Discussions about a 4-day workweek have been gaining traction worldwide and in Singapore.

Proponents point out that allowing employees to work four longer days in place of a 5-day workweek for the same pay comes with many benefits. Firstly, it gives employees more personal time, which can lead to improved mental health, reduced burnout, better job satisfaction and increased productivity.

Furthermore, it positions companies as progressive employers in a tight labour market, giving them greater appeal to top talents around the world.

But is the 4-day workweek really an expression of progression?

 

On-the-Ground Experience of the 4-day Workweek

In recent years, large-scale trials have been carried out in some countries with mixed results. In Britain, for instance, only about half of the 61 employers moved on to make the 4-day workweek permanent.

This lack of enthusiasm in implementing the 4-day workweek is echoed in Singapore. Companies here that have trialled the shorter workweek, found that they need additional workers to maintain the same level of support.

Furthermore, a large number of businesses here serve clients outside Singapore, making it challenging for staff to benefit from a shorter workweek as they feel they have to stand by for clients operating on a regular 5-day week.

With such challenges, more issues, rather than business progress, are emerging.

 

Are Wrong Signals Being Sent with the 4-day Workweek?

ACHIEVE Group, as a talent acquisition agency with over 34 years of operations, has witnessed the dip in working hours over the years to the current 44 hours a week. This fall in working hours, however, came alongside the exponential rise in technology, skills enhancement and workplace management knowhow.

Now, with the keen focus on the 4-day workweek without any attendant job redesign or organisational restructuring, are we sending signals to our workers that they are not productive enough and that working hours have to keep coming down or the workweek has to shrink in order to be deemed productive and progressive?

Furthermore, by harping on the improved job satisfaction that comes with the 4-day workweek, are we asserting that our workers will become more engaged, more passionate and better able to excel with the 4-day workweek?

 

Excellence Comes Hand-in-hand with Commitment and Passion

Everyone knows that excelling in any profession requires passion and commitment to continuous improvement. From craftsmen to exceptional entrepreneurs, such passion and commitment must go hand-in-hand with hard work for excellent results to be achieved.

In 2014, a study by Deloitte validated the undeniable role that passion plays in work: it established that passion would motivate an employee to consistently look for better ways to improve themselves, their role and the business. Such passion would spur employees to dedicate hours of hard work for the desired results to be realised.

This need for commitment and hard work in the pursuit of excellence is corroborated in the 10,000-Hour Rule in Malcolm Gladwell’s blockbuster book ‘Outliers’. Citing research by K. Anders Ericsson, Gladwell illustrated that the key to achieving expertise in any field lies in “deliberate practice” for at least 10,000 hours.

Though some have debunked this theory, the dominance of China in the global manufacture of solar modules, lithium batteries and electric vehicles testifies to the power of deliberate hard work.

Stretching back to a renewable energy policy introduced in 2005 to spur the exploration and usage of renewable energy; consistent policy and continual push by the central government for industrial development, coupled with constant innovation by Chinese companies have been pushing China towards phenomenal results.

From under USD 20 billion in 2017, exports surged to over USD 150 billion in 2023, with China commanding 68 per cent of the 2023 global production for electric vehicles, 74 per cent for lithium batteries, and 86 per cent for solar modules, as documented in the China Green Trade Report 2023 by the Griffith Asia Institute!

 

The Singapore Experience

Back home in Singapore, our standing today as an economic powerhouse is perhaps one of the strongest testaments to the power of sheer commitment and passion in achieving excellence year after year.

Some may say that hard work is wired into our Asian DNA. But as a small country surrounded by Asian neighbours hungry for growth, Singapore cannot do otherwise. We do not have the privilege of abundant natural resources nor the heritage of European cultures to adopt a less competitive work ethic.

Such realisation was recognised very early on by our founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. He and his cabinet saw that Singapore needs all the human resources we can draw on and each of these resources has to stay committed and passionate to build upon any results attained.

Even today, our competitive business environment requires us to keep our focus on our performance; and more importantly, to keep stoking the commitment and passion to excel.

 

Leaders Pivotal in Rallying Commitment and Igniting Passion

Beyond individual contributions, the experiences of China and Singapore point to a larger truth. They attest to a very real need for leadership to drive performance excellence in any organisation.

Leaders are needed to lead in setting the direction and give purpose to the goal to be attained. Leaders are needed to instil empowerment, provide motivation, and more importantly, to bring out the best in each individual, rally commitment and ignite the passion to succeed.

As illustrated in the Story of the Three Bricklayers, three bricklayers working on the rebuilding of St Paul’s Cathedral after the great fire of 1666 held vastly different perspectives of their purpose. The first said, “I’m a bricklayer, working hard laying bricks”; the second believed, “I’m a builder, building a wall”, while the third who was the most productive and the future leader of the group exclaimed, “I’m a cathedral builder, building a great cathedral to The Almighty.”

Such is the power of purpose which leaders need to nurture, stoke and distil into the organisation to carry every one of their people forward!

As the dust of the Covid pandemic settles, business leaders across industries are beginning to recognise the need to take a strong lead in driving purpose, commitment to innovation and passion for excellence in performance.

In spite of the strong reluctance to return to the office, business leaders everywhere are increasingly instructing staff to work out of the office to foster collaborative efforts amongst teams. A notable development in this direction is none other than Amazon whose CEO ordered staff back to the office 5 days a week, in a move to drive the innovation and performance it is known for.

Such courage to rise against the tide of increasing flexible work arrangements, bolstered by crucial lessons from history – these are perhaps the best acknowledgment that commitment and passion galvanised by determined leadership are truly the shot in the arm needed for workplace excellence to be attained.