The idea of balancing work and personal life with 32-hour workdays is paying off in many countries.
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D’Youville College has reduced the workweek to 32 hours, maintaining the salary and benefits for its employees for the next six months, trying to provide them with a better quality of life
D’Youville College in Buffalo, New York, is joining the global trend of reducing the workweek for its workers and announced that is instituting a six-month trial.
The educational institution reduce the workweek to 32 hours for around 140 workers, and employees will continue to receive the same pay and benefits they received during their five-day week, Business Insider published.
Among the workers entitled to these benefits are members of the administration staff and librarians. Faculty members who no longer work the traditional 37.5 hour D’Youville week are not included in the current test.
The idea of cutting the workweek to 32 hours first came up in D’Youville as part of a job-sharing program in the summer of 2020.
With the arrival of the Covid pandemic, the school had to adapt to the new circumstances, so experimented with the shorter week as part of the New York show.
Under the Shared Work Program plan, employees’ hours could be reduced and they could collect unemployment insurance for the hours they were no longer working.
“During that time, we were very successful, very committed to our students; the surveys we did with our students indicated greater participation, ”said Lorrie Clemo, president of D’Youville.
Clemo hopes the shorter week reduce wear and tear and bring in high-quality workers who want that balance: “We believe that work will be more satisfying for our employees if they are more rested and feel happier with their life in general.”
The 32-hour workweek has gained traction in recent years. Progressives in Congress have supported a bill that would reduce weekly working hours to 32.
In Iceland, a four-day workweek pilot program made headlines as workers saw their happiness increase and stress decrease, but their productivity remained the same.
Countries like Scotland and Japan are also testing the concept, as well as international companies that seek to offer a balance of life without neglecting productivity, as a benefit that their employees value.
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Source-eldiariony.com