A recent survey reported that employees value work-life balance almost as much as they do pay increases. In this Motley Fool Live segment from "The Virtual Opportunities Show," recorded on April 5, Fool.com contributors Travis Hoium, Rachel Warren, and Jose Najarro take a look at how a four-day workweek could benefit employee productivity and quality of life.
Travis Hoium: I think this is a really interesting concept. It's going to be interesting to see if companies are able to get 100 percent of the work. Like you said, I think that's really the key, the job still needs to be done. What comes out of that? If you work in a corporate environment, can you do eight hours fewer meetings? [LAUGHTER] Probably. You're like, who's going to want to give up their meeting?
The other thing to think about too, we're a little bit more in the creative environment. If I'm not productive writing, then there's no point in me working. Taking three days off, if you're in a job where you want your brain functioning at 100 percent, if that gets you closer to 100, then if you're drained at the end of the day and then you go spend the weekend with your kids and there's like, as a parent, it's a little bit easier to see like, there's no time off. [laughs] That's where I think it could be really interesting is if you give people three days, do they come back fresher and more productive on Monday morning and so you end up getting 100 percent out of them for 80 percent of the time. We'll see.
Jose Najarro: I'm also wondering if you see this three-day work on weekend now, where more people be out there looking for an extra maybe a part-time job to [inaudible].
Travis Hoium: Except the [inaudible].
Rachel Warren: No, I'm part of that. [laughs] Except that wouldn't really help the burnout. There were a couple of other interesting surveys that were noted in this article. One was talking about how workers value work-life balance almost as much as they do pay increases. The article also cited the example of an outdoor tech company called The Wanderlust Group, that said they implemented a four-day workweek or shortened workweek. Applications for employment are up 800 percent year-over-year and that they have a 98 percent retention rate. It could actually be more profitable for some companies too.
