by Melissa Howsam | Oct 30, 2023 | Buzz, November 2023
A pipe dream—or the future of American work culture?
Three-day weekend? Read: fitting five days of work into four. Once a lofty American ambition found more likely on the banks of Italy or in a pipe dream, the four-day workweek is gaining ground. Like—for real. Companies large and small are seriously considering the shift across the nation, including here in Raleigh. And states like Massachusetts have even introduced bills directed toward incentivizing businesses to follow a four-day schedule.
While those bills may have long odds of becoming law, they do constitute the potential for a changing national work narrative. But what exactly does a four-day workweek entail, and what do the proponents and naysayers have to say about it? For a typical workweek, here’s how and why the shift could take shape.
How It Works
Depending on the model, four-day workweeks don’t necessarily mean cramming 40 hours into 32 over four short blissful workdays. The bottom line is, after all, still the bottom line. For some, like one local company looking to implement the truncated workweek, the shift provides a concentrated 40 hours in four days. While for others, like online clothier thredUP, the adopted four-day blueprint is geared toward 32-hour weeks.
While the online thrifter’s transition has focused on honing in on the most essential tasks and scrapping the extras (we see you, unnecessary emails and long meetings), it hasn’t come without its hiccups. “It’s not for everybody,” thredUP Chief People Officer Natalie Breece, who helped lead the transition, told The Wall Street Journal this fall. “It requires a constant evaluation of your own behaviors and your organization’s behaviors to move faster.” And, naturally, the work sometimes overflows to Friday.
Productivity
There’s plenty to be said about productivity, breaks, work/life balance—and it would take an entire TED Talk to break it all down. But, in short, research indicates potential setbacks and perks to both four-day models, not least of which is increased employee productivity—because increased downtime. Even employees billing 40 hours Monday through Thursday are still gaining a three-day weekend. “Ten-hour days are long and keep you from family and friends,” according to a local whose company already subscribes to the schedule. “It also takes a toll on physical health since it’s harder to get to the gym, and many medical offices are closed on Fridays. And when time changes there are many days you don’t see any daylight! But, having a three-day weekend to recharge every week makes it worth it.”
Real-Life Application
Some local companies have already subscribed to a 4.5-day structure with half-days on Fridays that others could look to as a model. “The major appeal of a 40-hour/4.5-day workweek is all about that half-day on Friday,” says a local professional who’s been working this schedule for over a decade now. “Those few quiet hours—where productivity is way up and pressure is way down—allow you to focus on the tasks that got sidelined by meetings and last-minute requests during the busy week.”
In-Person Perk?
As more companies put an end to the remote-work pandemic hangover, some employers see the updated four-day model as a potential perk to entice leary commuters. “As we continue to evaluate how we ‘return to the office,’ we have discussed the four-day workweek,” says a Raleigh executive. “Our office already utilizes half-days on Fridays, so to move to a four-day workweek is not too much of a stretch. … That said, as long as our clients work a five-day week, we will always be available five days a week.” Ultimately, if you’re on deadline, the deadline has to get done. But for now, that decision is still under consideration—and it’s only a matter of time before the future is here.
by Cameron Walker | Feb 2, 2016 | Buzz, February 2016
Donald Trump, long the brunt of hair jokes and birther backlash, is the one laughing now. He leads the Republican pack with numbers in the mid-30s, despite a penchant for inflammatory comments and a lack of governmental experience. So what, exactly, is his appeal and how long will it last?
He’s a political outsider
Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again,” hints at a growing discontent with the political establishment. It conjures up a nostalgic vision of a Rockwellian America that many believe is slipping further and further from their grasp.
“The polling data clearly shows that Americans aren’t particularly happy at the moment,” says Andrew Taylor, professor of Political Science at North Carolina State University. “They dislike politicians. They believe the country is going off on the wrong track.”
Trump’s message is that “established politicians, ones with experience in governmental politics haven’t been able to solve our problems; in fact, they’ve created a bigger mess, and who the country needs at its helm is someone who’s from somewhere else, who’s not from the world of politics,” says Taylor.
He tells his base what they want to hear
Although he has some crossover appeal, Trump supporters are mostly conservative, non-college-educated white males.
“Obviously some of the arguments he’s made with regard to immigration, policies that the United States needs—to stem immigration, to deal with potential terrorist threats—that have kind of racial and religious overtones, is one way that he’s connecting with them,” says Taylor.
Trump is speaking to his base’s anxiety that America is changing, and in some ways it is. According to U.S. Census projections, by 2044, more than half of Americans will belong to a minority group, and by 2060, one in five residents will have been born in another country. This is a real concern to a group of people who believe that this country will be harmed by an influx of foreigners.
He has no filter
However, Taylor believes Trump’s appeal lies more in the way he speaks than what he actually says. Other candidates seem rehearsed, polished; there’s a sense that they have run every word through a focus-group filter. Trump’s speeches, on the other hand, seem free of artifice and all traces of political correctness. To Trump’s supporters, this signals honesty. They believe him because he appears to say what he means without regard to how a particular statement will affect his poll numbers.
“Much of his support is obviously based on his style, his combativeness, his portrayal of strength and commentary on what’s going on in the country, rather than substantive policy matters,” says Taylor.
National government distrust is high
And opinion of politicians is low. According to the Pew Research Center, only 29 percent of Americans believe that elected leaders are honest, and a majority of 74 percent believe that politicians put their own interests ahead of the nation’s. More than half the population believes that ordinary Americans would do a better job solving the nation’s problems than our elected leaders.
Can Trump win the republic nomination?
How far will this style-over-substance approach take him? Taylor believes we have already hit peak Trump.
“Will he be the nominee? I don’t think so. I probably put his chances sort of one in four, for a number of reasons. The major one being that his negatives are so high, even within the Republican party. And you have to remember, the race for the Republican nomination won’t have this dynamic for too much longer,” says Taylor.
The field will shrink as the race continues, and support will coalesce around the remaining candidates. However, Taylor doesn’t think this will be a boon to Trump.
“My sense is that the dynamics of the race are going to be difficult for him to get the nomination, because the anti-Trump, or the ‘We can’t afford to have Trump because he’ll sink the party’ sentiment is going to be galvanized behind one alternative,” he says.
And who might that alternative be? It’s too early to call, but Taylor says the end game might be a matchup between cultural conservative Ted Cruz and establishment candidate Marco Rubio.
