Be honest, when news broke of an international study into the viability of a four-day work week, what was your first reaction?

If it was somewhere between Homer Simpson’s trademark “Woohoo!” and the fist-pumping baby meme, well, you’re probably not alone.

You see, ever since paid work became a thing, people have been trying to do the bare minimum they need to get by.

The first organised work was probably the division of labour when it came to hunting and gathering in prehistory times.

You did your bit and got “paid” in berries or hunks of woolly mammoth meat – it was a pretty sweet deal.

But forget about any semblance of work-life balance, because leisure time was hard to find when one is in constant fear of being a sabre-toothed tiger’s next meal.

Over time, workplaces became more sophisticated, even if conditions for workers hardly improved.

In Ancient Egypt, large-scale infrastructure projects provided job opportunities for thousands of people, but the hours were long and the only superannuation scheme involved being buried alive with a pharaoh.

And you thought your boss had a god complex!

Then, in 1856, Melbourne stonemasons became the first workers in the world to achieve an eight-hour working day. 

It was a revelation for the working class, who for millennia had been barely distinguishable from slaves, and the achievement is still celebrated to this day with the public holiday we know as Labour Day.

Still, it took about 100 years before the eight-hour working day caught on, and it wasn’t until 1948 that Australia officially recognised the five-day, 40-hour working week.

It sounds crazy today, but it was that decision that effectively invented the concept we now know as the weekend, which I think we can all agree turned out OK.

All of a sudden we had leisure time, and we couldn’t get enough of the stuff. 

So, unions fought to give workers mandated annual leave; then there was sick leave, long service leave and more public holidays than ever.

It all combined to reduce the number of hours we had to spend in the workplace each year.

But it still felt like too much, so the federal government cut the working week down to 38 hours in 1988, and not a lot has changed since then.

Well, that’s not true – technology has changed quite a bit, and the rise of email and the mobile phone has meant many of us now take our inboxes home with us at the end of the day.

Not unlike those prehistoric humans, we’re now finding it increasingly difficult to separate our work lives from our private lives, and it’s taking a toll on our happiness and mental health.

The pandemic offered an insight into a new employment model, as hundreds of millions of people around the world worked from home, and, for the most part, their jobs still got done.

The four-day work week concept pre-dates the pandemic, but COVID has made us more willing than ever to reconsider the status quo, so now is the perfect time to give it a go.

Be honest, when news broke of an international study into the viability of a four-day work week, what was your first reaction?
If it was somewhere between Homer Simpson&rsquo;s trademark &ldquo;Woohoo!&rdquo; and the fist-pumping baby meme, well, you&rsquo;re probably not alone.
You see, ever since paid work became a thing, people have been trying to do the bare minimum they need to get by.
The first organised work was probably the division of labour when it came to hunting and gathering in prehistory times.
You did your bit and got &ldquo;paid&rdquo; in berries or hunks of woolly mammoth meat &ndash; it was a pretty sweet deal.
But forget about any semblance of work-life balance, because leisure time was hard to find when one is in constant fear of being a sabre-toothed tiger&rsquo;s next meal.
Over time, workplaces became more sophisticated, even if conditions for workers hardly improved.
In Ancient Egypt, large-scale infrastructure projects provided job opportunities for thousands of people, but the hours were long and the only superannuation scheme involved being buried alive with a pharaoh.
And you thought your boss had a god complex!
Then, in 1856, Melbourne stonemasons became the first workers in the world to achieve an eight-hour working day.&nbsp;
It was a revelation for the working class, who for millennia had been barely distinguishable from slaves, and the achievement is still celebrated to this day with the public holiday we know as Labour Day.
Still, it took about 100 years before the eight-hour working day caught on, and it wasn&rsquo;t until 1948 that Australia officially recognised the five-day, 40-hour working week.
It sounds crazy today, but it was that decision that effectively invented the concept we now know as the weekend, which I think we can all agree turned out OK.
All of a sudden we had leisure time, and we couldn&rsquo;t get enough of the stuff.&nbsp;
So, unions fought to give workers mandated annual leave; then there was sick leave, long service leave and more public holidays than ever.
It all combined to reduce the number of hours we had to spend in the workplace each year.
But it still felt like too much, so the federal government cut the working week down to 38 hours in 1988, and not a lot has changed since then.
Well, that&rsquo;s not true &ndash; technology has changed quite a bit, and the rise of email and the mobile phone has meant many of us now take our inboxes home with us at the end of the day.
Not unlike those prehistoric humans, we&rsquo;re now finding it increasingly difficult to separate our work lives from our private lives, and it&rsquo;s taking a toll on our happiness and mental health.
The pandemic offered an insight into a new employment model, as hundreds of millions of people around the world worked from home, and, for the most part, their jobs still got done.
The four-day work week concept pre-dates the pandemic, but COVID has made us more willing than ever to reconsider the status quo, so now is the perfect time to give it a go.

If you enjoyed listening to The West Live for your daily news fix, then come and join us over on The Nightly Five.  Host Ben O’Shea continues to deliver punchy news and analysis, in a new podcast to get you in front of tomorrow’s news today!  Subscribe on your favourite podcast player and visit the thenightly.com.au

If you enjoyed listening to The West Live for your daily news fix, then come and join us over on The Nightly Five.  Host Ben O’Shea continues to deliver punchy news and analysis, in a new podcast to get you in front of tomorrow’s news today!  Subscribe on your favourite podcast player and visit the <a href="https://thenightly.com.au">thenightly.com.au</a>

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