{"id":94516,"date":"2021-08-10T10:02:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T17:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516///wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516//www.yesmagazine.org/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516//?post_type=magazine-article&p=94516"},"modified":"2021-08-10T10:12:43","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T17:12:43","slug":"four-day-work-week-life-balance","status":"publish","type":"magazine-article","link":"https:/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516///wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516//www.yesmagazine.org/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516//issue/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516//how-much-is-enough/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516//2021/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516//08/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516//10/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516//four-day-work-week-life-balance","title":{"rendered":"Less Work, More Living"},"content":{"rendered":"/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

Karina Soto has spent the past nine years as a sales associate at an office supply store in Los Angeles. As businesses nationwide closed their doors to stop the spread of COVID-19 last year, the 33-year-old found herself with a new title: essential worker. /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cWorking retail is not easy, and not everyone can do it, and that/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019s been especially true during the pandemic,/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d Soto says, adding that she/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019s helped many customers print obituaries for loved ones who died of COVID-19. /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cWe are the faces of these companies. We bring them in profits. A lot of us go out of our way to make sure our customers are happy while being put under a lot of pressure and getting mistreated./wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

In addition to the standard stressors of working retail, Soto says she had to reschedule medical appointments and care for her aging parents, while juggling shifts for her second job and part-time degree program, all because her employer rarely gave her more than a few days/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019 advance notice of her work schedule./wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

But Soto, who still works 8-10 hours weekly at the office-supply store, sees hope on the horizon. The L.A. City Council is currently considering a /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cfair workweek/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d ordinance, which would require employers of 300 or more people to provide schedules at least two weeks in advance, give employees the right to request changes or turn down shifts that conflict with previously scheduled obligations without retaliation, and end practices like the /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cclopener,/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d sticking someone with an opening shift after they/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019ve closed the night before. Since 2016, several U.S. cities have enacted fair workweek ordinances, and Oregon became the first state to pass a similar law in 2017, which took full effect in July 2020.  /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cIf we have this policy, that/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019s one thing we don/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019t have to worry about when it comes to working in retail,/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d Soto says about the proposed ordinance. /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cThat/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019s a lot of stress taken away from your day-to-day life./wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

Conversations about work-life balance often skip workers in industries like retail, restaurants, and hospitality. Yet they typically have the least latitude over schedules that are often irregular and assigned with little notice, since many employers use software that schedules shifts based on store traffic and sales. In L.A., 77% of retail workers got their schedules less than one week in advance, according to a 2018 survey.   /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cThere are heartbreaking stories of low-wage workers, often people of color, who are trying to take care of themselves and their families, advance, and plan for their lives, and they/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019re unable to because of these difficult scheduling practices,/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d says Jake Lewis, director of communications for the Chicago Federation of Labor, which helped win passage of a fair workweek law last year in Chicago. /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cThere/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019s issues of overworking, underworking, and just not being able to predict what your work-life balance looks like./wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

A Rare Rethinking/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

After a year that forced us to recognize that low-paid workers are essential and remote work on a mass scale is possible, the pandemic has pushed a rethinking of work that is rare in U.S. society./wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

Now, as U.S. businesses fully reopen, several legislative and organizational actions are providing a glimpse of what a more sustainable work life could look like. In addition to bringing predictability to hourly scheduling, this includes shortening the workweek to four days, and giving workers a /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cright to disconnect/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d from technology. Across industries, these reforms share a common, simple goal: protect people from the demands a company can make on their time, when technology and a globalized economy make it possible to work around the clock. /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

In 2018, the New Zealand will, trust, and estate planning company Perpetual Guardian captured the world/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019s attention. After the company shifted its more than 240 employees to a four-day workweek/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2014without cutting pay/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2014employees/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019 stress levels decreased by 7%, while job engagement increased by 40%, according to an independent study the company commissioned./wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cWe were the second most-read story in The New York Times after the Trump-Putin summit,/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d says Andrew Barnes, Perpetual Guardian/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019s chairman and founder. /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cThis transcends borders and cultures and everything else. We realized overwork is a problem that is global. And this, whilst it/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019s not a silver bullet, is a way to address that./wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

Inspired by their success, Barnes and his partner, former Perpetual Guardian sales and marketing director Charlotte Lockhart, launched a global four-day workweek movement. They believe theirs is not an isolated experience but reflects a common-sense and evidence-based idea: When well-being is supported, people work better. /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

Leaders in Finland and New Zealand have since come out for a four-day workweek, and Spain piloted a program to encourage companies to adopt it. In July, Iceland reported on the largest-to-date trial of a shortened workweek with 2,500 workers across sectors and found /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cincredible success/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d in such measures as improved productivity and reduced burnout. But to make the practice widespread, Barnes and Lockhart launched a U.S. 4 Day Week campaign in June 2021 to convince American companies. /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cIf we can crack the U.S., everywhere would broadly follow,/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d says Barnes./wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

He acknowledges what they/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u2019re up against: Employees in the U.S. work some of the longest hours of any wealthy nation and have no federally guaranteed paid vacation, sick, or parental leave, though federal employees are eligible for 12 weeks of parental leave as of October 2020. /wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201cYou have a really, seriously appalling work culture, with the greatest due respect,/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/u201d Barnes says./wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/"/wp-json/wp/v2/magazine-article/94516/"