Ask an Adviser: Does a 4-day workweek really foster work-life balance?

Welcome to Ask an Adviser, EBN’s weekly column in which benefit brokers and advisers and HR leaders answer (anonymous) queries sent in by our readers. Looking for some expert advice? Please submit questions to askanadviser@arizent.com. This week, we asked Mary Elizabeth Elkordy, founder and president of Elkordy Global Strategies, to weigh in on the following: Does a compressed workweek foster work-life balance?

Many Americans feel overworked and overwhelmed, struggling to handle their personal life and work at the same time. California is pushing for a new 32-hour workweek to promote mental health and provide hard-working Americans with an overdue work-life balance. But is reducing the workweek really the answer?

In short, no. If employees are expected to maintain the same level of work output with fewer days, then the results won’t be the same. Unless the company is reducing the number of hours an employee needs to do the same job, or workers are increasing the number of hours they work in four days, maintaining a 40-hour workweek, the model is not as effective. 

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Take Fridays, for example, when workers are starting to check out to get to the weekend. Employers know those hours aren’t going to be as productive, so the rest of the work is spread throughout the week. If the days are reduced to only four, workers will start to lose productivity even earlier in the week. 

There are other ways to foster a healthy work-life balance. It isn’t just about time spent in the office, but about workplace culture and lifestyle. It’s about creating a good flow of work. Hybrid and flextime arrangements should be the norm in workspaces today. Having flexibility is key to keeping people around. Your workday might look different if you have kids. Others might be digital nomads, adjusting to each time zone they work in. 

While traditional time off and sick days are helpful, workers need managers who are willing to bend that for case-by-case circumstances. Instead, create time-off benefits for part-timers, or rather than give pay raises, offer time off as a reward. You might have team members who still go on work trips that are 18-hour days and then are expected to go back to work. Recognize the amount of effort a person is putting in and then offer time for them to recoup and balance the amount of work to avoid burnout. As an employer, it’s important to offer that support. 

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Additionally, office culture is important to the work-life balance of a team. Make it a goal to do fun activities with the office, even if it's remote. Host a virtual bridal or baby shower for a team member, or plan outings with coworkers that do end up living in the same area of the country. Plus, professional development courses, taken as a team, can be helpful to building up your office personally and professionally. It gives everyone facetime with the leadership of the company to catch up and learn. 

Remote work culture is becoming even more important as workplaces try to get everyone on the same page while in separate locations. Providing that place where people can speak up, feel valued, share their passions and feel relatable fosters the balance workers desire long term more so than reducing the days everyone works.