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Eight Days a Week was The Beatles’ seventh number-one in the US and remains one of the group’s most famous most popular songs.
Incidentally, it’s one of my favorites, in part because of its characteristically quirky origin.
Paul McCartney says the inspiration for the phrase came from a conversation with a chauffeur who complained he was working “eight days a week” when McCartney asked how he’d been.
The song, released in 1964, came 38 years after Henry Ford standardized the five-day workweek, cutting down the six-day model that had been prevalent since the Industrial Revolution.
Before Ford popularized the five-day workweek, 100-hour workweeks were the norm for full-time manufacturing employees. It would certainly feel like you’d worked eight days a week after clocking off from such a grueling schedule.
Nearly a hundred years later, many labor and organizational development experts have been focusing on the possibility of a workweek that represents just half of the schedule McCartney’s then-Chauffer claimed to be undertaking: The four-day workweek.
Six becomes five, becomes four…or back to six?
The four-day workweek is a working pattern that has gathered momentum through successful trials, including in Europe, where 89% of companies that participated in a one-year trial opted to continue the four-day workweek structure.
Most follow the 100:80:100™ model trademarked by 4 Day Week Global, which proposes 100% pay for 80% of workers’ time while maintaining 100% of their output.
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Four-day workweeks have also grown in popularity in America, with a Colorado Police Department running a “fantastically” successful trial. Bank of America also recently surveyed 955 US employees, finding that 64% of employees expressed a strong desire for a four-day workweek.
However, the prospect of moving to a four-day workweek is not popular with everyone, and it’s far from standard practice. Job postings mentioning a four-day workweek rose only from 0.1% in September 2019 to 0.3% in September 2023, according to a Resume Builder study.
And in some cases, even five days are no longer sufficient, with some businesses and even the government of Greece (re-) introducing six-day workweeks.
Earlier this week, Greece’s government officials announced the radical move that applies to private businesses, under which staff in selected industries can reportedly work an additional two hours per day, or an extra eight-hour shift, compensated with an extra 40% to their daily wage.
‘Growth-oriented’ Greece not the only place to push six-day workweeks
While government officials in Greece say the legislation is “worker-friendly,” and will tackle employees not being paid for overtime as well as undeclared work, the move has been heavily criticized.
Those opposing the move say that it gives employers the freedom to decide when extra days are required, and without sufficient inspections and checks in Greek workplaces, it will leave many workers worse off.
Where the government argues the move is “growth-oriented,” and will solve the country’s productivity issues, union representatives argue that productivity is achieved through better working conditions which come with more less working hours, not more. No doubt chauffeurs across Greece are turning up their stereos to sing Οκτώ μέρες την εβδομάδα.
The six-day workweek isn’t just rearing its head in Greece. Chinese news outlets reported last week that a tech company is requiring employees to work a controversial ‘896’ model – 8 am to 9 pm, six days a week – despite the fact such working models were banned in China in 2021. Moreover, many Chinese workers are still subject to ‘unwritten rules’ that force them into overtime and work beyond the legal limit of 44 hours per week.
And in April, Samsung began mandating a six-day workweek for its executives across all divisions in South Korea, a move which was similarly met with widespread criticism.
Why HR should be wary of the six-day workweek
We shouldn’t expect that the US government will follow the example set by Greece and introduce a six-day workweek any time soon.
But HR teams should be wary that some individuals are prepared to take drastic action under the banner of boosting productivity, and should keep their companies well away from any conversation about the prospect of a six-day workweek, as similarly ensure that they do not have a culture which unofficially pressures workers to continuously work overtime without breaks.
And if adjustments to the status quo of work models are being considered, it’s hard to look past the four-day workweek as a genuinely viable opportunity to improve the quality of life of employees, as well as the success of the business.
Rather than the stress, burnout, and overwork that experts argue a six-day workweek would cause, four-day workweek trials have delivered successful results.
In the UK, for example, the world’s biggest four-day workweek trial achieved a 65% drop in the number of sick days, a 57% reduction in the likelihood that an employee would quit, and a 35% jump in revenue compared to a similar financial period.
While the four-day workweek is perhaps not the right model for every employer, one thing is certain: Even though the six-day workweek may be making a comeback in some corners of the world, US employers should steer well clear.
