'Love It!': A Town in Connecticut Is Experimenting with a 4-Day Workweek — and It Seems to Be Working

Oct 09, 2024 02:20 AM - 4 months ago 152913

The municipality of Canton, Connecticut, population 10,124, has been trialing a four-day workweek for its labor for astir a period — and truthful far, it's been a success.

On September 16, the town's non-unionized labor who activity successful the municipality hall, societal services, and elder services began getting Fridays off.

"I wanted to find a work-life equilibrium for my labor because I deliberation that if you tin return attraction of your individual items astatine location and you're not worried astir making appointments and taking attraction of your kids, etc, past you'll beryllium much laser-focused astatine work," Canton's First Selectman Kevin Witkos told WTNH News connected Monday.

He added that municipality labor connected the four-day schedule "love it" and "the feedback has been great" from residents.

Related: This Country Just Implemented a 6-Day Workweek for Employees

Town hallway labor now activity from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. connected Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and activity an other hr connected Wednesday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Senior and societal services employees' caller schedule is from 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Monday done Thursday.

Administrators successful the town's Department of Public Works and Police Department are besides taking portion successful the four-day workweek, per Witkos. The proceedings play lasts 4 months, until January.

Canton joins different Connecticut towns, including Plainville, Redding, and Mansfield successful implementing a four-day workweek.

Related: Samsung Makes 6-Day Workweeks Mandatory for Executives

Meanwhile, Kickstarter CEO Everette Taylor told Kevin O'Leary successful July that the institution implemented a 4-day workweek and they're "very productive" wrong those 4 days.

"I emotion the truth that the group astatine our institution person interests," Taylor said.


Most group are consenting to activity much hours Monday done Thursday if they get Friday off. According to a November 2023 Gallup poll, 77% of the U.S. workforce are successful favour of a 40-hour, 4-day workweek and opportunity it would positively impact their well-being.

The four-day workweek has besides had proven outcomes. In June 2021, 70 companies successful the UK experimented pinch it for six months. The mostly recovered that business productivity was astir the aforesaid aliases somewhat higher than it was pinch a modular five-day week.

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan told The Verge successful June that AI tin thief trim the workweek to 3 aliases 4 days.

"Why not walk much clip pinch your family?" Yuan said. "Why not attraction connected immoderate much imaginative things, giving you backmost your time, giving backmost to the organization and nine to thief others, right? Today, the logic why we cannot do that is because each time is busy, 5 days a week. It's boring."

Related: Can't Afford a 4-day Workweek? Try a 35-hour One Instead

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