I've been studying work since the 1980s, and I've never seen anything like what's happening today. Pandemic-fueled anxiety is surging around the world. In the US, more than half of all employees report feeling stressed a lot of the day. Job quits are at record levels, running at four million a month. People are burning out.
我由 80 年代開始研究工作議題, 但從未見過好似而家發生嘅事。 全球都湧現加劇嘅疫情焦慮, 响美國,超過一半僱員話 日常工作壓力好大, 離職人數創歷史新高, 一個月超過四百萬人, 由於僱員工作透支。
In response, a growing number of companies are offering a four-day, 32-hour week, but with five days of pay. Now, it's not a new idea, but the pandemic has turbocharged it. Employers are realizing that if they can rethink where people work, they can also rethink how many days they're on the job.
作為回應,响維持五天工資安排下, 越來越多企業提供每週四天 三十二小時嘅工作。 而家呢啲已經唔係新概念, 但疫情成為催化劑。 僱主意識到如果工作地點可以商量, 工作日數亦都可以啦。
Sounds pretty great, but is it realistic? Well, actually, yes. Unlike policies in which one party profits at the expense of another, the four-day week can benefit workers, companies and society, and it can even be a gateway for addressing climate change.
聽落去,幾好喔,但實際嗎? 實際係可行。 同一方得益另一方要付出嘅政策唔同; 四天工作係有利於員工、 企業同社會。 甚至係應對氣候變化嘅通道。
But first, let's talk about the workplace. For nearly a decade, companies and governments have been experimenting with shorter hours with no cuts in pay. While the results do vary, the research shows that people are less stressed, value their jobs more and have better lives outside of work. In most cases, they are as productive in four days as they are in five. Companies can also see benefits through lower turnover and a higher-quality applicant pool. Less burnout reduces health care costs, mistakes and poor service. With colleagues, I'm studying four-day week trials now in progress in the United States and Ireland, with summer start dates for the UK, New Zealand and Australia. We have thousands of employees participating.
首先,由職場講起。 近十年嚟, 企業同政府已經開始實驗 相同薪酬,卻縮短工時。 雖然結果有差異, 响研究度見到員工 所承受嘅壓力減少, 更重視本身嘅工作, 同埋有更好嘅私人生活。 大部分情況, 員工四天嘅生產力同五天一樣。 企業得益响降低員工流失率, 同有高質量人才資源。 由於減低咗員工過度疲勞, 醫療成本、錯誤同劣質服務。 我哋研究四天工作先導計劃嘅進度, 目前响美國同愛爾蘭, 夏天就會响英國、 新西蘭同澳洲進行。 有幾千個僱員參與計劃。
Healthwise, an education company, didn't wait for our trial to begin. In June, their employees were quitting in droves. By August, they'd implemented a four-day week. Six months later, CEO Adam Husney reports that people are dramatically happier and have never been more productive. Resignations and sick days are down, revenue has grown and customer satisfaction scores are outstanding. Healthwise employees are spending their Fridays off doing family activities like sports or errands. One mother of young children reported that now she can occasionally manage a guilt-free pedicure. The four-day week can help with self-care and managing the daily stresses of systemic racism, sexism and classism.
Healthwise,呢間教育機構 急不及待就開始咗。 六月嗰陣,佢哋有大量員工離職。 八月,佢哋開始咗四天工作制。 半年後,總裁 Adm Husney 告知, 員工明顯開心咗, 同生產力係有史以嚟最高。 辭職同攞病假都減少咗, 收入就上升。 客戶滿意度評分非常高。 Healthwise 僱員 利用星期五休息時間, 進行家庭活動, 比如運動或者其他事項。 有個小朋友嘅媽咪話, 而家可以間唔中 做腳部護理,而無須自責。 四天工作制有利於自我照顧, 同管理系統性嘅種族主義, 性別同階級歧視嘅日常壓力。
Now a key part of the model is that in return for the gift of a day off, people are willing to squeeze all their productivity into four days. So while they may be spending less time at work, they're not necessarily doing less work. The secret sauce is work reorganization, cutting out the least productive activities. Meetings are a prime target. Yes, I see everyone nodding. Most companies reduce their frequency and length and the number of attendees. At Healthwise, people save time by messaging colleagues rather than making phone calls, which inevitably includes some social chatting. They shifted personal tasks, like doctor's appointments, to the off-day. And yes, the pace of work at the office does go up. "Let's be honest," one explained, "I'm not goofing off or looking at Facebook, which I was." But people have adapted and they prefer getting their downtime as a whole day off rather than in snippets.
模式重要嘅部分係 大家願意用四天時間 發揮全部嘅生產力, 以回報額外嘅一日假。 所以,工作時間可能少咗, 但工作內容並冇減少。 秘訣就係重組工作, 減少生產力最低嘅環節。 會議係首當其衝。 係呀,我見到大家响度岌頭。 絕大部分企業減少咗會議嘅頻率、 長度同出席人數。 响 Healthwise, 員工通過 message 同事 去節省時間, 而响電話度 就會有閒話家常啦。 佢哋私人嘅事 例如睇醫生,就安排喺休息日。 當然,office 嘅工作節奏會快咗。 「老實講,」有一位解釋, 「而家唔會好似以前咁偷懶 或者上 facebook。」 員工已經自我調節, 佢哋寧願休息時間係一整日, 而唔係分段噉休息。
Government initiatives have similar findings. In 2015, the city of Reykjavik and then the National Government of Iceland started offering 36 and 35-hour weeks, eventually enrolling more than 2,500 employees. The results have been remarkable. Physical and mental stress went down while work ethic, job satisfaction, work-life balance, energy levels, all improved. Productivity and service quality stayed the same or got better, and the trial was revenue-neutral. Today, roughly 85 percent of all Icelandic employees are either on or eligible for these schedules. The governments of Spain and Scotland have announced four-day week trials in which they'll be subsidizing the fifth day's pay.
政府計劃都有類似嘅發現。 2015 年,雷克雅維克市同冰島國家政府, 開始咗每週三十五同三十六小時工作計劃, 最終參加嘅僱員超過 2,500 人, 成績非凡。 身體同精神壓力下降。 職業道德、工作滿足感、 工作生活之間平衡 同活力水平,全部改善。 生產力同服務質量, 保持不變或者更好。 而試行結果係收入中性。 目前,冰島大概有 85% 嘅僱員 已經或者合資格參加計劃。 西班牙同蘇格蘭都宣佈咗 四天工作嘅先導計劃, 並會對第五天嘅人工提供資助。
Now one reason for these successes is that with reduced work time, each hour typically becomes more productive. Norway and Denmark, the two European countries with the shortest average hours of work at about 1,380, have outsized productivity. France and Germany are similar. In contrast, the long-hours countries like the UK and Italy have much, much lower productivity. The US historically led the world in productivity and would likely do better now if its work time weren't so high. While tech firms comprise the biggest group adopting four-day reduced hours schedules, companies are also making the switch in banking, PR, marketing and design, nonprofits, consumer goods, even a restaurant chain.
成功嘅原因係 隨著減少工作時間, 每個鐘嘅生產力得以提升。 挪威同丹麥, 係兩個平均工時最短嘅歐洲國家, 大概 1,380 小時。 而且生產力超出標準。 法國同德國情況類似。 相反,工時長嘅國家, 例如英國同意大利, 生產力低好多。 响歷史上,美國嘅生產力領導全球。 而家如果可以縮短工時, 就會做得更好。 雖然科技公司係最多採用 四天工作嘅群體。 進入嘅其他行業包括有銀行、 公關、市場營銷及設計、 非牟利組織、消費產品、甚至連鎖餐廳。
But it's also true that doing 100 percent of the work in 80 percent of the time isn't feasible everywhere. Manufacturing was sped up decades ago. Many teachers and flight attendants need to slow down, not intensify. And of course, health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic need to work less, not more.
無可否認, 用八成時間做十足嘅工作 唔係度度都適合。 製造業過去幾十年不斷加速。 好多老師、空中少爺同小姐 都需要慢落嚟,而唔係加速。 當然,疫情前線嘅醫護人員 係需要做少啲,而唔係做多啲。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Thank you, health care workers.
多謝醫護人員。
Here, another government effort is instructive. In 2014, the city of Gothenburg in Sweden gave nurses at one of its facilities a six-hour day. As expected, the nurses' health and overall well-being improved, as did productivity and patient care. But in this trial, they hired new staff for the hours that weren't being covered. The striking finding was how much lower sick pay and unemployment benefits helped offset those additional salaries.
跟住介紹政府有個啟發性嘅作為。 2014 年,瑞典嘅哥德堡市政府 喺其中一個醫療設施 俾護士每天工作六小時。 正如所料,護士健康 同身體狀況都改善咗。 生產力同照顧病人方面無改變。 呢個先導計劃,請咗替工 填補減少咗嘅工作時段。 驚人嘅發現係病假支出 同失業資助嘅減少 抵消咗額外嘅薪酬支出。
Now the Swedish case raises a bigger, more existential question. How much time should we be dedicating to work? In many countries, jobs are getting more, not less demanding. And scarcity thinking, the idea that even rich countries need to tighten their belts, has taken hold. But really, we should be heading in the opposite direction as digitization and artificial intelligence offer the chance to reduce work time. Amid pandemic fatigue, we should be doubling down on restoring the quality of life and our social fabric, especially in wealthy countries where we already produce enough for everyone to have a good standard of living.
而瑞典嘅情況帶出咗個更大、 更根本性嘅問題。 究竟我哋要擺幾多時間喺工作度? 响好多國家, 工作越來越多,要求越來越高。 同時稀缺性思維, 即係越富有國家 應該慳啲用資源, 係主流想法。 但其實,我哋應該採取相反嘅方向。 因為數碼化同 AI 可以實現減少工時。 响抗疫疲勞底下, 我哋應該加倍努力 恢復生活質量同社會結構, 特別係富有國家。 因為响呢啲國家, 已經有足夠生產, 同時每個人擁有良好生活水平。
And this path has the added benefit of addressing the climate crisis. "How so," you may ask. Well, with the four-day week, there's the obvious impact of less commuting. But if we use productivity growth to continue to reduce hours of work just by a couple of percent a year, we can create a longer-term dynamic of decarbonization. Research by me and others has shown this time and again across countries, across states, across households. One reason is that when people are time-stressed, they tend to choose faster and more polluting modes of travel and daily life activities. In contrast, when people get time rather than money, they tend to have a lower carbon footprint. But the bigger reason has to do with the size of the economy. By opting to work less, countries are choosing not to expand production to its max, thereby avoiding additional emissions. Carbon success stories like Germany and Denmark tend to have low annual hours. France and the Netherlands are also low on both carbon and work time. The four-day week is a down payment on a new way to live and work. And yes, we're going to need government help if we're going to move beyond the innovative companies that already see its virtues. But as the three-day weekend spreads, we can realize everyone deserves a right to free time. And that brings the logic of a universal basic income squarely into view. Because without financial support, low-earners can't afford to take that fifth day off.
而呢個途徑嘅附加得益 係可以應對氣候危機。 你可能會問:「係點樣㗎?」 四天工作嘅明顯影響 係減少咗每個人嘅交通日數。 如果維持生產力增加 去減少工時, 就算每年只係幾個百分點 , 都可以創造出長期動態減碳效果。 我哋嘅研究多次發現, 適用範圍係遍及 各個國家、州、及家庭。 一個原因係當人有時間壓力嘅時候, 會傾向選擇更快、更高污染嘅交通模式 同日常生活方式。 相反, 當人有更多時間,而唔係金錢, 佢哋傾向低碳嘅選擇。 更大嘅原因係同經濟體大小有關。 當選擇減少工作, 其實國家選擇嘅係非最大化發展, 從而避免額外嘅排放。 成功減碳嘅國家,例如:德國同丹麥, 往往會有偏低嘅每年工時。 法國同荷蘭亦都係低碳、 低工時嘅地方。 四天工作制係新工作生活模式嘅首期。 科技公司已經睇到咗好處。 如果要擴展到更多行業, 當然需要政府嘅支持。 隨著三天週末嘅延伸, 我哋認識到每個人都有 私人時間嘅權利。 响眼前係全民基本收入嘅邏輯。 因為冇咗財務嘅支持, 低收入人士無法負擔 第五天嘅休息。
There's a lot of talk these days about the future of work and the opportunities that it offers. But there's more at stake here than opportunity. We have an imperative. An imperative to face the challenges of our current moment. The pandemic, burnout and depression, inequalities of race and income, the climate crisis. A four-day week addresses each one of these.
最近有好多有關未來工作嘅話題, 同埋隨之而來嘅機會。 比較機會,其實更多牽涉利害關係。 對我哋來講,好迫切 要面對眼前嘅挑戰。 疫情、過勞同抑鬱, 種族同收入唔平等, 及氣候危機。 四天工作制可以應對每個挑戰。
For now, we're starting company by company. But as momentum builds and it becomes universal, we'll have made the transition from scarcity thinking to appreciating the true wealth that we possess. Our ingenuity, our compassion and our humanity.
而家,係逐間逐間公司開始。 〔問答環節即將開始〕 隨著持續推動,將變成全面覆蓋, 稀缺性思維將轉變為 珍惜真正擁有嘅財富。 我哋嘅創造力、 同情心、 同人性化。
Thank you.
多謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Helen Walters: Juliet, thank you so much. I have a very practical question for you. So you mentioned in the talk that people were taking Friday off. Is the recommendation that people all take the same day off, or is this something that people can take, kind of, any day they want off? What's the ideal mechanism to have in place here?
Helen Walters: Juliet, 多謝曬。 我有個實際問題。 妳頭先講到第五天休息。 有冇建議所有人一齊放假, 定係,例如,自己揀一日放假。 最理想嘅執行機制係點樣㗎?
JS: Every company does it the way that works for them. And that's one of the things in our trial. We do coaching, and we work with the companies before they start to figure out are they a company that can shut down for one day? Do they need to have 24/7, you know, customer service available? So really, it depends, and we're seeing every type.
JS: 每個企業各適其適。 亦都係先導計劃嘅內容。 我哋輔導嘅企業, 同佢哋攪清楚公司可否休息一日? 係唔係需要二十四小時營運, 例如:客戶服務? 實際取決於, 我哋都見過每種情況。
HW: Juliet, thank you so much.
HW:Juliet,非常感謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)