Work-life balance has always been a struggle. But an increased concern for workers’ rights paired with the power of automation has created a shift. Certain industries don’t require as many working hours anymore, and the global trend–especially in Europe–leans toward a four-day workweek.
維持工作和生活的平衡一直是件難事。但是，在自動化影響下，勞動者權(quán)利愈發(fā)受到重視，這導(dǎo)致了一個轉(zhuǎn)變。一些行業(yè)已經(jīng)不再需要那么多的工作時間，從全球趨勢來看，尤其是歐洲，更傾向于每周工作四天。

?

THE PROS OF A FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK
四天工作周的優(yōu)點

Better productivity. Productivity during work hours increases to compensate for the lost day. Aside from the New Zealand study, we also have evidence from another study that overall productivity peaks at 25-30 hours per week for people over the age of 40.
生產(chǎn)力得到提高。為彌補(bǔ)失去一天的工作，工作時間內(nèi)的生產(chǎn)力提高了。除了新西蘭的研究，我們還從另一項研究中得知，對于40歲以上的人來說，每周工作25-30小時，總體生產(chǎn)率最高。

More efficient usage of time. Employees spend less time on inefficient tasks like meetings and are less likely to “run out the clock” with time wasters like social media or excessive breaks.
時間利用更有效。員工在會議等低效任務(wù)上花的時間少了，而且不太會把時間在社交媒體或超額休息上“耗盡”。

Employee satisfaction. With less stress and a greater work-life balance, happy workers reportedly engage better with their work, along with increased motivation and creativity.
員工滿意度。據(jù)報道，快樂的工作者的壓力更小，工作與生活更加平衡，他們能更好地投入工作，而且動力和創(chuàng)造力都增強(qiáng)了。

Team building. The emphasis on efficiency tends to bring teams closer together, as there’s less time to waste on disputes, and the entire team’s goals are more focused.
團(tuán)隊建設(shè)。注重效率往往能使團(tuán)隊更有凝聚力，因為浪費在爭議上的時間減少了，整個團(tuán)隊的目標(biāo)更明確了。

Lower unemployment rates. Under the notion of work sharing, companies can fill open hours with new employees, employing multiple workers to fill standard one-person slots. (Of course, this doesn’t account for salaries.)
失業(yè)率降低。公司采用工作共享的理念，在工作時間內(nèi)雇傭新員工，多名員工從事標(biāo)準(zhǔn)單人崗的工作。（當(dāng)然，這不包括工資。）

Environmental benefits. A four-day workweek critically reduces each individual employee’s carbon footprint by removing commute pollution.
環(huán)境效益。為期四天的工作周通過削減通勤污染，大大降低了每位員工的碳排放量。

Fewer overhead costs. If all your employees are out of the office one day a week, that reduces all office maintenance fees by 20%, especially electricity.
開銷成本減少。如果您所有員工每周都有一天不工作，辦公室維護(hù)費總額將減少20％，尤其是電費。

More productivity innovations. By encouraging new time-saving methods, employees are more likely to think up newer and better productivity hacks.
生產(chǎn)力創(chuàng)新增加。提倡采用新的省時模式，員工更可能會想到更新，更能提高生產(chǎn)力的方法。

?

THE CONS OF A FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK
四天工作周的缺點

The risk is expensive. The most glaring drawback for employers is the costly risk that workers fail to meet their work requirements. This was most evident in Sweden’s two-year trial that reduced a 40-hour week to 30 hours while continuing a five-day structure. While the study recorded higher worker satisfaction, it ultimately became too costly to uphold.
風(fēng)險代價太高。對雇主而言，最顯著的缺點就是員工的工作不達(dá)標(biāo)。這個風(fēng)險代價很高。瑞典進(jìn)行了為期兩年的試驗，這一點最明顯，試驗將每周的工作時間從40小時縮短到30小時，但繼續(xù)采用五天工作制。此項研究顯示，雖然員工的滿意度提高了，但終究成本太高，難以維持。

Not all industries can participate. Some industries require a 24/7 presence or other such scheduling, making a four-day workweek impractical.
無法適用于所有行業(yè)。一些行業(yè)需要7天24小時到崗，或其他諸如此類的安排，這樣四天工作周就不切實際了。

There might be un-utilized labor. A study on the Netherlands’ workweek revealed that 1.5 million people wanted to work more hours but were unable to.
可能存在未使用的勞動力。一項有關(guān)荷蘭工作周的研究顯示，150萬人希望工作時間能更長一點，但無法實現(xiàn)。

Workers put in the same hours anyway. Some jobs just take time. As was the case in France, some workers are putting in the same hours anyway—the only difference is they’re paid overtime for it. While that helps the workers, paying extra overtime is just another expense for the company on top of already potentially paying for a third “day off.”
無論如何，員工們投入的時間是相同的。有些工作就需要時間。就像在法國，一些員工的工作時間其實是相同的——唯一的區(qū)別就是這被當(dāng)作了加班。這雖然對員工有利，但對公司來說卻是一筆額外開銷，第三天“休假日”的薪水可能已經(jīng)支付過了。

Certain industries might suffer. Industries like office real estate benefit from people being at work in a way that wouldn’t be transferred to whatever the workers do in their day off.
某些行業(yè)可能遭受損失。比如寫字樓這樣的場所，需要工作人員一直在崗，少工作一天也不能提高動作效率。

If the working world continues on its current track, the four-day workweek is on its way in. Of course, its power depends a lot on context. For example, the American shareholder mentality emphasizes consistent growth, which is necessarily at odds with a mentality of “sure, we can get the same work done in less time.” In the U.S., if you can do the same amount of work in less time, then the company may just want you to do more work instead.
如果勞務(wù)界繼續(xù)采用當(dāng)前方式，那為期四天的工作周即將出現(xiàn)。當(dāng)然，其影響力在很大程度上還是取決于背景環(huán)境。比如，美國股東在觀念上是重視持續(xù)增長的，這必然和“當(dāng)然了，我們可以在更短的時間內(nèi)完成同樣的工作”的心態(tài)是不一致的。在美國，如果你能用更少的時間完成同樣的工作，那公司只會希望你做更多的工作。

But while we wait to see how it all pans out, it’s a good time to start experimenting. If you’re interested in a reduced-hour workweek, test it out at your company in a limited trial and see if your team can accomplish more by working less.
既然我們不知道效果如何，那就開始試行看看。如果你對縮短每周工作時間感興趣，那就可以在公司試驗一段時間，看看你的團(tuán)隊是否可以在更短的時間內(nèi)完成更多的工作。

?

（翻譯：Clarie）