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Health

Boss switches company to a four-day workweek with no pay cut and productivity stayed the same

Staff is 'loving it' and there's 'no way' the company is going back.

4-day workweek, andrew barnes, 4 day week global

Co-workers high five because they have Friday off.

There are a lot of great benefits to companies adopting the four-day workweek. Studies show it can help employees, the bottom line and the environment. That’s why companies across the globe have been flirting with the idea to see if they can pull it off without jeopardizing productivity.

One of the most significant benefits of switching to the four-day workweek is that it increases the availability of talent because more people want to work for companies that give them a 72-hour weekend.

Companies with four-day workweeks often don’t see a loss in productivity because there is a tipping point where as employees work more hours, their productivity decreases because they suffer from burnout.



Andrew Barnes of 4 Day Week Global.

via Wikimedia Commons

Finally, if four-day workweeks are widely adopted it would be great for combating climate change. A report by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that a 10% reduction in work hours could result in “drops in ecological footprint, carbon footprint and carbon dioxide emissions by 12.1%, 14.6% and 4.2%, respectively.”

In 2018, businessman and founder of New Zealand trust company Perpetual Guardian Andrew Barnes created 4 Day Work Global, a nonprofit organization that studied the effects of taking an extra day off each week.

“We recognized well before the pandemic that the five-day week is no longer fit for purpose, and as we trialed and studied the four-day week it became clear that this is a necessary part of the solution to restore climate balance, among many other documented benefits,” Barnes told 7 News.

The results of 4 Day Work Global’s first trial were overwhelmingly positive. Forty-six percent of companies said productivity was the same, 34% reported a slight improvement and 15% said it was “significantly” better. Overall, 88% of companies said they are likely to continue the four-day workweek after the end of the trial.

Intrigued by 4 Day Work Global’s findings, Denis Moriarty, founder of Our Community, an Australian social enterprise, switched his company to a four-day workweek in August and he’s over the moon with the results.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, his staff is happier and still 100% productive.

via Unsplash

“They're loving it. They've got their lives back,” he told Daily Mail. “It's been good for the workplace, good for employees and the company. There is no way we will go back to five days.”

What’s interesting about the experiment is that the employees are paid the same amount to work 20% fewer hours and are just as productive. The company was able to accommodate the same work in less time by shortening its meetings and because the employees are better rested. Some companies that have switched to the four-day workweek have added more hours to the average day to even things out, but Moriarty won’t be doing that any time soon.

“I don't think you should be calling it a 4-day workweek if you cram more hours in those four days,” he said.

The five-day workweek has been the standard for most workers for around 100 years. Over that time, the work we do has changed drastically. So, isn’t it about time that we reevaluate our work habits as well?

True

The last thing children should have to worry about is where their next meal will come from. But the unfortunate reality is food insecurity is all too common in this country.

In an effort to help combat this pressing issue, KFC is teaming up with Blessings in a Backpack to provide nearly 70,000 meals to families in need and spread holiday cheer along the way.

The KFC Sharemobile, a holiday-edition charitable food truck, will be making stops at schools in Chicago, Orlando, and Houston in December to share KFC family meals and special gifts for a few select families to address specific needs identified by their respective schools.

These cities were chosen based on the high level of food insecurity present in their communities and hardships they’ve faced, such as a devastating hurricane season in Florida and an unprecedented winter storm in Houston. In 2021, five million children across the US lived in food-insecure households, according to the USDA.

“Sharing a meal with family or friends is a special part of the holidays,” said Nick Chavez, CMO of KFC U.S. “Alongside our franchisees, we wanted to make that possible for even more families this holiday season.”

KFC will also be making a donation to Blessings in a Backpack, a nonprofit that works to provide weekend meals to school-aged children across America who might otherwise go hungry.

“The generous donations from KFC could not have come at a better time, as these communities have been particularly hard-hit this year with rising food costs, inflation and various natural disasters,” Erin Kerr, the CEO of Blessings in a Backpack, told Upworthy. “Because of KFC’s support, we’re able to spread holiday cheer by donating meals for hunger-free weekends and meet each community’s needs,” Kerr said.

This isn’t the first time KFC has worked with Blessings in a Backpack. The fried chicken chain has partnered with the nonprofit for the last six years, donating nearly $1 million dollars. KFC employees also volunteer weekly to package and provide meals to students in Louisville, Kentucky who need food over the weekend.

KFC franchisees are also bringing the Sharemobile concept to life in markets across the country through local food donations and other holiday giveback moments. Ampex Brands, a KFC franchisee based in Dallas, recently held its annual Day of Giving event and donated 11,000 meals to school children in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

If you’d like to get involved, you can make a donation to help feed students in need at kfc.com/kfcsharemobile. Every bit helps, but a donation of $150 helps feed a student on the weekends for an entire 38-week school year, and a donation as low as $4 will feed a child for a whole weekend.

Body cam footage of the police approaching 9-year-old Bobbi Wilson and her mother.

On October 22, 9-year-old Bobbi Wilson was excited to go out into her Caldwell, New Jersey, neighborhood to see if a mixture she put together would be effective at killing spotted lanternflies. She had learned about the dangers that the lanternflies pose to the local tree population during the summer and created an insecticide that she learned about on TikTok.

Spotted lanternflies are an invasive species dangerous to trees because they feed on their sap.

“That’s her thing,” Wilson’s mother, Monique Joseph, told CNN. “She’s going to kill the lanternflies, especially if they’re on a tree. That’s what she’s going to do.”

While Wilson was peacefully working on her sustainability experiment, her neighbor, Gordon Lawshe, called the police on her. “There’s a little Black woman walking, spraying stuff on the sidewalks and trees on Elizabeth and Florence. I don’t know what the hell she’s doing. Scares me, though,” he said, according to CNN.

Lawshe told the dispatcher she was a “real tiny woman” and wearing a “hood.”

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