Page 14 - aruba-today-20240924

A14 BUSINESS
Tuesday 24 sepTember 2024
The benefits of a four-day workweek according to a champion of

the trend

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ tionship between fatigue
AP Business Writer and performance.
Companies exploring the A lot of scientific studies
option of letting employ- were done to try to un-
ees work four days a week derstand that relationship,
hope to reduce job burnout leading to the need for a
and retain talent seeking a five-day week as opposed
better work-life balance, to a six-day week. By the
according to the chief ex- time I entered into the
ecutive of an organization workforce, we no longer
that promotes the idea. had a very physical, labo-
The trend is gaining trac- rious workforce. It’s highly
tion in Australia and Eu- cognitive and highly emo-
rope, says Dale Whelehan, tional.
CEO of 4 Day Week Global, The fundamental physi-
which coaches companies ological difference is that
through the months-long our brain as a muscle can’t
process of shortening their withstand the same level of
employees’ work hours. Ja- hours of work as our muscles
pan launched a campaign in our body might be able
in August encouraging em- to. So it’s that mismatch be-
ployers to trim work sched- tween an outdated work
ules to four days. structure of 40 hours, root-
American companies (Associated Press Illustration/Jenni Sohn) ed in very physical labor,
haven’t adopted four-day and what is now a highly
weeks as broadly, but that we need to do something equity within our societies. on-site all the time. It was cognitive workforce.
could change. Eight per- fundamentally different in Lastly, we look at the impli- a lot of long hours, but also Q: How can companies in-
cent of full-time employees the way we work. We have cations that stress actually he had a lot of autonomy. crease revenue while em-
polled by Gallup in 2022 issues of burnout. We have has on long-term health. By the time my dad en- ployees work fewer hours?
said they work four days a a recruitment and reten- We know that it’s linked to tered the workforce, he A: The reduction of working
week, up from 5% in 2020. tion crisis in many industries. issues like cardiovascular was a technician in a me- time brings about produc-
The Associated Press spoke We have increased stress disease, to cancer, to dia- chanical role. And he was tivity gains by people hav-
with Whelehan about the within our workforce, lead- betes. So stress is something expected to produce ing naturally more time to
reasons why companies ing to health issues, issues not to be taken lightly, and products on a large scale. rest and recover, allowing
might want to consider with work-life balance, it’s only rising in our world of As a result he wasn’t given them to come back into a
the change. His comments work-family conflict. We work. the rewards from farming, new week more engaged
have been edited for have people sitting in cars Q: Why is the 40-hour work- but was given a salary. That and well-rested. That’s one
length and clarity. for long periods, contribut- week so common? change from my grand- way in which you see pro-
Q: Why should organiza- ing to a climate crisis. We A: To understand where we father’s time to my dad’s ductivity gains.
tions switch to a four-day have certain parts of the are now, let’s take a step brought about the birth of The second is the funda-
workweek? population that are able back into pre-industrial a discipline known as man- mental shift that orga-
A: The bigger question is, to work longer hours and times. My granddad was a agement. And manage- nizations undergo while
why shouldn’t they? There’s therefore be rewarded for farmer, worked seven days ment, led by Frederick Tay- transitioning to a four-day
a lot of evidence to suggest that, creating further in- a week and was required lor, was looking at the rela- week.q

California sues ExxonMobil and says it lied about plastics recycling

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — ceived the public for half a the global plastic pollutions state’s lawsuit is a separate its record-breaking profits
California sued ExxonMobil century by promising that crisis. action. Both suits allege at the expense of our plan-
Monday, alleging it de- recycling would address Attorney General Rob Bon- ExxonMobil misled the pub- et and possibly jeopardiz-
ta’s office said that even lic through statements and ing our health,” he said.
with recycling programs, slick marketing campaigns. On Sunday, California
less than 5% of plastic is re- Bonta’s office said in a Democratic Gov. Gavin
cycled into another plastic statement that the attor- Newsom signed into law a
product in the U.S. even ney general hopes to com- ban on all plastic shopping
though the items are la- pel ExxonMobil to end its bags at supermarkets.
beled as “recyclable.” As a deceptive practices and to ExxonMobil knew that plas-
result, landfills and oceans secure an abatement fund tic is “extremely costly and
are filled with plastic waste. and civil penalties for the difficult to eradicate” and
ExxonMobil did not immedi- harm. “For decades, Exxon- that plastic disintegrates
ately respond to a request Mobil has been deceiving into harmful microplastics,
for comment. the public to convince us yet it promoted recycling
Bonta, a Democrat, said a that plastic recycling could as a key solution through
coalition of non-profit en- solve the plastic waste and news and social media
vironmental organizations pollution crisis when they platforms, according to
has filed a similar lawsuit clearly knew this wasn’t the lawsuit. At the same
An ExxonMobil fuel storage and distribution facility in Irving, against the oil giant, which possible,” Bonta said in a time, it ramped up produc-
Texas, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.
Associated Press is one of the world’s largest statement. tion of plastics, the lawsuit
producers of plastics. The “ExxonMobil lied to further states.q