Work-life balance has always been a struggle. But an increased concern for workers’ rights paired with the power of automation has created a shift. Certain industries don’t require as many working hours anymore, and the global trend–especially in Europe–leans toward a four-day workweek.

　　维持工作和生活的平衡一直是件难事。但是，在自动化影响下，劳动者权利愈发受到重视，这导致了一个转变。一些行业已经不再需要那么多的工作时间，从全球趋势来看，尤其是欧洲，更倾向于每周工作四天。

　　THE PROS OF A FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK

　　四天工作周的优点

　　Better productivity. Productivity during work hours increases to compensate for the lost day. Aside from the New Zealand study, we also have evidence from another study that overall productivity peaks at 25-30 hours per week for people over the age of 40.

　　生产力得到提高。为弥补失去一天的工作，工作时间内的生产力提高了。除了新西兰的研究，我们还从另一项研究中得知，对于40岁以上的人来说，每周工作25-30小时，总体生产率最高。

　　More efficient usage of time. Employees spend less time on inefficient tasks like meetings and are less likely to “run out the clock” with time wasters like social media or excessive breaks.

　　时间利用更有效。员工在会议等低效任务上花的时间少了，而且不太会把时间在社交媒体或超额休息上“耗尽”。

　　Employee satisfaction. With less stress and a greater work-life balance, happy workers reportedly engage better with their work, along with increased motivation and creativity.

　　员工满意度。据报道，快乐的工作者的压力更小，工作与生活更加平衡，他们能更好地投入工作，而且动力和创造力都增强了。

　　Team building. The emphasis on efficiency tends to bring teams closer together, as there’s less time to waste on disputes, and the entire team’s goals are more focused.

　　团队建设。注重效率往往能使团队更有凝聚力，因为浪费在争议上的时间减少了，整个团队的目标更明确了。

　　Lower unemployment rates. Under the notion of work sharing, companies can fill open hours with new employees, employing multiple workers to fill standard one-person slots. (Of course, this doesn’t account for salaries.)

　　失业率降低。公司采用工作共享的理念，在工作时间内雇佣新员工，多名员工从事标准单人岗的工作。(当然，这不包括工资。)

　　Environmental benefits. A four-day workweek critically reduces each individual employee’s carbon footprint by removing commute pollution.

　　环境效益。为期四天的工作周通过削减通勤污染，大大降低了每位员工的碳排放量。

　　Fewer overhead costs. If all your employees are out of the office one day a week, that reduces all office maintenance fees by 20%, especially electricity.

　　开销成本减少。如果您所有员工每周都有一天不工作，办公室维护费总额将减少20%，尤其是电费。

　　More productivity innovations. By encouraging new time-saving methods, employees are more likely to think up newer and better productivity hacks.

　　生产力创新增加。提倡采用新的省时模式，员工更可能会想到更新，更能提高生产力的方法。

　　THE CONS OF A FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK

　　四天工作周的缺点

　　The risk is expensive. The most glaring drawback for employers is the costly risk that workers fail to meet their work requirements. This was most evident in Sweden’s two-year trial that reduced a 40-hour week to 30 hours while continuing a five-day structure. While the study recorded higher worker satisfaction, it ultimately became too costly to uphold.

　　风险代价太高。对雇主而言，最显著的缺点就是员工的工作不达标。这个风险代价很高。瑞典进行了为期两年的试验，这一点最明显，试验将每周的工作时间从40小时缩短到30小时，但继续采用五天工作制。此项研究显示，虽然员工的满意度提高了，但终究成本太高，难以维持。

　　Not all industries can participate. Some industries require a 24/7 presence or other such scheduling, making a four-day workweek impractical.

　　无法适用于所有行业。一些行业需要7天24小时到岗，或其他诸如此类的安排，这样四天工作周就不切实际了。

　　There might be un-utilized labor. A study on the Netherlands’ workweek revealed that 1.5 million people wanted to work more hours but were unable to.

　　可能存在未使用的劳动力。一项有关荷兰工作周的研究显示，150万人希望工作时间能更长一点，但无法实现。

　　Workers put in the same hours anyway. Some jobs just take time. As was the case in France, some workers are putting in the same hours anyway—the only difference is they’re paid overtime for it. While that helps the workers, paying extra overtime is just another expense for the company on top of already potentially paying for a third “day off.”

　　无论如何，员工们投入的时间是相同的。有些工作就需要时间。就像在法国，一些员工的工作时间其实是相同的——唯一的区别就是这被当作了加班。这虽然对员工有利，但对公司来说却是一笔额外开销，第三天“休假日”的薪水可能已经支付过了。

　　Certain industries might suffer. Industries like office real estate benefit from people being at work in a way that wouldn’t be transferred to whatever the workers do in their day off.

　　某些行业可能遭受损失。比如写字楼这样的场所，需要工作人员一直在岗，少工作一天也不能提高动作效率。

　　If the working world continues on its current track, the four-day workweek is on its way in. Of course, its power depends a lot on context. For example, the American shareholder mentality emphasizes consistent growth, which is necessarily at odds with a mentality of “sure, we can get the same work done in less time.” In the U.S., if you can do the same amount of work in less time, then the company may just want you to do more work instead.

　　如果劳务界继续采用当前方式，那为期四天的工作周即将出现。当然，其影响力在很大程度上还是取决于背景环境。比如，美国股东在观念上是重视持续增长的，这必然和“当然了，我们可以在更短的时间内完成同样的工作”的心态是不一致的。在美国，如果你能用更少的时间完成同样的工作，那公司只会希望你做更多的工作。

　　But while we wait to see how it all pans out, it’s a good time to start experimenting. If you’re interested in a reduced-hour workweek, test it out at your company in a limited trial and see if your team can accomplish more by working less.

　　既然我们不知道效果如何，那就开始试行看看。如果你对缩短每周工作时间感兴趣，那就可以在公司试验一段时间，看看你的团队是否可以在更短的时间内完成更多的工作。