Four days of work sounds like fantasy to many. A little more room to breathe, less time in front of screens, perhaps even some time away from that relentless sense of falling behind. But when Kevin O’Leary brought out the stupidest idea ever heard label on this concept, some people stopped in their tracks.
This is what Kevin said
Just so you know, the guy I'm talking about is not some crank screaming on the internet, he owns businesses. He's been on TV giving advice on how to manage them. He thinks the number of workdays is irrelevant. If you get your work done, who is anyone to care about the length of time or method of how it happens? There is some truth to that. Nine to five work no longer fits in clearly defined boxes. Deadlines drift around time zones with remote teams. Many already check email in the evening or solve dilemmas on a Sunday morning. Perhaps the problem is not the number of days but the way we conceptualize time and trust.
O'Leary's vision of flexibility is linked to performance. Complete the work and you are all set. A form of freedom, perhaps, but still tied to output.
I think what's missing in this is the human factor. People are not robots who mark things off. They get exhausted, they get distracted. Their kids are sick. Their backs ache from terrible chairs. A four day workweek is not about working less. It's about having time to get back to work with your mind clear. Some businesses that tested four day weeks discovered workers worked more and more quickly, not out of fear, but because they felt better. Even O'Leary concedes that the old model no longer applies. But the solution is not always more hustle. Sometimes it's less time at the work place. Perhaps not everyone requires Friday off. But they do need space to be human. And that simply cannot be booked into only one type of week
