{"id":65,"date":"2021-03-19T20:18:26","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T20:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joesanok.com\/?p=65"},"modified":"2021-07-12T08:54:46","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T08:54:46","slug":"sample-post-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joesanok.com\/sample-post-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Companies Are Testing a 4-Day Workweek – and Your Work Can Too."},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

The grass is green and the sky is blue; it has been since the beginning of time, and so it will remain forevermore.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Or will it?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Because it\u2019s been that way forever, we just accept it as \u201cnormal\u201d and never think to question it. But, just because something has been a certain way for centuries, it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s necessarily correct or effective, right?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And to all the parents out there, this one\u2019s for you. Don\u2019t you find yourself saying, \u201cbecause I said so\u201d when you\u2019re at a loss for words, can\u2019t find a valid reason, or just because something is that way and you actually have no idea why that is?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The global pandemic has turned the \u201cnormal\u201d upside down for many of us. It has led us to question all sorts of things that we just accepted at face value before – just like our toddlers and kids do with everything we say.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One of these is the Monday to Friday forty-hour workweek. This set schedule followed by us, our parents, our parents\u2019 parents – it dates all the way back to 1926 and was first established by Henry Ford in his factories.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In my book, <\/span>Thursday is the New Friday<\/span><\/i>, I mention how: \u201cit\u2019s \u201cthe way it is\u201d for almost no good reason. It is how it is because it is how it has been.\u201d – Basically, \u201cbecause I (society) said so.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The History of a 7-Day Workweek\u00a0<\/h2>\r\n

While the length of a year is established based on how the earth orbits around the sun, and the months in a year are based on moon cycles – the length of a week is completely erratic.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Most of us know the story in the Bible, where God created the world in six days, and on the seventh day, he rested.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But, other cultural groups clustered days into weeks differently: Egyptians established a ten-day week, and Romans preferred one totalling eight days. Although the number of days in a week weren\u2019t alike, the one thing they all had in common was an allocated time to rest, reflect, or for religious purposes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Judeo-Christians call it the Sabbath, which is either observed on a Saturday or Sunday. Friday prayers are observed in the Islam faith. In the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed Faith, the day for rest and reflection also falls on Friday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Theravada Buddhists observe a day of cleansing the mind called an uposatha. Sunrise on the first day of the new moon signifies a day of rest for the Cherokee.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And so, over the years, it has become a worldwide norm to divide the year up into weeks consisting of seven days, with the latter part preserved for rest and religious purposes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Except for Ethiopia, a country that isn\u2019t in 2021 yet, as Ethiopians believe that there are thirteen months in a year, and they\u2019re currently seven years behind the Gregorian Calendar. For example, they celebrated the new millennium on September 11, 2007, because they continued with the same calendar that the Roman church amended in 525 AD.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, I digress…<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How Covid Changed the Game<\/h2>\r\n

Two years ago, the thought of an entire office working remotely was absurd. But, CEOs were pleasantly surprised by its success when they were forced to try this new system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Employees could get some extra sleep since they didn\u2019t have to travel an hour (often longer) to work every day, and their stress levels lowered drastically without rush-hour traffic and having to fight tooth and nail for a parking bay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Now, having noted the reduction in stress and fatigue, directly resulting in increased productivity, many companies worldwide are continuing with the working from home option.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But why stop there?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A Four-Day Workweek Is Nothing New\u00a0<\/h2>\r\n

As early as 2011, business management consultancy, Think Productive<\/a><\/span>, implemented the four-day working week strategy. They were offered the option of working an extra 50-minutes from Monday through Thursday, and take all Fridays off but one every month. This way, if any employees chose the normal Monday to Friday, their hours in total would correlate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Managing Director of the company concluded the following regarding employees who opted for the new working structure:<\/span><\/p>\r\n