The Environmental Benefits of a Shorter Work-Week

Marcella Sukotjo, July 2nd 2021

Need another reason to love shorter workweeks?

A recent report commissioned by Platform London has deduced that reducing work hours actually creates environmental, financial and social benefits.

Platform is a UK-based environmental and social justice collective who have a campaign known as the "4 Day Week” campaign, which demands a four-day work-week and shorter working time for the United Kingdom. While a majority of the findings are based on the UK's economy, environmental and social conditions it can arguably be used as a point of reference for other countries with similar conditions.

Shorter workweeks reduce the carbon footprint from greenhouse gas emissions. There is evidence that a decrease in working hours generally correlates with decreases in energy consumptions. This is because there will be less electricity used in daily operations such as office lighting, heating or air conditioning. Furthermore, shorter workweeks also reduce the amount of carbon-intensive commuting: there are fewer car journeys made and when considered amongst the large population of working individuals it can immensely decrease the amount of carbon emissions. Lastly, interviews and large data-based surveys have concluded that high-working hours actually encourage energy intensive consumption of goods and services since individuals partake in more activities that are time-effective but more environmentally damaging such as: buying ready-made meals, choosing faster means of transport and taking weekend vacations. Instead, individuals have said that they would use this extra day off to spend time with their family and friends, cook home meals and even volunteer.

Internationally, we see similar results in studies that aimed to understand the benefits of shorter work hours. A USA-based research study by David Rosnick and Mark Weisbrot found that when comparing the work hours and energy use between USA and European countries, the US would benefit from higher productivity and a reduced 20% in energy consumption if it adhered to the EU-1 practices. A Swedish study by Jonas Nässén and Jörgen Larsson also found that a 1% decrease in working hours could actually reduce energy use by 0.7% and greenhouse gas emissions by 0.8%. Throughout many studies conducted internationally, a correlation between higher productivity and shorter work-hours are also observed.

However, we must also understand that a reduced workweek could lead to a reduction in the GDP as according to a University of Massachusetts Amherst research, greater environmental changes can only be achieved by reducing GDP as this productivity growth that fuels it is converted into income and consumption that further leads to environmentally degrading production activities. Furthermore, some individuals could also use their extra day off to do more environmentally damaging activities as well: going on more weekend flights, staying at home and blasting AC while they watch TV or even doing more shopping. If work hours are decreased for individual workers but not in the overall work hours of organizations such as offices and shops, then there could be higher patterns of spending and more employees hired which will in turn increase the amount of commuting, further increasing carbon emissions.

There is a cultural paradigm in how we spend time due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has allowed more people to be more conscious of their carbon footprints. These changes in the sociocultural standard have the benefit to empower more people to spend their extra day off to do less environmentally damaging activities should a shorter workweek be a norm. One thing is certain: individuals and organizations alike should be more eco-conscious about the carbon emissions that their activities produce, whether or not a shorter workweek does become the standard. Things such as taking public transport, reducing elevator and light usage and turning off the AC when it is not necessary are examples of small individual actions that could lead to large environmental impacts.