4-Day Workweek: Will It Work in Asia?

Everybody loves a shorter workweek. A study that surveyed 4,000 workers in the U.S. found that 83% of them wanted a four-day workweek. The percentage goes up to 90% among Millennial workers.

The concept of a shorter workweek to drive employee engagement and wellbeing has also reached Asia. In Japan, last year’s national economic policy guidelines included recommendations for staff to work four days a week. In Singapore, a Member of Parliament Louis Chua urged the government, as the largest employer in the city, to consider a shorter workweek.

It’s happening

This summer, the 4-day workweek movement also landed in Hong Kong. One of the city’s major conglomerates, New World Development, announced a 4.5-day workweek pilot during the summer months. The company has recently extended its core real estate development business into culture and creativity, sustainability, and social innovation with investment in art, technology ventures, and the Metaverse.

In addition to companies venturing into technologies, organizations from the more traditional construction sector like Construction Industry Council (CIC) also launched an alternative 4-day workweek.

These initiatives, introduced this summer, appear to align with the city’s current brain drain and talent shortage challenges.

“The widespread local talent shortages have exacerbated the war for talent and the imminent need for employers to attract and retain talent as an employer of choice,” said Jonathan Lo, partner of HR transformation lead, KPMG.

But does a 4-day workweek work in Asia?

When it works

The answer could lead to a never-ending debate. Many argue with the rising automation and digitalization; businesses can potentially achieve the same productivity, if not higher, with a shorter workweek to enable employee engagement and wellbeing.

“[The success] depends not only on the offerings to talents but also on how the message is communicated and integrated with the company culture and how the plan is executed,” said CY Chan, chief talent officer at EC Healthcare, one of Hong Kong’s largest non-hospital medical service providers.

“We emphasize core value alignment, especially with all talents. We emphasize ‘To lead and Co-own.’ It is important for us to align employees’ expectations, satisfaction, company commitment, and teamwork before executing any significant operational changes like a four-day workweek,” said Chan.

Chan is also the former chief talent and purpose officer at Hong Kong Broadband Group (HKBN), a company that introduced shorter workdays in 2012. He said the initiative was introduced during the company’s turbulent times after it was acquired by new investors and spun off from Hong Kong Technology Venture (previously known as City Telecom). The purpose was to raise employee morale and drive stability, despite all the organizational changes. The company proposed a list of enhanced employee benefits, including additional annual leave and reducing the workday by two hours one day per month.

“Talents were encouraged to vote for their favorite benefits at the town hall meeting, using party whistles,” said Chan. “The plan was to offer all the proposed benefits, regardless. The idea was to convey the message in a more engaging and interactive manner.”

The monthly shorter workday benefit continued to evolve at HKBN, and it took a couple of years to settle into a monthly half-day off Friday. To ensure a shorter workweek was carried out across the organization, Chan said the talent engagement team also sent regular reminders of the upcoming shorter workdays with suggested family or sports activities. The initiative successfully built employer branding when talents started endorsing the company by posting their activities during the extra day off online.

When it doesn’t work

While many found introducing a shorter workweek can enhance employer branding and employee engagement, a study found the opposite.

Analytics firm Gallup surveyed more than 10,000 employees in the U.S. last March, comparing their number of workdays with engagement level and wellbeing. The study found the percentage of engaged workers is similar among those that work four days (38%), five days (38%), and six days (36%) per week. Meanwhile, the four-day week workers have the highest rate of wellbeing (63%), as compared to those that work five days (57%) and six days (56%) each week.

“Employee engagement certainly doesn't improve with a four-day work week, but wellbeing does — it is likely that a shorter workweek provides more opportunities for nurturing social, physical, and community wellbeing,” noted the study.

“[A shorter workweek] is not the only means to drive engagement,” added Lo from KPMG. “The ‘right’ arrangement depends on the organization, industry, culture, and existing mechanisms in place to promote employee engagement and wellbeing.”  

How to make it work?

“An organization’s operating model, business nature, and development status also play a big part when designing the right arrangement to drive employee engagement,” said Chan.

He added that a shorter workweek arrangement has very different considerations for organizations like EC Healthcare. Not only does the company’s business nature rely on frontline medical staff to work at a tight roster schedule, but EC Healthcare is also in its prime growth mode. This combination requires a different arrangement to drive employee engagement.

Lo said that providing an environment for “working smarter” is enough for some organizations to raise employee engagement. Through a focus group study, KPMG found that the ability to deal with typical issues — meeting etiquette (e.g., too long or unclear meeting objectives), lack of awareness of upstream and downstream work implications on other departments, and lack of clear communications and accountabilities — can go a long way.

Gallup’s study indicated job flexibility is closely correlated with higher employee engagement. “Work flexibility allows employees to boost their overall wellbeing in other areas while still meeting the requirements of their job. It also lowers stress by allowing people to create a schedule that makes sense for their life,” the study stated.

Lastly, the study stated meaningful work is an essential part of a life well-lived, and work can be richly rewarding when employees’ contribution is valued and recognized.

Chan added transparent performance management metrics that reflect a talent’s contribution based on deliverables, both in quantity and quality, which is essential. When the focus of the performance is based on deliverables and growth by talents, he said the number of work days or hours becomes irrelevant.

“If employers focused on improving the quality of the work experience, they could have nearly triple the positive influence on employees' lives compared with shortening their workweek,” the study stated.

Sheila Lam is the contributing editor of DigitalWorkforceTrends. Covering IT for 20 years as a journalist, she has witnessed the emergence, hype, and maturity of different technologies but is always excited about what's next. You can reach her at [email protected].

Image credit: iStockphoto/Dzmitry Dzemidovich