Rethinking the old workweek

The pandemic, not so long ago, introduced us to the terms “asynchronous” and “synchronous” as online modalities for conducting work, forums, or classes. Back then, we were forced to adapt to the situation in order to survive. Yet, with that crisis seeming already like a distant memory, the practices it ushered in have stayed with us.

Whenever severe weather threatens flooding or landslides, we now resort to online modalities. We do the same whenever major events require priority use of our roads.I believe this major crisis the world is facing today, namely the war in the Middle East, will likewise lead to the adoption of new practices.

Fuel prices have been steadily increasing since last week. Prior to that, I was surprised to discover that one of the country’s Big Three oil players actually offers prices that are as much as 20 percent lower than those of my preferred brand. Yet it is still not immune to price increases, as I discovered yesterday.

I do not wish to add gloom to what is already a dire situation in the world. Although I have strong opinions on the matter, I will leave it to others who can better articulate the geopolitical fault lines.What I do wish to say is that this energy crisis resulting from the war will once again compel us to adapt in order to protect, or at least minimize disruption to, our way of life.

One of the measures the government has considered is the adoption of a four-day workweek, or compressed workweek schedule. This would mean adding two more hours to each workday from Monday to Thursday and freeing up Friday, effectively creating a three-day weekend.

Since we are at it, it might be high time to reexamine the practicality of thelong standing, industrial-era five day, eight-hour workweek, as though it were the only sensible arrangement in this day and age. Aside from rising fuel costs, traffic congestion is another obvious reason to reduce the number of days we spend commuting to and from the office.

Artificial intelligence, automation, and other digital technological advances have also strengthened the case for reexamining the traditional workweek. Many tasks and transactions thatonce involved layers of bureaucratic human interaction (and opportunities for corruption) can now be completed more quickly through digital systems.

Call me a contrarian, but one reason I avoid a full time government job, or even an eight to five position in a private company, is that such a work arrangement has never made much sense to me. The last time I held full time employment with a private company was years ago, as a newspaper editor. That schedule, at least, made sense. I reported by noon, in time for the daily story budget meeting, then edited stories until we were done, usually in the early evening, sometimes later at night. I liked the shorter hours, but I never minded the longer hours either, so long as they made sense.

One enduring ironyof our age is that as technology advances, so does the intensity of our busyness. We were supposed to innovate in order to make life more meaningful and our interactions richer. Yet somehow, technology has made us busier and less present.

We can adopt the compressed workweek and other similar arrangements, not merely to shorten or lengthen working hours, but to create a more sensible way of working—one that values efficiency as well as the dignity of human labor and gives us more time to be human again.