4 day work week and 3 day weekends!
CNBC reported on this dramatic new experiment, a few days ago (https:// www.cnbc.com/2019/11/04/microsoft-japan-4-day-work-week-experiment-seesproductivity-jump-40percent.html). “Microsoft Japan tested a four-day workweek and has found the experiment a huge boon to employee productivity.
The tech giant recorded an almost 40% jump in productivity levels after cutting its work hours as part of a wider project to promote healthier work-life balance.
Microsoft’s Work-Life Choice Challenge, held this August, saw the firm close its doors on Fridays and give its 2,300 employees three-day weekends for the full month to assess the merits of a reduced workweek.
Over that period, the firm saw productivity, as measured by sales per employee, rise 39.9% compared with August 2018. That boon was thanks in part, Microsoft said, to meetings capped at 30 minutes and an increase in remote conferences. Meanwhile, the firm saw a fall in costs, with 23.1% less electricity used and 58.7% fewer pages printed over the period.”
The story and the results are undoubtedly exciting. It is also a trigger for reflecting. In the emerging knowledge economy, what should leadership be focusing on? Time logged by employees or productivity of employees?
You have transitioned or in the final stages of transitioning from Industry 2.0 (mass production) to Industry 3.0 (automation and computerisation). Before long, you will be getting ready to begin the transition to Industry 4.0 (Networks, IoT, and Cyber-Systems). Should your people systems change with the times?
You are the leader. It is your call!
– by Ravi Santhanam for ZEUS
Next :
