Two major work-related issues have been in the news recently.
One is the feasibility of moving to a 32-hour, four-day work, while the other is how will artificial intelligence affect our everyday jobs.
Only work four days a week and get paid for five?
Sounds good, especially to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who recently introduced legislation that would require companies to reduce the nation’s standard work week to 32 hours.
But what does a “four-day work week” really mean?
Now, it means working 40 hours in four days, not five. That typically means a 10-hour day for four days and then a three-day weekend. The difference is that employees agree to not being paid overtime for the two hours worked over the normal eight.
Again, sounds good, but the details of everyday life, especially for working families with school-age children, make things far more complicated those four days. And a 10-hour day can be very long.
Many employers embrace this concept because their staffing costs remain the same, and they’re often able to close the office or factory for one day, saving expenses on overhead.
From being happier and more engaged
Some 32-hour advocates insist that people will be so happy and productive that companies will benefit as much as employees. But a 20 percent productivity increase just from being happier and more engaged is a huge stretch in reality.
As for workers, many people think some employees waste 20 percent of their time at work, so putting in 20 percent fewer hours wouldn’t make much of a difference. Others think that, miraculously, the 20 percent wasted time will disappear during a 32-hour work week.
Creative people at ad agencies don’t necessarily need to sit behind a desk for 40 hours a week to get a great idea. But factory workers in a labor-intensive job might be hard-pressed to make as much product in four days instead of five.
How can a factory suddenly afford to lose eight hours of production and still pay the same? Only by raising prices for their products. Are consumers willing to pay 20 percent more for everything? I doubt it.
A 20 percent wage increase will force firms to increase prices or replace workers with new technology or simply shut their doors. For already-productive companies, the gains, if any, would most benefit higher-skilled and better-paid workers.
I do think, with or without Sanders’ clarion call, it’s a good bet that we will probably be working fewer hours in the future.
That’s because AI can be our friend. It is now upon us, and how we choose to use it — or be used by it — will be the ongoing challenge for America’s workforce.
Generative AI, which creates -friendly text, images and coding, is already reshaping the conversation around hiring at many companies. Will it help them employ fewer workers and increase productivity? Yes, probably both.
Rather than mass layoffs because of AI, I do think we will see fewer new hires and current employees being reassigned to different jobs.
Answering the same questions over and over
To be sure, those boring, repetitious jobs, such as answering the same questions over and over on a customer help line will be replaced by automation and advanced forms of AI.
Meanwhile, current employees will be freed up to give exceptional service to those customers with specific questions that require a human response.
Let’s imagine a time when workers are more productive, doing much more intellectually challenging and satisfying work and therefore more valuable to their employer.
I believe that highly-trained, productive employees who are giving increased quality service to customers will rarely be laid off. Their added productivity will allow a company to keep its best employees happy by working fewer hours a week.
That leads to a more productive workforce, more successful companies, and a thriving economy.
The U.S. is pretty much at full employment now, and barring an economic catastrophe, seems likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
I’m willing to give the 32-hour work week a try, not by mandated laws, but introduced gradually where it makes sense and as the market will bear.
At least that’s what ChatGPT says.
Blair is co-founder of Manpower Staffing and can be reached at [email protected].
