A progressive Democrat from Philadelphia wants Pennsylvania to study the effects of the move state employees to a four-day working week.
In a statement Monday, state Rep. Chris Rabb said he needs a cost-benefit analysis of such a schedule to “increase the efficiency of state government” while ensuring taxpayers have “the level of service they both need and deserve.”
“We have to end this trail Protestant work ethic it requires an unrelenting commitment to work at the expense of the health of our households in our communities,” Rabb told the Capital-Star.
The legislationprobably the first to call for a four-day week in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, he asked the state Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study the topic. The study also included “policies to encourage all Pennsylvania employers to make the change,” according to Rabb’s memo.
The bipartisan panel is often called upon to examine topics of interest to lawmakers, from standardized testing and the dairy industry to reviewing the 2020 election.
The 40-hour workweek has been standard in the U.S. since the 1930s, when Congress passed a law Fair Labor Standards Act after decades of labor movement activism.
The law prohibits child labor, mandates a minimum wage, and requires most, but not all, companies to pay most employees time-and-a-half for overtime work.
A range of people, including most transport workers, some agricultural workers, apprentices and trainees, managers and administrators, “creative professionals”, and people employed in companies earning less than $500,000 per year released from all or part of the law.
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Other developed countries have hopefully considered further reductions in hours increasing employee productivity when you are at work.
In recent yearsSpain, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Belgium have started to change or reduce working hours. Some countries reduced the number of hours worked per week, while others kept the number constant, resulting in four more days of work in exchange for an extra day off.
It’s not just about decision-makers. Some private companies are looking at it. For example, Google moved to a four-day work week, Forbes reported earlier this year.
“I guess I’m corporate after all,” Rabb joked.
Rabb, a former business professor, said he has been thinking about a shorter week for at least the last decade. However, two years after social norms changed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he felt it was time to apply the lessons on work-life balance to the future.
“We shouldn’t get ourselves ground in a meat grinder,” Rabb added. “We should be valued not only for what we create for employers.”
Democrats in Congress too introduced legislation requiring employers to pay employees overtime if they work more than 32 hours a week.
Rabb’s memo will ultimately be introduced as a bill before being sent to committee for further consideration.
