Working Assumptions

Four-Day Weeks Are All The Rage. But Can They Work?

As the campaign for a 32-hour workweek gains momentum around the world, broad flexibility will win out over narrow rigidity

Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg
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The business world badly wants a silver bullet to solve the existential crisis engulfing white-collar work as productivity falls.

A working assumption is that the silver bullet in question is the four-day week. It follows much fanfare about the success of trials around the world, and now a bill that would amend the definition of the workweek in federal law has been relaunched by Democrat Congressman Mark Takano.