A recent survey has shown that a three-day weekend would increase efficiency and productivity at the workplace. Nowadays, our career lives are in tune with five days of work and the remainder devoted to our own activities, also labeled as the weekend. I am of the opinion that not only are longer weekends generally beneficial for both our professional and private lives, but also it is a balanced approach to life.
For one, our professional lives can get a boost in productivity with longer weekends. When an employee knows that there are only four days to work, they begin to value every minute of their work; on the other hand, employers fill in tax papers for only four days a week, which means smaller payslips. In both cases, the same set of tasks in a company can be done with the same, if not higher, standard of quality and a lighter check for the employer or investor. On the same business note, it is surprising to know that three-day weekends will open a new horizon for domestic and international trips or excursions that have been previously deemed too far-fetched for a normal household. A weekend trip to the Bahamas in under two days is usually a rushed one; we all have heard this phrase that you need to go on vacation after your vacation. However, the extra 24 hours might be more inclined to help us be content with a longer international trip like this; hence, the tourism and hospitality sectors will thrive.
For another, three days for the weekend are ideal for catching up on our personal lives. The family unit is under heavy pressure as the younger generations tend to prioritize their career, financial, and personal growth over their romantic and family lives. This trend is vividly shown in lower birth rates and the rise of childless women. Three days is ample time to do household chores, shopping, personal care, and, most importantly, focus on building a relationship and taking care of other individuals in their family, something that our ancestors used to do and taught us to follow, but the modern glitters blinded us from seeing the true values of life. More time for our family means more time to spend with our children, bond with loved ones and relatives, and learn life skills like cooking and surviving harsher situations, which are not paid well in this day and age.
We understand that some corporations might resent this trend and associate it with laziness. They might mock this trend as yet another excuse for the working class to ask for more money for fewer hours of work. They might even point out that another 24 hours will not make any dramatic changes to people’s lives but could potentially hamper economic growth. The argument may sound logical, yet putting pressure on people to work more does not necessarily translate into more productivity. This is a simplistic look at a complicated topic that welcomes all of us to look at the workforce as a group of humans interacting with each other rather than a machine that should work for five or six days a week because the company guarantees its peak performance.
In short, the benefits of longer weekends, namely more productivity in our careers and strengthening the core values of families, call for a change in our view of efficiency and life regardless of how others argue that it damages the economy. We hope that the legislative bodies pass a law acknowledging this new distribution into a working week soon.
