The 4-Day Workweek: The Future or a Fad?

Dr. Laura welcomes Joe O’Connor, co-founder of the Work Time Reduction Center of Excellence, to the show to continue exploring the topic of the 4-day workweek. Joe originally served as CEO of 4 Day Week Global, the company co-founded by the last episode’s guest, Andrew Barnes. Joe and Dr. Laura explore the 4-Day workweek in great detail, examining both myths and truths about the four-day week and looking at the future of this global movement.

Joe O’Connor points out that the adoption of the five-day workweek and eight-hour workday over a century ago was driven by major technological advancements.  Yet more recent technology, such as the internet, email, and digital communication, haven’t shifted that structure despite gains in productivity. Joe and Dr. Laura discuss significant research that supports shifting to a 4-day workweek and Joe dispels common myths that prevent companies from considering the change. Joe addresses the flexibility of this possible structure, trusting and empowering employees, and why company leaders need to course correct in order for the change to work. Their conversation provides yet more eye-opening evidence that points to variations of the 4-day workweek as a compelling choice for the future of workplace productivity and wellbeing.

“... we often advise leaders that are looking at this to think about it in terms of by the time you push the button to move to a shorter workweek, so by the time your trial starts or you've introduced the policy, you really want to have figured out to a pretty significant extent what are the things that we need to change in order to make this work operationally. You don't want to be doing those things after you've already started the trial. You don't want to be figuring it out, kind of building the aircraft while it's in flight.”  Joe O’Connor

About Joe O’Connor:

Joe is CEO and co-founder of the Work Time Reduction Center of Excellence, a consulting and research organization based in Toronto, which specializes in shorter workweek models and reduced-hour, outcome-focused working. Internationally acclaimed as one of the leading experts on the shorter workweek, Joe developed the world’s first pilot program for the four-day workweek in Ireland at the onset of the pandemic in 2020. In collaboration with Boston College and University College Dublin, he codesigned a pioneering research project to measure the impact of the pilot. As CEO of 4 Day Week Global throughout 2020 and 2021, he expanded this model to lead the large-scale, heavily publicized trials of the four-day week in the UK, North America, and Australia. In this role, he supported hundreds of organizations and thousands of employees to shorten their work hours and optimize their productivity. Joe also led a research project on work-time reduction as a visiting research scholar at Cornell University.

Resources:

Website: WorkTimeReduction.com

Joe O’Connor on LinkedIn

Joe O’Connor’s 2023 reading list

4-Day Workweek joint research study by Josh Bersin Company with The Work Time Reduction Center of Excellence

“Work-Life Bloom” by Dan Pontefract

“Irresistible” by Josh Bersin

Learn more about Dr. Laura on her website: https://drlaura.live

For more resources, look into Dr. Laura’s organizations: 

Canada Career Counselling

Synthesis Psychology

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