Japan has a reputation for not being so great when it comes to work-life balance. And it’s a reputation that makes sense, considering the country routinely scores toward the bottom when it comes to employee satisfaction around the developed world.

For decades this has been a known problem, usually resulting in companies having after-hours meetings to try and figure out how to reduce after-hours meetings, or just shrugging and declaring that “it can’t be helped.”

Last August, Microsoft Japan carried out a “Working Reform Project” called the Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019. For one month last August, the company implemented a three-day weekend every week, giving 2,300 employees every Friday off during the month. This “special paid vacation” did not come at the expense of any other vacation time.

And the results were pretty incredible!

First off, the reductions. Employees took 25.4 percent fewer days off during the month, printed 58.7 percent fewer pages, and used 23.1 percent less electricity in the office (since it was closed an extra day). All of these saved the company quite a bit of money.

Next, the increases. Productivity went up by a staggering 39.9 percent. That means even though the employees were at work for less time, more work was actually getting done!

A lot of the increase in productivity is attributed to the changing of meetings. With only four days to get everything done for the week, many meetings were cut, shortened, or changed to virtual meetings instead of in-person.

https://soranews24.com/2019/11/03/microsoft-japans-experiment-with-3-day-weekend-boosts-worker-productivity-by-40-percent/

Would be interesting to see a similar experiment in a western country, ideally running for like a year to see the long-term effects.

Interesting, I'd be curious to see how it went over here.

That's pretty interesting. I wish they would trial that over here, I know it would definitely help the company I work for.

Wow, big difference! I'd love to see that here.

Companies here would never do that even though it would possibly save them millions.  They think the more complicated and expensive route is the best way.

The main difference between Asian and Western culture is the amount of time they spend at work.

No such thing as overtime here. It is the norm to work long hours to get the work done for the day. The pressure and workload that people carry in Asia is intense.

The average working hours in the UK is 40 hours a week or something along them lines, for a normal 9 - 5 job. In Japan, they usually work well over 12 hours a day. In Hong Kong it is common to work at least 9-10 hours per day in any given field.

So yeah, the 3-day week increased worker productivity and morale cause it actually allowed them to rest. Although I don't see it being applicable for all given fields, as to make money you need to stay open

I don't think it'd work in the UK simply because of the different culture.

very interesting indeed lol.