As companies experiment with a four-day workweek, California is trying to make it state law.
A new bill introduced in the state assembly would make the official working week 32 hours for companies with 500 or more employees, with large increases for any work done beyond that cut. Employers should pay time and a half to workers over 32 hours a week. Jobs that exceed 12 hours a day or seven days a week will be paid twice their normal salary.
Employers subject to the law would also be prohibited from reducing workers’ wages because they work less, Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, one of the project’s sponsors, told the Los Angeles Times. The bill does not cover workers who are covered by a collective agreement.
Job killer?
The proposed law would cover about 2,600 businesses in California, or about one-fifth of the state’s employers, according to the Department of Employment Development.
The California Chamber of Commerce called it a “job killer,” saying it would make hiring more expensive and cause jobs to fall in California.
“Labor costs are often one of the highest costs a business faces,” House Advocate Ashley Hoffman wrote to co-sponsor Bill Evan Low last week.
“[B]Companies often operate with thin profit margins and … the number of employees you have does not determine your financial success, “he wrote.
But evidence from other countries suggests that a four-day workweek can have positive effects, increasing employee productivity while reducing stress. An extensive trial in Iceland last summer concluded that a shorter working week was a “overwhelming successSince then, 8 out of 10 employees in the country have gone to work four days a week.
Working harder than farmers
In the US, a handful of companies have started experimenting with a four-day week. Kickstarter officially launches its reduced work week this month. “[M]The expectation and my wish is that we can achieve the same results or greater results as a result of changing the way we work, “CEO Aziz Hasan told Time about the change.
D’Youville College, a small private school in Buffalo, New York, began testing a four-day week in January. President Lorrie Clemo said the measure would “improve the overall well-being of our employees and the competitiveness of our institution.”
But in general, the shortened working week has been a relative rarity in a nation where workers work longer hours than in most other industrialized countries.
The typical American worker now works about 1,800 hours a year. Among the developed economies, only four nations (Israel, Korea, Russia, and Mexico) devote consistently more hours than America. Historical records suggest that 14th-century peasants worked less than contemporary Americans; in contrast, nineteenth-century factory workers spent significantly longer hours.
Garcia's bill is similar to a federal bill presented to Congress by Mark Takano, a California Democrat, and endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
"People spend more time at work, less time with their loved ones, their health and well-being is getting worse, and their pay has stagnated. It's time for change," Takano said in a statement.
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