Most people would be fine with a little more time off from the responsibilities of work and school. In fact, according to a Florida Atlantic University article entitled “Paid Time off Greatly Reduces Employees’ Odds of Quitting Their Jobs” (fau.edu), studies show that the lack of a necessary amount of paid time off can lead employees to become more likely to quit their jobs, even if they feel content in their roles and other aspects of their work. Among all the many breaks workers and students receive, however, none often feel as warm and comforting to many as the perennial weekend. But what if that said weekend could be even longer?
In 2019, Iceland began to implement a four-day workweek schedule. This new format, according to an article entitled “Iceland Embraced a Shorter Work Week. Here’s How It Turned Out”, published in 2024 by CNN (cnn.com), both improved the overall economy and made a lot of people happier. While the trial period included only around 1% of the Icelandic workforce, a whopping 90% of Icelandic companies use the structure today. On top of benefits to workers, this structural shift benefited the environment as well since fewer people needed to hop into their cars to commute to work.
A popular city in California even adopted the idea; in 2022, San Diego moved to a 10-hour, four-day workweek, and people loved it, as reported in the article “San Diego Company Implements a Four-day Workweek with Five-day Pay” on ABC 10 News San Diego (10news.com). People in San Diego still got paid on Fridays, despite not working that day. Employees were reportedly happier than ever, and many companies in San Diego still operate by this structure today. This new structure involves 10-hour work weeks, so that the time that would be spent working on the day missed is not lost. Thus, a question presents itself: if this strategy worked so well in Iceland, why has the world at large not adopted this practice, and what are the reasons for and against it?
Students were asked for their opinions on a potential change to the traditional workweek. Contrary to what some may believe, however, some students had negative reactions to such a change. Eamon Haunss, a sophomore, was at first on board with the idea, but soon changed his stance after further thought: “If [10-hour days] are the tradeoff, then definitely not.” Teresa Gerbi, a sophomore, also reciprocated Haunss’s staunch opposition, remarking that she “would rather have the school days we have now because we have extracurricular activities that would go later since school would cut in.” Logan Brennan, a sophomore, felt the opposite way, saying that he “would be fine with 10-hour school days if [he] had a long weekend to look forward to.” Finn Baluyot, a junior, struggled to name many positives with the thought of a 10-hours school day lingering in his mind, but he was able to point out that “people would be tired from school, and the extra time off wouldn’t help.” Gerbi pointed out that while people may have “more full days off to relax and recuperate after the school week,… [the three-day weekend] is a longer break from school, so you won’t remember what you did, and also you need more energy to focus in school with longer days.” Haunss listed his thoughts on the positives as “fewer workdays, more time off, and more rest days.” Haunss also commented on the negatives: “More stressful days, long hours are less motivating, and 10 hours is way too long.” Brennan had many more positive points, feeling that while “kids might get tired being in school for so long, a long weekend would mean I have time to hang out more with my friends.” When asked how he sees the world at large being affected by this change, Baluyot said, “People might not want to go to work if they are already enjoying their days off.” Gerbi focused on the student worker aspect and said, “Some businesses would not be able to hire students when they would normally be able to work after school.” Finally, Haunss, Baluyot, and Brennan commented on how this potential change could affect attention spans. Haunss’s take on the question was that “attention spans might go down because people would be so bored of long days and seeing the same thing over and over again that they would want a change of scenery.” Baluyot felt that “people will be less tired since they have more time to recover, but they are also going to pay less attention in school because [school hours] would be longer.” Brennan thought that “kids might get bored in class sometimes, but a long weekend would help them get more energy.”
Overall, three out of the four students presented negative feelings towards potential changes on this matter. While Brennan evaluated some positives, the other students saw more negative connotations in the tradeoff of time the new structure presents. While there are no signs currently that the U.S. or the world at large is looking to adopt this structure, it is always beneficial to weigh all the options.
