These results came two years after a similar Gallup poll found that respondents who worked four-day work weeks reported significantly higher overall well-being than those with five-day work weeks. With the 2022 survey, Gallup noted that the gap between the two groups had narrowed.

In March, during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Sanders’ legislation, Liberty Vittert, a statistics professor at Washington University in St. Louis, expressed reservations. “There is no statistical evidence to warrant a nationwide mandate of a 32-hour work week,” Vittert said. “If it works for some companies in certain sectors, that’s great, but it can’t be applied to all sectors.”

At the same hearing, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said the legislation would hurt small businesses like mom-and-pop restaurants that don’t benefit from AI and would still have to pay workers the same amount for fewer hours worked.

Schor, who testified at the hearing in support of the legislation, dismissed Cassidy’s analysis as “outrageous.” “Small businesses are the ones that most commonly adopt four-day weeks,” says Schor Teen Vogue. “Fewer big ones have made that transition. What we see in our research is that this works extremely well for small businesses.”

How realistic is this for the United States?

“I think the United States is probably one of the places where it’s going to be one of the most difficult, because it’s probably one of the biggest culture changes that has to happen,” Harty says. “Everybody knows about American work culture and, you know, how toxic it can be. But I think there’s definitely been a massive shift in the way we see work since the pandemic. We realized that we TO do things from home. We didn’t – we don’t have to go to the office. And I think the next thing that’s going to come is a reduction in working time.”

Some US companies like Kickstarter currently have a four-day work week, while others like Shake Shack have experimented with them in the past.

Sanders says people across the country are receptive to the idea, but there needs to be a broadening of the movement for economic justice. “To the extent that we can develop a political movement in this country that says we want the benefits of AI to go to the workers and not the 1 percent, that’s the day we’re going to make that happen,” he explains. “And I would also say, very importantly, that this is not a radical idea. The POLL it shows that he’s very, very popular with the American people.”

How can people get involved in this movement?

There is a free guide on the 4 Day Week Global website called How to convince your boss to try a four-day work weekwhich Harty suggests people check out. “Step one is to actually start reading the research, getting the numbers ready so you have the knowledge to demonstrate that not only does this benefit employees, but it will benefit them. employers as well,” she explains. “I think one of the most important things to convince your boss is to tell them, ‘Look, you’re not going to lose money. You won’t lose people. You will not lose productivity. In fact you will gain in all these areas.”

Sanders notes that change only happens if people get involved in the political process. “What we are talking about now is a political issue,” he says. “And people have to stand up and fight for justice, and that’s part of the fight for justice. Who benefits from exploding technology that makes workers more productive? Are they the people at the top or are they the people who work? It’s as simple as all that. And I hope people get involved in this fight.”

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