Panel discussion by World Economic Forum at Annual Meeting

Image: World Economic Forum / At Davos 2022, experts discussed the viability of the 4-day workweek.

“Henry Ford found, a century ago, that people were more productive if they worked five days instead of six. This had an impact on morale, loyalty, and overall productivity. We have to ask though: Why are we stuck on five days? Is this, too, a human invention that deserves to be rethought?”

So asked Adam Grant, organizational psychologist, author, and Professor of Management and Psychology at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. A dynamic panel explored this question at Davos 2022 and why, perhaps, it is high time to reconsider the five-day workweek model.

The four-day model is being tested by countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “Early data on four-day weeks is really promising,” said Ohood Bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Government Development and the Future of the UAE. In 2021, the UAE moved its public sector workers to a four-and-a-half day week.

  • Panelists, including Ohood Bint Khalfan Al Roumi, the UAE’s Minister of State for Government Development and the Future, gathered at Davos 2022 for a discussion on switching to a 4-day workweek.
  • The panel was mediated by Adam Grant, professor of psychology at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
  • Other panelists included Jonas Prising, Chairman and CEO of ManpowerGroup, Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America, and Hilary Cottam of the Centre for the Fifth Social Revolution.  Continue reading…..