‘Take a breath’: CEO makes big 3.5-day work week prediction

The CEO of a leading investment bank has made a huge prediction about a big change he thinks is coming for workplaces.

The CEO of a leading investment bank has made a big prediction about the future of work, claiming the five-day week will become a thing of the past.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, has looked to tone down fears about how artificial intelligence and technology will impact future jobs.

Speaking to Bloomberg TV, he said that, even if AI ends up eliminating certain jobs, it will also drastically improve the quality of life of a lot of employees in the process.

“People have to take a deep breath,” Mr Dimon said.

“Technology has always replaced jobs. Your children are going to live to 100 and not have cancer because of technology.”

He added that, with future technology advancements, they will “probably be working three and a half days a week”.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has said that, in the future, AI advancements will allow people to work 3.5 day weeks. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

The CEO said artificial intelligence is a “living breathing thing” that will continue to shift as time goes on.

He conceded there were still negatives to advancing technology, with the misuse of AI being one of those negatives.

“Technology has done unbelievable things for mankind but, you know, planes crash, pharmaceuticals get misused — there are negatives,” Mr Dimon said.

“This one, the biggest negative in my view is AI being used by bad people to do bad things.”

There has been a growing push for a four-day work week becoming the norm in Australia, with, with an increasing number of companies trialling the new way of working.

In a poll conducted by news.com.au, 69 per cent of more than 4300 respondents believed a four-day work week should be the norm, so long as productivity remained the same.

Just eight per cent were against the idea, claiming employees wouldn’t have enough time to get their work done.

A further 23 per cent said it depended on the employee and their job.

Last month, Medibank announced it would be expanding its four-day work week “experiment” to include 500 employees, after a six month trial found staff had become happier, healthier and more efficient.

Medibank is expanding its four-day work week trial. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

Before starting the initial trial, the private health insurer said its goal was to challenge the “long-entrenched traditional ways of working”.

The change is based on the 100:80:100 model, in which staff keep 100 per cent of their pay but have their work hours reduced to 80 per cent. However, they must maintain 100 per cent of their productivity in order for the change to work.

The trial was designed with 4 Day Week Global, a leader in this space, and the outcomes have been and will continue to be monitored and measured by Macquarie University’s Health and Wellbeing Research Unit.

This experiment is one of the biggest in Australia of its kind, with Medibank’s Head of People, Spaces and Sustainability Kylie Bishop saying the trial has delivered positive results across multiple areas.

“We’ve seen significant and sustained improvements in employee engagement, job satisfaction and the health and wellbeing of participants, while maintaining business performance and customer outcomes,” Ms Bishop said.

Originally published as ‘Take a breath’: CEO makes big 3.5-day work week prediction