Parts of Asia adopt four-day workweeks as Iran war strains fuel supply
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — As the Iran War threatens vital oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, governments in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Pakistan are mandating four-day workweeks to conserve fuel, forcing a global experiment in compressed labor.
Experts suggest this emergency measure, mirroring the pandemic’s sudden shift to remote work, could serve as a pivotal catalyst for making the shorter workweek a permanent global norm.
A crisis-driven experiment with lasting potential
The Asian response to the emergency is taking direct parallels with the 2020 pandemic, which made strange hybrid work models permanent and continued to exist well beyond the reopening of offices.
Fortune reports that this ongoing crisis is compelling a mass, unplanned experimentation with the four-day workweek and putting the burden of evidence on employers.
William Self, the chief workforce strategist at Mercer, explains, “Remote work didn’t spread because companies planned it.”
“It spread because the pandemic crisis forced the experiment, the experiment worked, and workers weren’t willing to give back what they’d gained. The same logic applies here.”
The significance of this historical moment can be explained by the surge in several pressures, such as the energy crisis, a squeeze on the cost of living, and the emergence of AI, which is reshaping productivity.
The CIPD states that the trend toward shorter workweeks is already global, and organizations have been willing to experiment with these policies.
While Wladislaw Rivkin, Professor in Organisational Behaviour at Trinity Business School, cautions that a permanent restructuring is a heavier lift than an overnight shift to remote work, the current crisis has merged two previously separate conversations: government policy and major employer adoption are now happening simultaneously, accelerating the momentum.
The looming inequality of compressed workweek
Although a four-day workweek can be attractive to office workers who can easily adapt to it, specialists caution that it will only increase the existing inequalities in society.
Roberta Aguzzoli, a Professor at Durham University Business School, notes, “The discussion around the four-day workweek is still at an early stage, with companies and researchers continuing to assess its long-term impact on performance.”
Aguzzol points out that for lower-skilled, customer-facing, or physically demanding employees such as delivery drivers, care workers, and retail employees, a reduction in hours of work per worker should not be seen as more rest, but as greater strain, fatigue, and an increased risk of workplace accidents.
Moreover, for individuals with low bargaining power, the anticipated forced compression may result in an immediate wage cut, thereby widening the gap between skilled and unskilled workers.
The segregations are threatening to tear inter-organizational workplaces, pitting employees against each other.
Rivkin points out that there may be discord in such an environment as the hospital, where an administrative person can work four days a week and a nurse is on a five-day schedule.
Instead of establishing a fairer working environment, such a rollout may render physically straining careers less appealing and more difficult to fill, leaving a large part of the labor force behind as work organizations shift.
