By Beatrice Gurwitz
On May 6, 2024, NHA began a pilot of the Four Day Work Week (4DWW). The 4DWW aims for 100% of the work in 80% of the time for 100% of the pay. Over the last several years, sociologists have studied the implementation of the 4DWW at organizations around the world and their results across industries and organizations demonstrate that it is possible to continue working at the same high level of productivity over a shorter amount of time. Improvements come through structural adjustments to an organization’s collective approach to work. We are working together as a team to restructure our workdays, develop improved meeting protocols, revise our approach to email, and more. The research shows that these changes have a positive impact on employee job satisfaction.
Our commitment to deliver the same good service for our members and partners in humanities advocacy is unchanged. We will not be in the office on Fridays, so it is possible you may need to wait an extra day for a response if you reach out to us then. But we will certainly be available if there is a particular urgent need on a Friday, and we will make sure there aren’t any Friday deadlines or anything else that might prompt needs for immediate attention on that day. Otherwise, you shouldn’t notice the pilot and you should expect the same high-quality and timely service you’ve come to expect when you reach out to NHA staff.
To learn more about the 4DWW, read “Does work time reduction improve workers’ well-being? Evidence from global four-day workweek trials” by Wen Fan, Juliet B. Schor, Orla Kelly, and Guolin Gu and watch Juliet Schor’s TED Talk.
Again, we don’t expect this to have any impact on our service for you, but if you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact NHA’s executive director Steve Kidd, skidd@nhalliance.org.
Posted on: May 14, 2024