our work in four days.

Q: What do you see as risks and downsides?

The only risk I see is complacency. If the cultural shift doesn’t take place where the majority of the workforce starts focusing on effectiveness… then we’re heading for disaster. On the contrary, if we start getting driven by effectiveness, we can make the four day workweek work. We also should have strong processes and policies to enforce the change.

Q: How do you see this as beneficial to organizations?

Companies will become more effective. More output in relatively less time. Employees will be happy and motivated making them more productive.

More than anything it’s about “getting things done.” If you’re providing the output the company expects from you, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re putting in four, five or seven days of work per week.