Will a four day work week become the new norm?

Many businesses are doing this in Southern California. I posted about $5.00 gasoline in some cities recently. My city is under $5.00, but the one next to me is a different story. I don't see any negatives to this now. It was started to reduce cars on the road and some businesses have people coming into work at different times. In my husbands job its flexible, so people can carpool. Carpooling is encouraged by many companies to help reduce the number of cars on the road. The four day work week is great and I think it should be the norm. Many of my friends are able to use their Friday to do banking and other activities that need to be done. Many places are staying open longer hours on Fridays.

i think 4 day work weeks would be a good idea. but we all know that wont happen. its definately an idea tho :)

For many jobs I think it is a good idea. Other jobs can be done from home. If you work a computer related job you can certainly work from home, and should not have to go into the office everyday. Ten day workdays might be pretty rough though. But I think employers should do something to help out.

Hello spalladino. In answer to your question I would say it wold not become the norm. Not for the reasons that you mention. You see a number of years ago the unions here got a lot of support for shorter working hours. A lot of companies and government agencies consider a 32 hour week as "normal" now. However they do not close one day in the week because of this. Actually it has some unwanted side effects. People are still expected to do the same amount of work only they don't have as much time to do it in. And you really don't think that the employers that were "pushed" into the 32 hour work mode were going to hire 1 extra person for the 8 hours they missed do you? As a result they are also not going to close their office one day in the week just because everybody decides that working 4 days of 10 hours is cheaper for their employees. Even if they might be interested just a little bit you'd have a pretty big ongoing debate about whether the day that they were closed would be on a Monday or a Friday. Maybe they'd choose a Wednesday because the parents would appreciate it because their kids have off from school on Wednesday afternoon? And there was a reason for the 8 hour day in the first place. It's a well known fact that it is just about the max you can expect a person to work and still do their work properly. Anything over that for a longer period and the quality will certainly deteriorate. How would you feel if you needed to cash your paycheck and you couldn't because the bank was only open on the same days that you need to work? How would you feel if you were hungry but the only food you could buy was only available from a store that was only open during the same hours you spent at work? Taking those things into consideration I really don't feel that the norm will go to a 4 day and 10 hour day. No matter how much gas costs at the pump.

I am in Real Estate so you can imagine how gas prices effect me. But I have cut back time I actually spend in the office which is about 15 minutes from my home. There is alot I can do from my home office. So Yes, I have cut back to a shorter week. And to be honest if I had another job I would look to work longer hours but on fewer days. I know many people who have done this before. I also think in the long run companies will be better off for it, because for myself I find I throw myself into a project to get it done, and it is easier than stopping and restarting later.

I TRULY HOPE SO!!! Removing a day at work means adding a day for our family... nothing will be more rewarding than spending our precious time with our loveones. God bless us all

I think it is a wonderful idea!

Its possible and I've discussed this before. Its already the norm for some sparce areas and practices. Its less time wasted in start up and shut down. Its less gas wasted, obviously. Its more days to spend free with family, friends and other social purposes. Its also more days for free time to purchase goods and services. But no one wants any of that right? (/silly sarcasm)

i thinks its a gud point towards energy saving,but one really needs some rest after mental or physical assignment.i think wrking 10 hrs will decrease the employee efficiency which may give overall loss.we shud switch to renewable sources for energy saving,and money saving depends on one's habit.and abt serving public there r organisation like ngo,they shud be encouraged more for the same.

In the company where I'm working right now here in the Philippines, we're doing it already. The export industry has not been doing well lately and so companies have to find ways to continue its operation without having to spend so much on energy. I would even say that our company should have started this earlier. Whatever we can save at this time is a big help. A four-day-work-week would also mean more time for us to spend with our families.