New Survey Shows Workers Do NOT Want a Shorter Work Week

In a recent report, most people surveyed said that they preferred a 4-day work week over the standard 5 or even 6 day work week.

Well, apparently there is a new survey that you might think only includes business owners and bosses. Respondents overwhelmingly said they don't want the traditional five-day workweek replaced by one that's a day shorter at four days.

This news comes after we reported the success of four-day work weeks from all over the world. In a post back in February, we shared that employees were happier, and their employers were happy that productivity in many cases increased. It also noted that of “the 61 companies who participated in the trial conducted in the United Kingdom only three didn’t continue with the 4-day work week, and it had to do mainly with things like not being able to accomplish the work reorganization.”

So why in the name of all things good and beautiful would anyone prefer working more hours and more days?

Evidentially, this fancy new survey of 1,000 people commissioned by Forbes showed that just 12% of those workers between 18 and 25 wanted a four-day workweek, 19% of those between the ages of 26 and 41 felt the same way, as did 24% of those aged 42 to 57, and 32% of those aged 58 to 76.

However, this doesn't mean those polled don't care about work-life balance: 51% of employees said it was vital to a company's culture, as did 47% of the employers who took part in the poll.

The survey, which did a deep dive into what benefits employees find most important, also noted that 32% said seeking a higher salary was an important reason to consider finding a new job, 22% of employers think employees quit because they've hit a wall with advancement at their current one. Twenty percent of employers said workers quit over inflexible working arrangements, the survey said, and 45% say health benefits are a must.

While it looked like we may have a 4-day work week in New Jersey, sadly, this new information may prevent that from happening.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had major social and economic impacts. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health has been widely affected. "Plenty of us became more anxious; but for some COVID-19 has sparked or amplified much more serious mental health problems," said WHO. "A great number of people have reported psychological distress and symptoms of depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress."

Recently, the BBC reported on a study that said the damage to people's mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic was "minimal." Of course, people took to Twitter to share their true thoughts on the study BBC reported.

The study was done by Canadian researchers from institutions including the McGill, Ottawa, and Toronto universities, and published on March 8 in The BMJ. A peer-reviewed medical journal. This study found that "changes in general mental health, anxiety symptoms, and depression symptoms," due to the pandemic have been "minimal to small."

After the BBC shared its report on the study on Twitter, their account was flooded with responses from people who disagreed with the study’s conclusion. A lot of the tweets had examples of what people did during the pandemic that would debunk the study. It was noted along with the tweet that the review "was lacking in data for many vulnerable groups, and that the findings in it can't necessarily be applied to everyone." The tweet has more than 122.6 million views and over 47.8 thousand quote responses.

One user quoted the tweet saying, "i stayed up for 40 hours straight bc i thought 1d was getting back together on july 23rd 2020." Another Twitter user said that they "had a birthday party for the dishwasher." Their tweet showed her and a child sitting in front of the kitchen appliance while holding a birthday cake with a zero candle.

See how Twitter reacted to BBC News’ recent study below.

"My husband and I had our first baby and had to take care of him completely alone for the first six months of his life, but no, we are completely normal and trauma-free after that," tweeted Lucy Huber (@clhubes).

"'Women felt the impact of the pandemic more because of the jobs they do and the role they play in family life.' This suffering is not 'minimal,'" tweeted Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (@RevJacquiLewis).

"I bought an orange one person tent, put it up in the garden, and sat cross legged in it for a week, just for a change of scenery. It blew away and I cried for another week," tweeted Jen (@CopyOfACopyJen).

"My hundreds of hours day trading in animal crossing beg to differ," tweeted Chris in Internal Comms (@chrisincomms).

"this study is a huge pile of trash," tweeted audrey farnsworth (@audipenny).