Best green idea ever: The four-day workweek
May 14th, 2010
Photo via Flickr: Respres
This has been a week of some seriously heavy environmental news, what with the BP oil spill showing no signs of slowing down and the introduction of the new climate bill to the Senate, and I know I should be offering some astute analysis of either; but the truth is, I’m fried. It’s Thursday night as I write this, and I’m already dreaming about the weekend.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we only had to work four days a week?
As it turns out, embracing the Friday fatigues could actually be good for the environment. According to a new article in Whole Life Times, if the entire California workforce bypassed its Friday commute, the state could reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 8 million tons a year. Utah implemented a four-day workweek for its government workers last year, and cut the state’s energy use by 13 percent.
How to ditch a day without reducing productivity? Simple: Add an extra two hours to each of those four days — something a lot of us do for the five-plus days we work, anyway.
Of course, avoiding the Friday commute doesn’t curb carbon emissions when that commute consists of making your way from the bedroom to your laptop at the kitchen table. Would a power-down day be too much to ask for, too?
–Jennifer Grayson
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May 14th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
When my mom worked for Texaco in the late 90′s they had a 9/80 schedule – work 80 hours in 9 days (instead of ten). She had every other Friday off. The idea behind it is that people can schedule all of their personal appointments on those Fridays, rather than coming in late, or taking a half day here and there. I think it’s supposed to be good for productivity and as your post point out, also good for reducing emissions.
May 17th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Not so sure if Texaco was concerned about reducing emissions, but that kind of schedule is really good for productivity. Summer Fridays were really popular when I lived in NYC, too.