“The future of work in no work” according to the founder of Gumroad and we are slowly making our way there. As their next step, lots of companies have joined the new 4-day workweek initiative. There are studies showing that reducing the number of work hours leads to increased productivity. You can add the 4-day workweek to the list of potential benefits you can negotiate for with global remote companies.

One of the companies that have switched to 4-day workweek is Buffer. They tested the new format in 2020 and in 2021 they officially stated that they are gonna keep this format without cutting the pay. Yay! Way to go, Buffer! Buffer is the leader of work culture, they were the first ones to embrace fully remote work and starting to hire globally.

The reason why I’m convinced 4-day workweek is going to be a reality for many of us soon is the history of how we got to the 40-hour 5-day workweek. It is one aspect of the work culture that hasn’t had any changes for the last 50-60 years. The technology and the efficiency of people have advanced since then. So it is quite reasonable for the workers to be demanding to reduce the number of work hours.


Historical insight:

Before 1817 people all over the world were working 80-100 hours a week. In 1817 Robert Owen a Welsh manufacturer came up with the idea of dividing the day into three equal parts. “Eight hours labor, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest”. The idea didn’t stick in Europe but gained popularity in the States labor unions.

It wasn’t until 1926 that five-day 40-hour workweek became common practice in the States with Henry Ford stating that “It is high time to rid ourselves of the notion that leisure for workmen is either lost time or a class privilege.” The workweek duration was officially limited to 40-hours by the US legislature in 1940.

The Soviet Union adopted the 48-hour workweek in 1917. There was a period when the government was testing 30-35 hour-workweek between 1964-1967 which was the world’s record at that time. But in 1967 they stopped that initiative and moved to the 41-hour 5-day workweek. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia adopted the standard 40-hour workweek.