Bernie Sanders is touting the successful findings of a UK pilot experiment on four-day work weeks.
The Independent senator from Vermont says Americans should have four-day work weeks, too — “with no loss of pay.”
“With exploding technology and increased worker productivity, it’s time to move toward a four-day work week with no loss of pay,” tweeted the former Democrat Party presidential candidate, the New York Post reports.
“Workers must benefit from technology — not just corporate CEOs,” said Sanders, who now chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
Sanders was referring to a study in which dozens of British employers trialing a four-day working week decided to stick with it. Campaigners for better work-life balance hailed the pilot as a breakthrough.
Employees at 61 companies across Britain worked an average of 34 hours across four days between June and December 2022, while earning their existing salary. Of those, 56 companies, or 92%, opted to continue like that, 18 of them permanently.
The companies said despite the shorter work week, their revenue went up, workers were more productive, more people wanted to work at their company, and staff felt content.
However, since the end of COVID, employers in the U.S. and around the world are largely struggling to get their workers into the office five days a week.
Manhattan, for instance, the biggest real estate market in the U.S., has yet to see workers fully return to the office, which is costing New York $12 billion a year in lost sales.
That doesn’t even take into consideration the billions in lost taxes.
In the fourth quarter, office attendance in Manhattan was just 43% of what it was before COVID. If New York continues running below capacity, city officials fear New York will likely have to raise taxes and cut back on services such as transportation, education and law enforcement.