Amanda Rose: Why a four-day work week isn’t all it’s cracked up to be

Permanent long weekends aren’t as good as they sound. But if you really want a shorter work week, there are ways you can create one.

Opinion: I like the idea of the four-day work week but I don’t see it becoming the way of the future in Australia.

Especially for the people that like to work, they will just fill up that extra day anyway.

I think people glorify time off too much.

You can have a four-day work week and stress for the other three.

If someone is contacting you on the other three days and you have to respond, how is that really helping?

Switching to a four-day, full-time job can make you extremely efficient or it can make you very stressed if you are not ready for it.

So you get an extra day off, but will you just spend it working anyway? Picture: iStock

It is doable to turn five days into four, though.

You can create your own four-day work week by saying “no” to all the irrelevant stuff – all the meetings that are pointless and the catch-ups that mean nothing.

“No” is my favourite word.

You have to ask yourself, “Is it worth doing this project?” or “Is this meeting going to help with my output?”. If not, don’t do it.

Cut out unnecessary activity, too – social media scrolling or responding to stuff that’s not relevant.

Work should be about productivity anyway if you have KPIs (key performance indicators).

It’s about changing the mindset to being output based rather than time based.

You have got to allow people to be the best at what they are doing by finding the best system for them.

For example, I fall asleep on the keyboard at 3pm so I will start at 7am but I leave by 3pm.

Workplace expert Amanda Rose says the key to a four-day, full-time work week is saying “no” to irrelevant meetings and requests. Picture: Monique Harmer

I’m good in the morning and at night, but not in the afternoon.

If you think a four-day week will work for you, have the discussion with your boss.

Make sure they are happy with the work you are doing now, first, then say “Is there room for flexibility in the hours and days that I work?”

Always suggest a trial so you can show “Over the past month, this is what I have achieved” then you can compare it to the next month.

If you don’t achieve the same, you can go back to a five-day week.

It’s a business case so you have got to sell it.

Amanda Rose is a business consultant, workplace trainer, LinkedIn influencer and founder of six organisations – and now she is tackling your career questions for SMART Daily every week.

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Originally published as Amanda Rose: Why a four-day work week isn’t all it’s cracked up to be